The Ultrasound

Looks like we are having another girl! Don't know if you can see it BUT she's already a ROCKER chick!!!! Top pic on the right you can see her hand sporting the "rocker sign" or devil horns. Hell YEA!!!! And she could be a boxer, the next pic shows her fighting hands, she's got the hands up protecting her face. OR she could be my little drummer chick, AWESOME!!!



















Profile pics. She's 19 weeks old and she's already adorable. It's going to be a long teenage road for me. I'm warning all little boys now... Don't even think about it, I'll have a gun by the time your out of diapers. Think twice.

Nice guys really do finish last... Or do they?

So here's the deal. We had an ultrasound for our second child today. Last friday I had asked another co-worker if she would trade shifts with me, via text message. Well the whole weekend I didn't hear anything from her. So I figured, in my tiny little brain, that I would call my department boss and ask if I could be excused for a couple hours, go to the ultrasound (US) and return to work right after it was done. I simply wanted to go to make sure nothing was wrong with my wife or daughter, and if there was we could get a head start on it by talking to the doctor. US are NOT just about finding out the sex of your child. That's a huge bill just to find that out. They can find spinabifida, brain issues, cleft pallet, growth issues, stress issues, down syndrome and many many other issues. I'm amazed that there are people that don't know this.

So I called my department boss, he said he couldn't excuse me and that I'd have to talk with the HR manager. So I got off the phone with him, called R.L. our HR manager and left a message. This was around 1030am or so. I explained the issue apologized for it being a late notice but needed an answer before my shift was to start at 230pm. So I waited and waited and waited til 1230pm. Called 2 other times in there with no answer from R.L. Called my DB, again, and siad I was still waiting for an answer. He said he'd get to the bottom of it. Get a call at 130pm from my DB. "I talked to R.L. and she said...she's not... going to excuse your couple hours off..." We talked and he said "do what you gotta do."

So I called in sick. Not a biggie right. Well holiday pay is. I lost 8 hours for friday another 8 hours of time and a half on sat and since I had to call in cause they wouldn't excuse 2 and a half hours so I lost another 8 hours. And for what? My department ran ONE machine while I was gone. On TOP OF THAT, they were sending people home early cause we don't have work right now due to our contract negotiations. Then I find out that they allowed a coworker of mine to have excused time off for a european vacation. But I can't get 2.5 hours off, UNPAID and come back in to work the rest of my shift?

My issue with this is this.
1. H.R. manager R.L. didn't call me back because she "was too busy." Um excuse me but isn't your job to handle these types of issues in a timely manner, like before it causes someone to miss a Dr appointment or force them to call in?
2. We are running 1 machine and have little to no work that we are sending people home.
3. My record there is clean, and I busted my ass to get it back to clean (absenses) and to stay that way. I've followed the rules, I do my job and help make my company millions in sales every year, I do what I'm told without bitching (much, but never out loud) and have any and all paperwork done the way they need it so they can do their job.
4. I don't abuse the attendance policy, or the FMLA policy (because I don't have it and like last time never got it cause METLIFE doesn't know how to do their job) I don't abuse any policies that they have in place. I'm a by the book follow the rules type of guy, anyone will tell you that.
5. An Operator that's been there like 30+ years called in 3 days last week. M-Wed, comes in Thurs for 4 hours and is asked if he wants to go home and he does. Because he came in Thurs and showed up today, he gets his holiday pay. Why does he call in, he gets headaches. OH and he just got his FMLA back. So why not right?
6. I was on a 12 hour day continuous shift. (work 3 off 3 work 4 off 7 etc etc) and they put all of us back on 40 hour shifts. So today was my scheduled day off, it was set for my day off.

There's more but those are the biggest. I get fucked after following the rules, and people that abuse the policies still have jobs and still get their holiday pay. So it really is true. Nice guys really do finish last... For now maybe... I go into work Tues and I plan on filing a grievence with my union. And if it turns out that I get nowhere with them I plan on calling my union president. The head of the USW and explaining that the union does nothing to help it's brothers or sisters and it's all bullshit and it all depends on who you are if you get approved for anything. I'm tired of following the rules and being the one that gets it in the end. I'm tired of being the nice guy and getting slapped in the face. I'm tired of busting my ASS day in and day out to turn a profit for other people and being treated like a piece of shit when I need my company to understand. It's always about the company and the bottom line. Family isn't allowed to take any presidence or at least presidence over business. Here's a little something for my job. My FAMILY will ALWAYS come first!!! So eat it.

