And then I was thinking... 02/16/16

They say the essentials we all need are food, shelter and clothing. [...and then the government taxes us for what they provide while we provide some sort of existence/life for our ourselves and our families. Paid taxes in 2015 for the first time in a while.]

But as I was walking back to my home after driving home from work, it hit me that these things are driven by money, emotions, and comfort.

One's ability to earn enough money could either raise or lower the emotional state resulting in a level of comfort in life. Personality and education back it up. Health, whether it be physical or mental is controllable to a certain extent, but for the most part, your health outcome is in the genes you get from your parents. You get what you get healthwise, from genetics, unless you smoke, drink, or take/abuse drugs and food and don't choose to move your body in vigorus ways to help build muscle and remove the toxins then the results or the lack thereof - you did to yourself and your genes did it to you. [Yes, I have Crohn's disease, but changing jobs has changed my commute and my stress level is down due to less of a commute, up to new surrounding and standards to get re-acquainted with on job tasks I'm already familiar with and working for a manager that actually cares to manage, but change is good.]

And then I was thinking, that,  "Isn't it enough to be a good person?" ...as I drive home on the "freeway" in this car, with this amazing horsepower as I grasp the steering wheel, this conveyance I'm seated in, that others, too, are seated in as we travel to our destinations and in my mind's eye/imagination- the exterior of the cars melted away and all people commuting on the freeway were seated floating in a dimly glowing interior blue light with powertrain and frame assuming the driving position with hands on their steering wheels, no upholstery with tires-this technology that really hasn't changed all that much in over 100 years [but to make it faster, safer, use less gas, or another fuel, but really at what cost to our environment if the power to make that alternate fuel was derived from fossil fuel?] and when we as humans end up using up all of the fossil fuels this world has, would we then need to worry about the need to expand our roadways or instead how they scarred the earth, contributed to global warming and how they'll need to be deconstructed?

No, it's not enough to be a good person if you're not exhibiting that goodness for someone else other than yourself to recognize, witness and benefit from. Hence we reward the leaders in their field - whatever they may be and punish those who don't meet society's expectations of what is good and right and true and sometimes - most of the time - logical.

If people were forced to work and live only within the areas that their feet could carry them, how many could? Could one's life be richer and still not have to worry financially?

And to think the fact that management tools are being rolled out to my team tomorrow. And I'm so excited, I can't sleep.

Chicago - bite me

I went to Chicago on vacation to do some genealogy work, but what I got instead was to experience a mini-Los Angeles. Mind boggling parking, hours worth of traffic going to and from the city and a mass transit system I just couldn't really grasp in the four short days I was there.

I flew in on Wednesday to O'Hare from Long Beach. I stayed miles from the city, in a suburb called Arlington Heights in a nice business class hotel thanks getting getting a sweet deal from hotels.com. I rented a car from Hertz because it appeared as though that's what I needed to do to get around. I think the next time if I ever go there again, I will get a hotel near a train station, take the hotel shuttle or a cab from from the airport to the hotel and then hoof it after taking the train to downtown. I mean, its about the only way to avoid the city's horrible parking/ traffic situation.

On the night I landed in town, I rushed over to the hotel and checked in and then drove over to the Niles Public Library in order to attend a book lecture on "Oldest Chicago". I love trivia and I thought this would be a nice introduction to the city. I bought a book and the author signed it for me. Nice.

The publisher of the book, Lake Claremont Press, is located in Chicago and also has published other local interest books like for graveyards, history of city, and how to manage genealogy searches. I'm not sure how helpful the first two might be, but I'm thinking about picking up a copy of the third one.

 I ate dinner at Johnnie's down the street from my hotel. They are known for the Italian sandwiches there. I had a one Italian with sweet (grilled green bell) peppers and then I got to slather on as much mustard as I liked. I also ordered a Pepsi. The sandwich was big enough to where you ordering fries would be kind of like a waste of time. It's unique, it's good, and they don't really sell them in California. It's kind of like a roast beef sandwich but different.

The next day, I went to the Sulzer Regional Library and they were really nice about giving me a guest library card for my genealogy research. They didn't even ask to see my drivers license, or if they did, I don't remember.

Then I tried driving into town to find parking so I could do some touristy things, but to no avail. Lots of street closures and I guess there is this weird underground parking which kind of freaked me out. So I ended up driving through town twice, then sick of the bad traffic I headed back to the hotel. Three hours later...

I ate dinner at Mitsuwa at the food court establishment called "MAMA House". It's Korean food and I got the BulGoKI. It was tasty and filling.

