Jerry Falwell is dead...

And Tinky Winky breathes a sigh of relief...

Shaving my head.

I have just finished successfully building the San Diego Chargers into a decent team, washed the dishes, worked out, got a haircut, and I slept in this morning... how was I able to accomplish all this you ask? Sarah and Kiah are visiting the family in Illinois.

I am living the bachelor life for about 10 days or so, until I join them there for a week. Then I'll come back, and a few days later, so will they.

It's all centered around Kiah & Ezra's birthday on the 25th. Sarah made it out in time to celebrate her mom's first Mother's day as a grandma, and her first Mother's Day as an "out of the womb" mother.

I've been enjoying the peace and quiet, but I miss them already. I had a great "guys" night with my friends Dan and Chris the other night. We watched the Green Street Hooligans, a movie with Elijah Wood as a brawling "futbol" fanatic. Then we watched Casino Royale for a bit, and then decided to just play cards instead of watching people cooler and better than ourselves. We spent about 4-5 hours just chillin without our wives or babies. It was cool. Killian's Red stock rose dramatically as 2nd quarter sales boosted exponentially that night.

Today I've been rockin out with the music cranked. I'm off work today and tomorrow, and making the absolute most of it. Small Group from church is tonight, but other than that, I have no timeline to meet, or goals to accomplish. It's awesome!

Work's been a bit less stressful this week. Other than getting a frantic call in the middle of the night Friday, which I was able to handle the next day, things have been holding together. HR is putting the pressure on the General Manager to hire a new director of housekeeping asap. It's not that I'm doing bad, I'm doing very well... it's just tiring. Not to mention, I'm still working 2 days a week in Security, so that complicates the job. I am technically only in housekeeping 3 days a week... which are usually spent fixing the problems of the last 4 days.

A side note. At this moment, I am now rocking out to "Did I step on your trumpet?" by the Danielson Famile. It rules.

In other news, no news on the Seattle front. We're starting to feel like the offer was bogus. At least to a certain extent. I'm not one to burn bridges, so I'm not ranting... but it seems for now, that Washington will have to wait.

Oh. I shaved my head.

And things got weird, when I started growin' Bob Dylan's beard...

I was looking at pics of Kiah to do a pre-birthday card to folks... when I spotted this photo.

Well, I couldn't place it for awhile, but I finally figured out where I recognized that face he's making from... so here it is. Kiah's pre-birthday announcement. Rejoice.

Fallen friends

It's 10 o clock, and I'm nowhere near tired.
The sun set hours ago, but still the mountains are lit by the storm raging on the other side. Torrential rain to the south. Snow to the north. And a sweeping wind here, with a smell of rain on the air. I sit in a coffee house. Drinking a peaberry coffee from Tanzania. I love African coffee. Birthplace of a worldwide passion. My friend is dead. It hits me from time to time. I sit drinking and reading... listening to Mule Variations by Tom Waits. What a moving album. I so seldom sit and listen to a full work anymore. Very few of the destinations I'm required to visit are more than a half hour away. I don't use my headphones like I did in earlier years. I guess I'm required to participate in my world more now. This is how I want to write. This is how I want to think. I need this time. Time away. I think about Jim. How strong he was. I feel like giving a eulogy, but I know that there's no way to attend his funeral. And even if I could, I don't know that they'd let me talk. After all, I only knew him. Not his family. But all the same I wish I could stress how he died. How it was different than almost everyone else I see die. How he died on his feet. Jim died trying to live. Trying to regain a life that he let go of years before. He knew that Paula would've wanted him to drop his excuses, drop his fears, and make a mad dash for life with everything he had. And so he did. He committed. He went on a 30 day liquid diet, which had to have been one of the hardest things he's ever done. But the big thing that stands out to me is that he died standing up (figuratively of course). When he died, he fell. Like we refer to heroes. I'd never really thought about why heroes fall when they die. But it's because they were standing when they did. They had to be standing. Fighting. Forging. And Jim was. So many people die lying down. In many ways, Paula died lying down. And for that reason, I'm really glad that they died in the order they did. Paula would've been broken, and followed Jim into death. But Jim chose to honor Paula not with submission to death, but fighting for life. The life he knew she wanted him to have. And that is awesome. I have so much respect for the man, and I will miss him terribly. In many ways, I'm just starting to grieve. And in others, I feel as though I've reached a peace with what happened yesterday. It's just that I didn't want to see the story end this way. I wanted to see his new life. His new body. His new reality. But to ever see that, we'll have to watch it happen in our lives. His survivors. I would ask you to choose today to live your life like it matters. That change is not only possible, it's worth dying for. That if someone is willing to risk everything to make life count, it's impossible to simply muttle through another day aimlessly without insulting their memory. I sat in the coffee house reading "The seven habits of highly effective people" which, in my mind, has moved from self help book to recommended reading for anyone wanting to change their life. If you're having trouble even knowing where to start on the road to change, I recommend starting there. If you're a believer in Christ, I recommend the book "I really want to change, so help me God" by James MacDonald. They are both excellently written, and every page has value. Jim wrote something on his blog that really touched me last month. He said "If you are reading this, know that I love you." So on that note, I mirror his sentiments, and want you to know that I feel the same way toward you all. If this were my last post, I would want you to know. I would want to be standing. Fighting. Forging. I would want to "fall" in death. I'd want to be a hero like Jim.