E.I.T. fuck it let's call it what it is...

The Bush administration is getting and has been getting blasted for it's E.I.T. (Enhanced Interrogation Techniques). Fuck it, let's call it what it is, torturing. But the thing is, did we stay safer because of it? Did we get vital information to halt future attacks? YES, we did. I don't give a flying fuck if those scumbags where burned with a hot iron to get info.

You don't, for one fucking second think that you are going to choose martyrdom and off yourself by blowing up bomb strapped to your chest and taking out as many people as possible, and get away with it if you screw it up. Is it right? No, it's not under normal circumstances. And these assholes aren't under the "normal" catagory. Martyrdom? When you kill yourself? I don't think so. 70 virgin's waiting for your stupid ass? Really? That's called gullible.

So here's why I think torturing these dipshits is ok. First off, it's because they are buying into a lie. And that lie is a couple fold. First is a lie about what comes next in the afterlife. That is a hard one to prove so I'll leave at this. Islam, is about peaceful coexistence. Extremist Islam is completely different. The second lie is that what they are doing is for Allah. No it's not, it's for the leaders of the Extremist Islam movement. Beheading people, kidnapping people, blowing up groups of people because your pissed off at our government. Welcome to OUR world assholes. We don't like them as much if not more than you do. But you don't see us being little bitches about it.

So if we capture an extremist and we think they have vital information that will help in ANY way shape or form, I say do WHATEVER is needed to keep our country safe, our people safe. The people who have done nothing to muslim people or to the islamic faith. These extremist don't give a rats ass about anyone they are killing, they do it for their own rewards. They do it without prejudice. They do it because they are cowards. How do you deal with a group of people that have no boundaries? Who are willing to kill themselves for ANY reason. ANY WAY YOU NEED TO. That means you water board them, you take a hot iron to their fingernails, you dunk their heads into a tank of water until they can barely breathe. You shock them if you need to. You beat them. It's because they were going to or intended to hurt, kill or mame someone that did nothing to them. Possible someone you know or love. Possibly thousands of people. So fuck them. Why should we show them any remorse or sympathy when those are the last two things that will ever cross an extremist's mind. Take the bastards out of this world.

Here you go Jesse

So my buddy, Jesse, stopped by today. Was fun, as usual. We always managed to get into a debate. Me and him could debate anything for hours on end. It can get pretty heated at times too. But at the end of the day, even if we disagree, we never let it get any farther than what it is. Two people sharing their opinions. Our debate this time was about Myspace and Facebook. Jesse doesn't have an account on either one of them. I have one on both, however I don't use Myspace anymore. I have a huge family and I keep in contact with them through FB. It's nice, I can put applications on it and compete with family and friends. I can use it on my cell, I can keep people up to date if I'm at work. Overall, I like it. It's neat. I really like being able to put pics of my daughter up there and the family that I don't see very often can go there and see her and see how big she's getting. I can't do that with my cell, without it costing ungodly amounts of money. I don't have everyone's email to send them pics either. So from a parent perspective it is a nice little site that enables me to share with my family and friends.

Jesse's opinion of it is that it's a fad and he doesn't follow internet fads. I think he was trying to say that the two social networking sites are impersonal. If he wants to know how or what his friends are up to, he'll call them or text them or email them. If he can he'll even drive up to see them and try to make his rounds with all of us when he does come up. And that's great, I see that. So he doesn't like either of them, they are "gay" to him. I wouldn't go to that extreme.

Over all they are a social networking option for people that want to share little details with friends and family. If you got a quick minute, post your "status" so your friends can see what your up to or thinking. Post an album or individual pictures of your vacation, kids, new car, new house whatever it is. Play little games or take little quizzes and see how others do on them. Have a little competition with friends and family on the games. FB and MS are all in ones. Not so much MS but still. You can email, "txt" via the status bar, chat, find friends from school, old coworkers, play games, organize a group share with others what you like, dislike, where you work, your background, your pics and a lot more. So I like it, and he doesn't. And we accept that.