Friday, I ate lunch with some my credit union co-workers in the Chicago office and met all of the people I've been emailing for a while now. I discussed my genealogy research with a few of the managers. I dropped an entire plate of take-out Italian food on one of the managers floors. The styrofoam just didn't hold up. I scooped it all up and then threw it in the trash and went and got a few things and move back into the office.

One of the managers volunteered his service to take a picture of a gravestone for me if and when I can find it- HAHA. I honestly do not think he comprehends what he's volunteered himself for. If there's an online index somewhere, I'm going to find it.

After that, I went to another book store wanting to see if the had more books on genealogy or Chicago. At Half Price Books, I did, however, find two Lion Brand Yarn books, one on making socks and the other on making hats, so those were cool finds.

I slept like shit the entire time I was on +2 hours. The room was quiet and the bed was fine, it was the time change I couldn't get used to. So normally I get up at 5AM weekdays. My body was telling me to wake up at 3:30AM all week. So I'd stay up until I fell back asleep and then when I woke up again, by that time, I missed the continental breakfast offered by hotel. Nice, huh? I participated one morning. Memo: don't eat banana nut muffins on vacation. I did not feel good after consuming those. I'm sure they were fine for anyone else but me... they were probably made with dairy in the recipe.

On Saturday morning, I got ready, packed up and checked out of the hotel. No trip to the mid-west would be complete without a stop at While Castle so I drove to Palatine to eat a #1 (4 burgers just like the ones you buy at the grocery store, a french fries and a drink) on the way to go outlet shopping at Huntley Premium Outlet on I90 off of ILL Route 47 before my plane flight going home. My educated guess would be that center is 40% full of tenants. The Van Heusen store is huge compared to the one I shop at at The Citadel in Commerce.

After I could shop no more because my luggage was full, I drove back to O'Hare giving myself three hours before my departure time to deal with the bad traffic around the airport on Saturday, having to turn in my rental car and getting shuttled back to the airport, and the TSA lines which I generally loathe. It was nice to find out that the lines are not particularly long and they make an effort to keep them moving.

I had a Crohn's attack on the flight which was both humiliating and horrifying at the same time and since I check my baggage, I didn't have with me what I needed to deal with it. Since I had extra time in the terminal after turning on the rental car, I should of went to the restroom immediately before getting on the plane because I hate to use those airplane toilets. I went once when I got into the terminal after going through the security line, but then I walked the terminal and then found a seat to catnap until it was time to board the plane. What a nightmare.

After I got home, I found out that my pink hard-sided suitcase was opened and searched by the TSA because they left me a flyer letting me know they did so. Thanks, but next time you go and search my bags, fucking close the shampoo and conditioner bottles please.

Monday, I went over to my ex-mother in-laws house and she started to show me all of these old photos of her family and I just couldn't stand to see them in disorganized piles any longer, so I suggested that we go to Wal-Mart and pick-up some scrap booking supplies so they can be preserved and not handled anymore. I mean, some of the photos were over 100 years old! $75 and about 6 hours later, one book is just about done. I sorted the photos as best I could and Linda arranged them on the sheet and tacked the corners down. We have another session planned for this Sunday to do the other book.

My new car is not so new now

Two weeks ago, I was driving to work along on the westbound 22  and there was this huge dump truck in lane three in a construction zone and something flew out from under it's tire and thwacked my windshield like hard and it left a gash and cracks going in five different directions.

I left it alone last week because my rideshare buddy drove. This week, it's my turn and I cannot deal with this growing menace anymore. It's almost doubled in size. Good thing it's more on the passenger side.

I took my car into Guaranty Chevrolet, where I bought it, and I'm having them replace the windshield. I could have guessed it was going to cost a grand to replace, but I would have guessed wrong. It was actually less than $700. 

They gave me a brand new Sonic to drive today while my car was in the shop. It's got a cute but kind of confusing dashboard, but the seats are absolutely horrible. You can feel every little vibration from the engine when the car is still or idling. I hate that. It gets 36 MPG.

And I got my first oil change for free.

From rain to train

January 21st was rainy and a three hour trip to get home. As I live 35 miles way, I found the time it took sitting... crawling on the freeway to my destination unacceptable. At the suggestion of my boss to take the train (which is actually light rail) to work, I checked it out online and then began to take the train on Thursday.

This past Saturday, I even took the step of hunting down where I could buy a tap pass (which is a debit card specifically for mass transit in Los Angeles County). I was able to buy one at a check cashing store in Norwalk where I catch the train.

http://www.metro.net/index.asp

http://www.taptogo.net/