If you're not careful....

     If you're not careful, time has a crazy way of passing by and the next thing you know, it's moved on and you haven't blogged in 11 days... Much has passed since I spoke to you last on Mother's Day...(haven't seen the announcement concerning Mother's Weekend, so I guess it's still in the works).  After 10 straight days working in the office...(the bosses are back and the company remains intact), I got a few days to be with my "kids" (golf clubs) and enjoyed a few days on the golf course.  This week is a slow one at company #2 so I am enjoying the time off and preparing for Phoenix Comicon next week...(www.phoenixcomicon.com).  Should be a scaled down version from San Diego last year, but we are expecting some massive crowds on Memorial Day weekend... Leonard Nimoy (Mr. Spock), George Takei (Mr. Sulu) and Stan Lee (comic book icon) are among the celebrities scheduled to appear and we are expecting a flood of "geeks"... There is a "geek prom", 24 hour gaming, autograph sessions, etc. for all the fans who come dressed as their favorite characters.  While all of you are looking forward to a three day holiday weekend, I will be patrolling the Convention Center making sure the costumed masses behave...

     I attended quite a few graduations in the past week and a few more are scheduled this weekend...(ASU has a downtown campus and they use the convention center for their ceremonies).  Still get a thrill hearing "Pomp and Circumstance" played and seeing the proud smiles of the graduates and the grateful looks on the parents (they made it!).  Good luck in the job market...(my company is hiring by the way).  The graduations were also running along with the AZ Highway Travel Show and the Charismatic Catholic Congress... (mostly Hispanic Catholic).  Interesting combination of events...(and no the roof didn't cave in when I visited the religious venue).  Everything else is going along as per usual...the golf game is in good, not great mode...(will be better once June comes around and greens fees are less).  My love life is in shambles...(like I said, everything is as per usual). I am dating a couple of women at the moment (yes, they know...they don't like it but they know), but nobody special.  And yes, I can hear the comments coming from New Jersey and Virginia (too picky...soup du jour).  It just goes to show you how well some of you really know me...

    

    

Congratualtions on your promotion...

     I am now a part-time event manager for Company #2...(which means this week I will be in the office every day, scheduling and making sure the guards show up and briefing them on the events).  Both of my bosses are going to Wisconsin for corporate training so it's a baptism by fire for three or four days.  I promised that there would be a company to come back to, so the pressure is on.  I also began my career as the training instructor for new hires, guard card classes and supervisors on Saturday (May 7) and it went pretty well...(read that as no one fell asleep during the training).  The guard card class is an 8 hour ordeal (I mean informative) that is necessary to satisfy the requirements for a security guard license in the state of Arizona...(not too stringent since I already have one).  So every Saturday this month I will be giving a class to prospective new hires and people getting their guard cards...  After this week I will return to "Security Man" (I think) and help out in the office as needed...

     Good news on the promotion also... I will be traveling to Orange County, California at the end of June and helping out at the Barrett Jackson Car Auction there.  Originally, it was to be June 23 until the 26th, but now they (the powers that be) want us there from the move-in which could be as early as 5 days ahead.  So it could turn out to be a week to ten day affair...(paid hotel, Per Diem for food, etc).  Then I got even better news...the boss asked if I wanted to go to New York in September for the US Open Tennis Tournament.  I told him yes so that is in the works.  If it happens...(and he said it was) I will trade the heat of August and September in the desert for the heat and humidity of August and September in the Big Apple.  Three weeks in Queens right next door to my beloved (I know they stink) New York Mets.  Don't know my schedule yet but I will keep you updated.  I know that I will try and spend some time in Manhattan if work permits... More details to follow.

     I want to wish all my readers (both of you) a very Happy Mother's Day.  I hope you have a wonderful day and that your ungrateful kids remember you with flowers,cards and gifts galore.  You ladies deserve more than one stinking day to be remembered.  Giving birth is the start of a lifetime job and they celebrate it with one day?  I can see Father's Day being one day... (no offense guys, but I've seen a birth up close and personal and the women deserve more than equal time), but Mother's Weekend sounds like a better idea to me.  Of course, my opinions are my own, but since when don't I share my opinions with everyone...(whether you want to hear them or not).  So, Happy Mother's Day to the Moms in the audience and their Moms and so on and so on.  Thanks to my Mom for putting in the Herculean effort to bring my fat ass into the world...(inspirational, yes?). Let's start a movement and letter-writing campaign to get Mother's Weekend off the ground...

What a great week it was...

     After seeing one the seven wonders of the world, we spent the rest of the week hanging out and eating at some good restaurants...(Cartwrights in Cave Creek and Buca de Beppo in Chandler).  We went horseback riding in Cave Creek and for their first time, the girls did a great job.  Veronica's horse was a slow poke, but Nat got to lead the group on Trips and handled the horse like a pro when he tried to break ranks and go the wrong way.  My horse just wanted to snack on the trees along the trail so I had to teach him who was boss...(the horse won).  We went on a sunset ride and because it started late we arrived back at the stables after dark and we got to watch the horses run into their night time corrals... (looked like a cowboy movie where they herd the wild horses).  Both the girls loved the ride and so did the adults.  And after a dinner of elk at Cartwrights...(does not taste like chicken), we headed back to Tempe and slept.