In shock.

Jim Vanhorn died this morning at 6:30.

One of our own...

Well. I don't even know just how to do a post like this, but Jim V., our great friend who lost his wife Paula last year is fighting for his life right now.

After Paula's death, Jim made the decision to live life to the fullest in honor of her, and to do everything he could to get back to a healthy way of life. He underwent bariatric surgery on Tuesday, the tenth, and while his initial reaction was good, he hit a setback two days in, and had to go back in for surgery. Since then, he's been unconcious, and hasn't come out of it. His family is scared, and as a good friend, I'm pretty concerned. I mean, Jim is one of the strongest people I've ever met, so it's weird for me to hear about him being incapacitated... He's such a fighter.

So please keep Jim and his family in your prayers. If you know him, but don't know of his blog, let me know, and I'll send you the address. He updated it right up to the surgery, and his amazing sense of humor was still working overtime, even on a 30 day liquid diet preceding the surgery! Oi.

Dead grandparents

Today is the anniversary of Sarah's grandma Jessie's death, and my grampa Hutchin's death as well. It's been 10 years since grandpa died, and Jessie passed away 8 years ago...

Please keep our families in your prayers as April 15th is hard for us. (not because we procrastinate on taxes...)

Gosh darnitt...

Greg Oden is going pro.

As a freshman.

There go my buckeyes...

The world's longest post. Prepare yourself.

I used Windows Vista for the first time today. Brutal I tell ya. Brutal. It was like talking to one of my housekeepers. Except that my housekeepers want to understand me. Windows XP is the smart, if not very attractive girl who manages your bank accounts and business software well. She can be condecending, and is no help at all when you're not sure what to do, but she gets the job done. Unfortunately, she has like 900,000 hitmen hired to kill her, and I'm sorry, but no matter how careful you are. That's alot of hitmen.


OSX which runs on Apple machines is a hot girl with a black belt. (Apparently my reasons for marrying Sarah have just come out...) She's smart too, but alot better looking than Windows XP. She has a good sense of style, and while she will occasionally do something crazy, she certainly is very stable. She doesn't have anyone out to get her, but if she did, she'd be prepared.


Vista is a cheerleader with an overbearing boyfriend. Even if she did want to talk to you, which she doesn't seem to, her boyfriend wouldn't let her. Today, I tried to help a guest connect to our network in a room, which so far as I've seen, every windows and mac laptop have been able to do with little to no trouble. Plug in, and log in. That's about it. Here is a make believe transcript of the interaction I had with the Vista pc this morning.


_________________________________________________

Me: Good morning. Aren't you pretty!

Vista: Why thank you... I was just

Windows Security Manager: Don't talk to him!!!

Vista: But I was just...

Windows Security Manager: (addressed to me) She doesn't want to talk to you!!!

Me: Look. I'm working with her owner, and I just want to set up a network connection.

Vista: I think I can do that.

Me: Great. So let's try starting Internet Explorer 7...

Windows Security Manager: (whispering loudly in background) Don't do it!!!

Vista: Oops. I forgot. What were we doing?

