June « 2009 « The World According to "Aaarrgh!"

Archive for June, 2009

The Text War

Tuesday, June 30th, 2009

While #2 did exercise some texting self-restraint towards her friends, she did not with her mother. Mother and daughter texted each other from the front seat to the back seat of the car and vice versa the entire drive home. Then each, not wanted to be bested by the other, continued the argument well into the night. As midnight became one became two, the texts between the two became nastier and nastier. I wouldn’t have cared except that since the password was on, every time #2 got a text from her mother, she would come and get me to enter the password. While I was enjoying seeing the catfight, I was not enjoying the fact that it was happening at 2 in the morning, given the fact that I get up around 6. That means little sleep, and that means I am not happy. A message from mother to daughter was my chance to intervene.

Of course, when I did, I was accused by The Mistress of poisoning #2′s mind and telling her what to write. After all, why would I still be up? It was obviously a father-daughter conspiracy to humiliate her. The last message I sent from my phone, well after two, mentioned the text block. The phones went silent, and I was finally able to lay my little head on my pillow and count sheep.

Posted in Aaarrgh, Comments, Kids, My personal soap opera, Number 2, Number 4, Schrader Cousin 29 | 4 Comments »

Life Without Text

Tuesday, June 30th, 2009

When I put the password block on the third phone at midnight on June 27, #2 looked very gloomy, like she had lost her best friend. I guess, in a strange way, she had. You see, she had relied almost exclusively upon text to talk to her friends, and now that I had taken that away, I had, indirectly, taken her friends away. And it hurt.

On Sunday, I took the text block off for one day so that she could respond to some repeated texts that she was getting, and she would not be around me to have me enter the password. You know what? She hardly texted! In fact, the person she texted the most was her mother, with whom she had a running argument by text while they were in the car together. The password is now back on, and she is actually using the phone as, well, a phone! It is so refreshing to actually have a real conversation with her. Texts have their purpose, but it is maddening to try and have a deep conversation by text. And, very very dangerous when you are driving.

Posted in Aaarrgh, Kids, My personal soap opera, Number 2, Number 4 | 3 Comments »

Is It Time For A Change?

Tuesday, June 30th, 2009

I will be with the city five years in November. Every day, I have to drag myself out of bed to come to work. I find the job decent enough, I just don’t like the work environment, and never really have. For a couple of reasons.

First, this place is a huge soap opera. Yes, I know, I’ve been going through my own personal soap opera for the past several years, but it pales….

Second, I don’t feel respected. I have more continuous engineering service than anyone, and I am five of five, despite the fact that I ranked third in terms of years of service with the city!

Third, there is just too much hypocrisy. There are employees who can pretty much do whatever they please, and not a word is said, while others are hounded for petty inconsequential stuff.

Fourth, I feel like I have been dumped on. I get to do the same old crap tasks day after day after day without any relief in sight. Not even a pinch hitter. I am afraid to even take a day off anymore because I know the work will pile up, as there isn’t anyone who is even remotely interested in learning what I do and what I know.

I’ve made several major changes the past year — I rejoined the ranks of homeowners, upgraded some vehicles, parted ways with a wife….maybe it’s time that I start thinking about moving on professionally, too. A complete new start with life…..

Posted in My personal soap opera | No Comments »

Turnpikes Kill!

Tuesday, June 30th, 2009

If you’ve ever had the displeasure of driving Oklahoma’s I-44 turnpikes (the Will Rogers east of Tulsa, and the Turner between Tulsa and that other city in Oklahoma, whose name eludes me at the moment…), you’d swear you’d made a wrong turn onto a NASCAR track. People drive ridiculously fast (the posted speed limit is 75), and because the two turnpikes are so busy, people are forced to constantly duck and weave around cars. When accidents happen, they are almost always deadly. It’s one of two reasons I don’t drive them. (The other being the toll….)

This past weekend, the Will Rogers was shut down for many hours thanks to one of the deadliest crashes in Oklahoma history. Ten people from three families (one family from Arizona, one from Texas, and one from Oklahoma) died when they were slammed into by a tractor trailer going 75. There are a couple of creepy ironies about the tragedy. First, the family from Texas was traveling to a funeral. Second, the reason why the tractor trailer slammed into them is that they were stopped on the highway because of an accident. An accident begat an even worse accident. If you read the comments in the local media, the truck driver is being vilified for what happened, but in his 18 years of being a truck driver, he had not had an incident, which means he is a very very good driver. Some uncollaberated witnesses have blogged that the cars were stopped just past the crest of a hill, so the truck was unable to see them in time to stop.

Yes, I know we all like to zoom down the highway and get there as quickly as we can, but perhaps it is time we put the brakes to our speed infatuation. It’s time that the DOT’s nationwide review the speed limits and bring them back down a couple of notches. 55 does indeed save lives, and there is a boatload of data that proves it. Is a life (or two or ten) worth saving a few minutes?

Posted in Life | No Comments »

Happy Anniversary — Not!

Tuesday, June 30th, 2009

Today would have been The Mistress’s and mine 19th wedding anniversary. But it isn’t. Now it’s just another payday….

Posted in My personal soap opera | No Comments »

Archives From June 1998

Tuesday, June 30th, 2009

To See The Light, One Must Experience The Darkness

http://thefineprint.t2s2.org/Arkansas/tfp060398.html

Opportunism Is Okay, Whining Is Not

http://thefineprint.t2s2.org/Arkansas/tfp061098.html

Archie Bunker’s Place

http://thefineprint.t2s2.org/Arkansas/tfp061798.html

The Arkansas archives are now complete through June 1998. Enjoy!

Posted in The Fine Print | No Comments »

Speaking Of Bathrooms…

Monday, June 29th, 2009

While I was busily cleaning two of mine, unbeknownst to me, Quasi-Girlfriend was cleaning hers. Now, when I visit, I don’t have to dance around holding myself like a fool because I have no place to go!

Posted in My personal soap opera | No Comments »

Driving Lesson, Number 2

Monday, June 29th, 2009

#2 had her second driving lesson this past Saturday, and she did very well. She even handled the busiest street in Bartlesville well; I only hung on twice! While we were out, we ran into Quasi-Girlfriend and her son, and she was driving behind us and agreed that #2 did very well.

Posted in My personal soap opera | No Comments »

A Tragedy….

Friday, June 26th, 2009

I just read that a friend of mine from high school and his son were involved in a plane accident in Arkansas. My friend has been treated and released, his son was air-flighted to a hospital in Springfield, Missouri. The three other people on the plane, one adult and two children, died. All five either attended or were attending my high school. Here’s the story from the St. Louis Post Dispatch….

http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/news/stories.nsf/stlouiscitycounty/story/6A5CE26BBEABE47D862575E100763659?OpenDocument#tp_newCommentAnchor

Posted in Life | No Comments »