    Last day in Tempe...we got up and set out on a trip by light rail downtown and visited the Science Center and toured "The Body and the Brain" exhibit...(the one were they plasticize actual cadavers and slice them up to expose the insides).  Believe it or not, once you started looking at the exhibits, the creepiness of looking at actual bodies faded fast and it was really cool.  There was a short movie on the process and it is fascinating.  All the body systems were featured and I shared some of my past with Veronica, especially when we were viewing the section about the liver...I told her that I used to drink a lot (understatement) and that my liver became enlarged, but after I quit drinking, it returned to normal size and it comes up normal in testing.  The liver and the brain are the only organs that can regenerate, but we all know that my brain is permanently damaged...  After leaving the exhibit we light-railed back to Tempe and met friends of Sheryl's for dinner... (they were also doing the Grand Canyon experience).  And I got to take the leftovers home...(and there were many).  Up at 4am (I think) and the ride to the airport, followed by big hugs and they were on the plane back to Virginia...

     To say that this week was the best I've had...(and you know I've had some pretty cool weeks) since I moved to Arizona really doesn't express how great it was.  Being so far away (buffer zone) has its drawbacks, but getting to see my sister and her family is the greatest treat I can have.  Seeing those girls and the way they get excited being here with me...(not going to try to understand why, just enjoying while I can) and how they enjoy Uncle Jim's "unique perspective" is something I can't duplicate.  When my sister said that Arizona would be the spring break destination for as long as I was out here, it made me redouble my efforts to make sure that I am here for many years to come.  There is so much to see here and it gives me the opportunity to make memories with her family.  I have already started during research for next year...(Arizona turns 100 years old next year so centennial celebrations will be happening all over the state).

    On that note, I have been promoted by Company #2 to part-time event manager...(meaning my days as the "human doorstop" are over).  It means more hours and more responsibility, but the pay is better and I will attending more meetings and dealing with clients...(but still getting to see some pretty cool events).  Included in the deal is a trip to Orange County, California for another Barrett Jackson Car Auction and maybe San Diego and New York later in the year...but I'm getting ahead of myself.  Next week the bosses are in Wisconsin for corporate training and I will be steering the ship by myself for a few days...(hopefully there will be a business there when they return).  So, "Security Man" has evolved...(hide the woman and children)...

Now I know why its called Grand Canyon...

     Holy shnikeys!  That's some big hole in the ground... "Grand" doesn't even come close to describing the feeling I had when I first saw the Canyon.  It was so breath-taking and awe-inspiring that words were not available...(and for me that's something that happens VERY rarely).  The immenseness and beauty is so awesome that at times it looks like a landscape painting rather than the actual Canyon.  277 miles long and an average of 10 miles wide... Incredible!  The colors of the rock strata and the way the sun reflects off of it is just beautiful.  I know that there are scientific explanations for how it was formed, but after seeing this wonder of nature, I can't see how anyone can reject the idea that a Supreme Being exists... (and you may call that Being anything you wish at this point).  I always enjoy the majesty of a sunrise and the awesome beauty of an Arizona sunset... (and I worship at the Church of the Holy 18 holes), but nothing can compare to the plethora (I love that word) of emotions that I experienced from viewing the Grand Canyon.  Bravo, Mother Nature!

     Some interesting observations from the edge...a woman with a baby strapped to her back standing at the edge (it seemed the baby was actually hanging over the canyon), posing for a picture.  And the wind was pretty fierce at the time!  An old (and that's being kind) man with a cane walking (and that's also being kind) by the edge, trips and falls and then gets angry when someone tries to help him!  Botched suicide attempt or was he just an idiot? Have dinner at the Yippie-EI-O restaurant and try to hear someone else speaking English...(sounded like the lobby at the United Nations).  And beware the "cowboy" beans...(I'll let you figure out why).  But the coolest observation was saved for Day 2 at the Canyon.  Brother-in-law and sister treated the family and I to a helicopter ride over the Canyon! To describe it here does not do justice to the experience...you MUST go there and you MUST take the helicopter trip because as beautiful as it is from the ground, it's umpteen times more fabulous from the air...

     After watching the IMAX movie of the Canyon...(take your motion sickness pills before that trip) and the helicopter ride, we packed up and headed to Sedona.  It was late and it was dark (I haven't seen dark like this since I lived in New York State).  We stopped at a scenic overlook parking lot and got out and just looked up...never knew that may stars could fit in the sky.  But we were more worried about critters getting us so we didn't stay long.  The darkness just seemed to wrap around you like a blanket.  We arrived at the hotel around 11pm only to find out that some genius effed up our reservation, but after a dress down by sister Sheryl, we got a room...(not the one we were supposed to get, so that meant we had to move again the next day---continuing the "one and done tour").  The next day was spent lounging by the pool, driving around the red rocks and going to eat at the Oak Creek Brewery... (we finished eating at 8:20 and the sign coming in said they were already closed. They fold up the streets early in these parts).