Me: Setting up a network. Is he bothering you?

Windows Security Manager: (whispering loudly in background) Kill him! He's a virus I tell you!

Vista: You're a virus? (directed to me)

Me: He just said that to scare you. Seriously, this guy needs to get some work done...

Vista: I don't know...

Windows Security Manager: (hissing menacingly) Dooooooon't doooooo ittttttt!!!!!

Vista: I'm sorry, what were we talking about?

Me: AHHHHHH! You seriously just sent me back to that box again!?!

Vista: Hi!

Me: Ok. That's it. This is SIMPLE. Windows XP does this all the time. No problems.

Windows Security Manager: (addressed to Vista) If XP jumped off a bridge, would you?

Vista: (starts to cry)

Me: Don't cry. You're very pretty.

Vista: (sobs) Thank you.

Windows Security Manager: Get away from her!!!

And that's about it. I gave up and told him to try the wireless network downstairs. He might have better luck. He thanked me and said that he should've brought his macbook from home instead. Seriously. I'm not lying. He said that. But he did add that he brought the new pc because... Vista was so pretty.

I blogged before regarding the departments I'm in now. Life in both departments has been going very well, but I've definitely got alot on my plate now.

I was asked a few weeks ago to take on a new position at the hotel. It's a new position put in place by Hilton called a "journey ambassador." It's essentially a group of people who are proactive concierges. They actively seek out guests, and determine what their needs are. They of course go on to find ways to meet those needs, and basically take care of whatever the guest requires during their stay. They're "agents" of sorts.

Needless to say that while I could do the job, and would do it very well... I didn't want to do the job. It would distract from the program I'm in, it would put me back in the lobby, basically doing what I did as an asst. front office manager.

There was no benefit for me, and quite frankly, the hotel would lose me in other areas. The best solution I could find was for them to hire other people with potential, and have me train them. It would require much less time of me, and I would be able to make sure that they remained focused while at the same time setting goals, and promoting their needs in manager meetings. So I went to the General Manager, who had asked me to do it, and gave him my proposal in return. And to my pleasure, he agreed to everything I asked for. Even a $2.50 an hour bump in pay over what they had initially planned. My reasoning was that we want to create a "mystique" about this position. An exclusivity... to make it appealing to other employees, and give the Journey Ambassadors a sense of worth. To let them know we're behind them. Anyway. I now have my own department... which is pretty cool. At this point, I'm working on developing the program, hiring new Journey Ambassadors, and setting goals for the future. It's going well.

In other news, the director of housekeeping announced last week that he is returning to his previous hotel in Seattle, and his last day is tomorrow. Now, he is easily one of the best managers that I've ever seen, so it's a shame to see him leave. In many ways, he has been what I have looked forward to most about this training. I have, in the past several weeks learned a great deal from him, so there's no real loss... especially after the offer he made me a few weeks ago. He mentioned to me that he might be leaving for Seattle, but that the money there was much better, and the hotel was a corporate Hilton. There are only about 50 corporate Hiltons in the world, the rest are franchised. So the money put into those hotels is insane, both in salaries and upkeep of the building, but also in bonuses. In fact, the full bonus for a manager at the hotel, if they meet all of their goals, is 25% of their yearly income.

Before I get too far into things, I need to say that this isn't a done deal. They haven't even made a final offer. But my boss who is moving out there would be the one hiring me, and the one deciding the salary... so as long as he still thinks I would be good there, the offer should be on the table in the next month or so.

The income for the position they're hiring for is almost twice what I make now. But it's not just money that appeals to me. It's a union hotel, so instead of all the side work, mopping, and bed making that I do, I'd be mostly involved in the areas I've been able to have the most impact. Administrative management. Ah, it even sounds pretty.

But not because of what it is... That would be like saying your dream was parenthood. Parenthood is normally a very scary thing. Because we've all seen it done wrong. We've all seen some angry-yelling-senseless-jelly & poop-covered-fool carrying their screaming-senseless-jelly & poop-covered-toddler INTO an rated R movie... you get the picture. But when it's done right, it's the only way to manage effectively.

