Saturday, November 19, 2011

Weekend Off, Rants, Catching Up

For the past couple of weeks I have worked really long hours with only one day, Sunday, off each week. Add to that the change from daylight savings time and I was leaving and getting back home in the dark. A quick bite to eat and off to bed for another day starting six hours later. I decided to take this weekend off as I am staring at working non stop Monday through December 2nd. It is inventory time of the year and we will be taking our annual physical inventory the Sunday after Thanksgiving. And yes, I will, likely spend some time in the store on Thanksgiving day.

So my big plans for the day are basically nothing. I don't plan to get to exited to do anything. I plan to lay back and enjoy the day. The Huskies have taken their act to Beaverton to play the Oregon Beavers so I will likely watch the game on my television. It starts at 12:30pm Pacific Time.

This evening I am to attend a Seattle Thunderbirds Hockey game in Kent, Washington with my grandson, Zach, some of his friends and my daughters friends father. I am looking forward to the game. It is with archival Portland and it will be my first game this year. I think I have told you that my boss owns a minority portion of the team and attends most weekend at home games. Zach really gets into the game and has won a ride on the Zamboni and I suspect he will be wild and crazy again tonight as he has already said he wants to win the ride.

My lovely wife will be taking our granddaughter to see Happy Feet Two. I am sure they will have a great time.

Now the rant. I think I might understand some of what the folks from Occupy Everything are trying to accomplish or point out but I have to remark on their process. How the heck do the expect to win backers and sympathy for the movement by blocking traffic during rush hour? Who thought it would be a good idea to block an intersection in a neighborhood that already difficult to get around.

And the mayor of Seattle apologizes for the use of pepper spray in a much publicized attempt to clear the group out of a two month encampment. Why? Everyone was warned nationwide that the establishment was going to move on the encampments. The afternoon it happened, several radio stations warned their audiences to stay clear of the area. Since when does the fact you at 84 years old give you the right to break the law? Review the use of pepper spray, as well as police tactics, maybe. What are we going to leave the officers sworn to protect us to use against unruly crowds? The amount of whining and hand wringing after a police incident is getting ridiculous. Police officers are human. They make mistakes. But don't take away their chance to protect us and themselves.

And finally, after a review of everything and all of the possible scenarios I have been left with a bitter fact. No retirement or trip until I reach 68. It will be three years from February of next year. I got to get my head wrapped around this one. It could be very depressing.

4 comments:

  1. I'm sorry to hear that you have to postpone your retirement. I agree with you about the methods used by the Occupy movement. I only disagree about one topic today--Go Winterhawks! ;)

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  2. enjoy the game!..as for retirement?..we all have a plan but sometimes the plans don't work out as we figured they would..we are only hoping that ours will turn out as planned but there are not guarantees in life!!..we are trying really hard to be hopeful but you just never know!..hang in there..we are hanging in there with you!!

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  3. If everyone had to be a police officer and make life and death decisions in a split second, they might appreciate what our officers go through just to serve a sometimes ungrateful public. They deserve our respect and our support.

    Retirement is always a gamble. You cannot plan for every contingency because you don't know the future. The economy could completely collapse within three years or it could recover beyond our expectations. Plan for what you can but don't let it stop you from living while you can.

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  4. I couldn't agree with you more about the Occupiers. I think the establishment is being WAY too easy on them. They are lucky all they got was pepper spray. I'm tired of all the apologizing. They are infringing on the rights of other citizens, costing us all a lot of money in police presence, clean-up, lost time, etc. I wouldn't put in a blog how strongly I feel about this. (Close family members disagree with me completely, but that's what I feel after working all my life for what I have.)

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