The best part of our friendship is that we are very, very similar. And at the same time we are very different. We've always had this thing that we pretty much know what the other is thinking. Which is an awesome thing to share with someone. Being so different yet you know each other so well you can finish each others sentences.

I met Jesse while working at Wendy's in O-town, Wi. He just moved here from the desert. LOL, I laugh cause I know he'll read this. He's from Nevada, and we all know Nevada is a desert full of sand like deserts known for. lol. Anyway. In all honesty and I don't know if I ever told him this, but I didn't quite know what to think of him. He was very social, a nice guy and a good worker. We usually ended up working the same shifts. Well it wasn't very long and we became friends. So much so that he went and applied at a Perkins Restaurant and we went there for his interview. It just so happened that they were looking for a cook at the time also. So I applied for it. I got an interview on the spot and it went great. So we quit Wendy's and started at Perkins together.

We've worked together, we've lived together at a couple different times in our lives, we've even been in a car chase in winter that caused him to miss a left hand turn and hop the curb and drive a good block or so on the sidewalk. LOL good times. I learned not to flip people off while driving with him, even if they flipped us off first. We've been through thick and thin.

I owe a lot to him, and to call him just a friend would be an insult. He's a brother I've never had. I don't know what road I'd be on in life had we not become friends. I wasn't even planning on going to Perkins or working there. And if I didn't I never would've met my wife, my daughter wouldn't even be here, I wouldn't have the job I have today that supports my wife and daughter and the newest addition to the family or our house. He's been there for me anytime I needed a shoulder to cry on, someone to talk to about absolutely anything. He's never judged me on anything I've done or anything I believe in.

Jesse, your an amazing person inside and out and I love you. I know you know that. But in the last year an a half I've learned that time slips by faster than anyone could imagine. You've stuck with me in all my up's and down's in life and I can only hope that I have been half the friend that you've been to me. Even if we don't live as close or talk as much, it means the world to me that I am able to call you my friend, my brother. So if I've never said it, thank you for always being there for me, thank you for finding your way into my life and thank you for being the person you are. You are a great guy and I'm am proud to call you my brother, or the closest thing to a brother I will ever have.

Here we go again

It sounds so crazy to say it. My wife and I just found out that she's pregnant again! Seems like only a few short months ago we just found out about Haylie and were starting down a new road. I'm going to have 2 kids!!!! That's insane... One is downright weird but TWO? WOW!

I have been blessed with a wonderful wife. Not only that but a wife that tolerates me. I've also been blessed with a beautiful little girl who's almost a year and a half now. They are my world. They're my girls. It's practically impossible to describe how it feels to have what I have in my life.

Family has been, is and always will be my number one priority. And now my little family of three has just grown into a family of four. I'm amazed, utterly amazed.

Now that I have been through my first, I feel less worried about #2. I'm still worried about stuff but they are trivial things. I feel like I have a better sense of what's going on with my wife and with the little one that is just doing some amazing things right now and baby is only weeks old. I feel a sense of pride that I've never felt before. Don't get me wrong, I was proud with my first and still am. But going through it again is just unreal. All the emotions wrapped into pregnancy is overwhelming. I'm on a natural high right now and have been since I found out.

Haylie's going to be a big sister to a little boy or girl. She's going to have someone to play with and grow up with. And she doesn't even know it yet.

My wife is carrying our second child and if that's not the most awesome feeling, in and of itself, I don't know what is. Right now, there is living human being that is maybe about an inch big and it's growing and developing all ON ITS OWN. That's life. It's going to create it's own fingerprints and develop its own eyes, ears, mouth, nose and every other body part with NO help from either one of us. If that's not independent I don't know what is. The only thing that my wife provides is shelter and nourishment.

Myself, I'm in awe again that my wife and I created a person. I'm speechless...again. Two people can create a completely separate individual. I'm in awe of just how fast they grow, both prenatal and after birth. My daughter is walking, just started recognizing people not too long ago, able to climb stairs AND WALK down them and so much more in 15 short months. 14 months ago she could barely keep her head up! 8 months ago she couldn't walk! It's incredible.

All I can say is, to my newest baby, I love you and I'll see you soon.