The idea of a manager who says they specialize in "administrative" things, usually means that they don't do any real work. On the other hand, the managers who are always working with their employees can in many cases win their workers' respect but in the end fail as managers because they were just another employee. With no general on the hill, the army flounders. It seems I've hit a point I'd like to make, so I will now begin to pontificate.

Managers who never dig in and help their employees are often the worst sort of managers. Because they're not doing what they should, which is make the employees' lives better. I have nothing against digging in. In fact, I enjoy it. But in the past few months of management training I have learned some amazing things, and among them, possibly most importantly, I have learned what I have the capacity to do and what it takes to help me do it well.

I've seen departments where the folks are happy with their pay, pleased with what's expected of them, and where valuable workers are acknowledged, and bad workers aren't pandered to. And those departments, with those people, are the best and brightest. The departments that everyone else is called to be like. I want that kind of department. I've been in it before. But I've never had it start that way... I seem to do best when I come into a department that is everything the one I described before is not. And I do what I can to make it different.

In little ways, in big ways, but all in ways that are so removed from the daily "shoveling" that some might be tempted to think that I'm one of those managers that removes themselves from the workers and does mystery work (aka "no" work)... But like I was saying, they might be tempted to think that I am too removed until their life starts getting better. One by one, hopefully their problems slowly begin to straighten out. Schedules fit their life better, they know more about the business they're in, they enjoy their job more, they have the tools they need, and hopefully they start taking an interest in the performance of the group as a whole in comparisson to the other departments, then competing companies, then the best competing companies, and finally against their own past outstanding performance.

I do pitch in when the laundry room floods due to a broken dryer, but simply burying yourself in the work of your people just makes you a really good whatever-they-are. And removing yourself from the work and disassociating yourself from the workers makes you a bad manager, not to mention a useless worker. A waste of money. Which is what most managers are. What I want to be is a good leader. Someone who fights alongside, but knows where we're going. And that is what appeals to me in the idea of a union hotel. I know that union crews often have their faults, but I am confident that like any other challenge, I could learn to motivate them, and make that hotel a better place.

ANYWAY... that's all just a possibility. But if it is indeed as good as it sounds, which they would fly me out to see... we may go that direction. For if we're making enough, visits can be more regular. And when one is flying, there really isn't that big a difference between Seattle and Colorado Springs to Chicago.

Florida is #1. Yet again at the expense of my Buckeyes...

Ow.

Florida University now holds back to back NCAA basketball championships, that sit next to their 2006 NCAA football championship trophy. They are a spectacular school, and have my admiration. I just wish they didn't have to beat my team to do what it is they do so well. Win.

Tonight's championship game was THANKFULLY nowhere near as humiliating as the football championship game was several months ago. In fact, OSU's star player Greg Oden, should've been the player of the game with 25 points and 12 rebounds. Not to mention the fact that he blocked, yes, blocked three dunk attempts. Not something you see every year, and he did it 3 times in one game. One championship game. This guy is total NBA, is 7 foot, leads his team... and he's a freshman... Oi.

All the same, the gators kept hitting the threes, and we didn't. Instead of a humiliation, this was a great game. But Florida proved decisively that they are the best team in the nation. They are the first team to ever win back to back championships with the same starting lineup. And no team has won b2b titles since Duke in 92... so that's not easy either.

What a year though. Our buckeyes go to 2 championship games and lose to the same school, and our Chicago Bears lose in their first superbowl in 20 years. Watch out Cubs! You're doomed to go to the world series and lose!

Anyway. I always say that I bleed Scarlet and Grey. Well... tonight there's alot of those colors all over the floor.

Rest in Peace, Merry...

Transparent theme on my mac

I've installed a transparent theme on my mac. In part, because even if the operating system is crap, I can't handle Microsoft Vista being in any way cooler than OSX...

For your viewing pleasure.

This broom will have to be my baby...

So I haven't done much writing lately. For no reason. It's not for lack of things to say. I guess I'd have to blame good old fashioned laziness. Or just the simple fact that I have to type to blog. If blogging could be done vocally, I'd record my day in the car on my way home... that'd be cool.

Anyway. This morning, I woke up and took care of Kiah for awhile. Let Sar get some z's. We've been able to take showers lately while he's awake. He stands at the tub and throws stuff at you. Peeks around the shower curtain, and talks alot. But other than that, he lets you get it done without being clingy or anything... so as Bill Murray once put it, "I've got that goin' for me."
After Sarah woke up, she let me go back to sleep for a few. I then downed two cups of Sumatra, and I'm ready for the day.

Adding to my energy level, I am listening to the Killers new album for the seventy-leventh time. I wasn't a fan of their first album, even though there were a few good songs on it. I really disliked the song "Mr. Brightside", which everyone else in the world loved, so that kind of soured me on them a bit more. Not to mention the rumors that they were just plain mean to fans and other bands. So when Ryan told me that I simply HAD to hear the new album, I agreed, but without enthusiasm. All of that enthusiasm has since been made up in my avid addiction to this new album. They have achieved a level of musical maturity that is simply amazing. Sam's Town is a themed album, as best I can tell, and relates a story. The first three songs are flat out amazing, and deserved to be played together as one long song. (Much like Rush's 2112 overature was on juke boxes, for those of you old enough to recall what a jukebox was...) (Or Rush for that matter... bloody canadians.)

Anyway. It's awesome. Go listen. Now.

In other news, my grandma Miller has been hospitalized as of late, and has been struggling to live it seems. Her heart has kind of given up on her, and she's been rallying this week, but we're not sure how much longer we'll have her with us. Thankfully, Sarah Kiah and I were able to visit her a few weeks ago on a trip out east.

On a personal note, I have lost a bit of weight. In part to my jobs in engineering and now, housekeeping. I'm hanging around 170 instead of 185, and I've been feeling a great deal better about my body. It's just nice to occasionally surprise yourself with a bit of discipline and accomplishment.

Like I said, I'm in housekeeping now. Also doing a stint in security on the weekends. So I'm taking care of both departments at the same time. Housekeeping has been as awesome as I hoped it would be so far. Security is boring, but a nice change from the norm. We had a Hilton inspection of the hotel last week. They come and make sure we can keep the name. Housekeeping did VERY well. 99% in every area. But the kitchens nearly killed the entire hotel with some very dirty areas of their operation, and some deplorable cleaning procedures. I will have my work cut out for me when I work the line with the chefs... but we'll cross that bridge when we get there.

I am still getting credit from the management for the fantastic service scores at the front of the hotel. Apparently, I get to ride that wave of goodness until the bellmen and valets start stinking, if they do, corporate will blame the front office manager for screwing up my hard work. So that's another win-win for me. Weird how these things work, but in all actuality, that perception of the situation will be pretty accurate. At the moment, the bell stand/valet staff are still following my procedures and mind set, and because of that, they're succeeding. If they abandon those standards and thought patterns, they'll start failing, and since it is the front office manager's job to make sure that they don't do that, it will be his fault if the scores fall. So the upper management will have made a correct assertation of the situation... shocking, but pleasant.

Communicating in housekeeping has been a challenge, as I knew it would. I bought a spanish english dictionary, and it has come in handy, but for the most part, I want to force the housekeepers into becoming more comfortable with their english, so that they can better understand their coworkers, managers, and our guests. It's not like they're hidden from the front of the hotel, and only interact with eachother. They are required to be able to assist guests with anything they need, and to do that, they have to speak english. (Some folks would really haul out the soap box for that paragraph, but I simply see it as a challenge, and I'm not looking at it on a national scale, simply on a local one.)

I went to see the movie "300" yesterday at the IMax with a group of guy friends. It was very good. Aside from a fairly weak ending, it was a very solid movie. Not to mention the impressive-ness of watching it on a GIGANTIC screen. I was pleased.

My birthday went well. We had some friends over the other night, and enjoyed a night of games and talk. It was cool.

Well, we're off to do some shopping this morning. So I'll let you go. Thanks for checking in, and I'll talk to you later.

-me.

Stuff about our life... and yeah, it's on my blog.

Hi there.
Welcome back.

Life has been interesting, full, and very positive as of late. My dreams and aspirations have been coming to fruition as of late. Sarah becomes a better wife, mother and woman every passing day.

Kiah has been ridiculously insane lately... he never stops twisting, turning, making faces, head-butting furniture, kissing, crying, talking in jibberish, biting, eating, trying to pull cords out of the wall, and generally causing havoc. That Sarah hasn't eaten him yet, amazes me.

Work has been going incredibly well for me. I am now in the engineering department, where I have been able to be useful once again in several areas I did not think possible. (And by "again" I am referring to my stint in the accounting department.) I've done an audit of every key that we have in the engineering department. All of which "should" correspond with its lock somewhere in the hotel. The problem has been, that the last time someone did an audit and reorganized the keys was 1986. The Challenger blew up that year... the Bears were in the superbowl... I was 6. So yeah, it's been awhile. The hotel has changed hands at least 4 times since then, and many of the rooms, titles, and keys have been changed long since. And have never been updated.

Needless to say, I had my work cut out for me. At the same time, I've been revamping our preventative maintenance schedule and overseeing its execution by one of our engineers named Tracey. Yesterday I ran out of keychains, and decided to clean and paint the back room that I've been working out of. Because I can, because it's dark in there and the white walls and ceiling would really brighten it up, but most importantly, because I was bored. So I cleaned it yesterday and one of our guys who is a drywall genius mudded it for me. It looked great. Today I painted it, and when it dried, I retyped any memos that we needed, laminated them, and stuck them on the nice new wall. It's night and day from what it was just two days ago, and earned me some more brownie points with the engineering staff. They're so happy to have all the machines back there clean, and the room is so much brighter.

Sarah, Kiah and I are headed to Chicago and Ohio for the week starting tomorrow morning. It should be a great time to spend with our family and friends and we are very excited. After I get back, I am going to do a hotel wide fire drill evacuation. While I am planning to delegate a portion of it to our director of security, I will be overseeing and tracking the drill, which will be one of my major duties in engineering before I leave. My next departmental shift should take place in March. And will most likely be a split week between housekeeping and security. I am looking forward to both. Everything has been pie in comparrison to the front desk. I hate the front desk...

One last thing about work, I was able to overhear a discussion between our controller and our front office manager two weeks ago that was about me. In the midst of that conversation, they were discussing my performance in their departments, and Jo, the controller, said that corporate can't stop talking about me. They think I'm a "god" for bringing in the nearly 200k in aging accounts that I made my goal for my time in accounting. She said that they keep expecting them to live up to my performance every month, and that is "not possible." She was so proud, and annoyed... it really made me feel like what I'm doing is worthwhile, both for our hotel, and for Sarah, Kiah and my future... My name is known, and my old GM is now the senior VP of the company. He hired me to my current position, and has every right to brag about me as his hire. Currently, he's looking good, the hotel's looking good, and I'm looking good because of some amazing circumstances, timing, and initiative that some would attribute to blind luck and skill, but I know different.

A year ago, I was without a job, and had never even considered working in a hotel. You all saw it happen, and you've seen the steps of faith that we've taken this year. I can't help but say that this is 100% because of what God's been doing in my heart, my attitudes, and the attitudes of my superiors. At every job I've worked at, I've given it my all, only to be passed over by my managers. Ata-boy'd, but never given a raise... and at some jobs, it almost felt like the truly good people were punished by having to pick up the slack of the poor performers. (Jim V. knows exactly what place I mean...) But God has been blessing this job at every turn. I've given it no more than I've given any other job, but it's been noticed. I haven't changed my personality, but here it's appreciated. I've always tried to go above and beyond to boost moral and do my best, but here it's rewarded. In many ways, I feel like this job is direct result of trusting God to take care of us, being patient, and being open to doing something I'd never done before. And alot of prayer.

In addition to the work that God has done in us, for us and through us this year, I want to thank all of you for supporting us through the difficult times we've faced.

Jim... you and Paula were such a blessing to us in such a crazy time. We will never forget that. We love you.

Ryan, I have never been blessed with a shoulder like yours, and I don't plan on ever letting go of our friendship. You have been, and continue to be, my best friend.

Family Miller, you have been such a consistant source of love, support and acceptance for me. Knowing that you believe in me, gives me the strength to do the same.

Family Schmitt, your patience with what's been happening in our lives, your words of encouragement, and your support of Sarah when I'm at work have been invaluable to us.

Sarah, you've been the strongest, bravest, most amazing teammate I could ever ask for or imagine. I love you so much...

Google - Kiah...

How FRIGGEN awesome is this!!!!???