Greener Grass

I wish I had more time to write. I posted that as the comment when I posted a link to my last blog post on Twitter not too long ago, after realizing I had written that at the beginning of June. Now, here I am at the very end of July, trying to get something down so I don’t go another month without posting something in the blog. The truth of the matter is, I wish I had more to say. Time still is a bit of a factor – work, sleep, and trying to earn some money with video streaming on Twitch and YouTube so I can avoid getting a real second job, but even with that, I just don’t know what I would write even if I forced myself to sit down more often and work on it. I had always intended this blog to be a bit of a soapbox, to give me an outlet to comment on current social events, and certainly there is plenty of fodder for that on any given day in the grand ole U S of A. But how many times can you say idiot, unbelievable, apathy, or a joke and still make it interesting? Then there’s things that I really want to say, but need to keep my mouth shut so I don’t alienate too many people I know.

One thing I had been considering over the course of vacation last week was perhaps finally making this blog a bit of journal or diary. Sometimes the most interesting things can start with the phrase, “Dear Diary ….” I think, however, it would be just a way to help me remember little tidbits of things from year to year. After all, I am still trying to figure out where the last 12 years went now that Erin is in her last year of being a pre-teenager. Sometimes the daily grind just grinds you down so much that it seems to be the only thing that matters in life. I suppose that when you need to rely on the grind to keep food on the table and a roof over your head, it’s not that hard to get in that rut, and can’t see a way to get out of it without hitting the lottery. But of course, that dollar spent on a lottery ticket is another dollar that doesn’t go towards paying the bills, so it’s a dollar that can’t be spent on a high odds chance.

This year’s annual trek to the Lancaster area just cemented the fact that even though we may be stuck in that rut of the working grind, perhaps we need to do something to make it feel more worth the time away from home and the things that we really enjoy doing. It may be we are seeing some greener grass a couple hours down the road from us, but sometimes a change in scenery can be just what is needed to get a fresh perspective on life and our own little slice of the world. There’s always that fear of leaving one’s comfort zone; of having to start over and prove oneself in that grind all over again, but there’s always that hope that perhaps the grind won’t feel so grindy any more.

Out of curiosity, I wanted to see just how much greener the grass was that we were seeing on our annual vacation trips to the Hershey area, and see if there just a much to do around the hometown area that we weren’t just seeing. So I figured I’d keep to the things that are within an hour or so from home and likewise for the Hershey area and see what I could come up with.

At home we have:

Philadelphia and the related historical sites there.

The Art Museum

The Philly Zoo

Trenton and a few things there like the War Memorial and Planetarium

Washington’s Crossing

Princeton Battlefield

Bowman’s Hill Tower and a Revolutionary Battlefield park

The Camden Aquarium

And of course the big theme park – Sesame Place

A little further out we have the Jersey Shore and New Hope/Peddler’s Village

In Hershey there is:

The obvious – Hersheypark and Chocolate World

ZooAmerica

Indian Echo Caverns

The Pennsylvania Renaissance Faire

Strasburg Railroad and the Museum

Dutch Wonderland

The Toy Train Museum

Lake Tobias Wildlife Park

Gettysburg

After looking at the lists I realized that there is quite a bit of variety and things to do around home. The only thing we really haven’t done with the kids has been Sesame Place, which is kind of ironic since the primary reason we go to Hershey are the two amusement parks. So maybe the grass isn’t that much greener on the Hershey side in terms of things to see and do, but the lynch pin may just be the things that aren’t on the list – the quality and cost of living. The one intangible and the other more practical are the true things that can make the grind more bearable. In the end, I think we the older we get, the more we realize we need a change of pace, even if it’s just in those times we get to escape the grind, and perhaps it could just lead to a much better change in the grind itself. Even if the grass really isn’t greener for the Amish, at least having a different patch of grass to mow can’t be any worse than what we are looking at now.

Another Summer

The Pointer Sisters covered Santa Claus is Coming to Town for the first A Very Special Christmas album way back in the late ‘90’s. At the opening of the song, they say “Another year has gone by.” More and more, that line keeps running through my head as we keep hitting those yearly milestones again and again each year.This time around, it’s another year of school ending for Erin, and another June that has arrived, which means another summer of Hersheypark and the second year of setting up our small pool. Another summer of dealing with ants in the house and finding toads and snakes out in the back yard. Another summer that I am sure will feel that it went by way too fast. But at least for right now, there are those fun times we still have the opportunity to look forward to. Those times when we can finally take a breather from the grindstone and sit back to relax for a change.

Going to Hersheypark is one of those annual family traditions that come Hell or high water we feel we need to keep going. It’s unfortunate that our ability to take those days trips is going to be much more limited this year than in years past, but it’s that one thing we can look forward to each year as our deserving reward for all the blood and sweat we put in to our jobs year in and year out, and for all the trials and tribulations Erin goes through each school year. That daily grind, day in and day out, 5 (sometimes 6) days a week, time spent away from each other and time and energy spent trying to earn enough to make sure we can pay the bills and put food on the table. It’s seems that whenever we manage to get ahead, something else happens to set us back again, even just a little bit. This time around, it’s the dog being diagnosed with Addison’s Disease. It’s something that John F. Kennedy had, and can be contracted by dogs as well, though it is rare, and rarer still in male dogs. Just our luck, it seems. It requires a daily pill, and a monthly shot that sets us back $150 each time (more if we were not giving Marley the shots ourselves). It just means we have to work a little bit longer and a little bit harder now to cover that additional expense. That’s just life in the real world, and another hurdle that has to be leaped.

But we have the summer. That really is the one time we can look forward to those couple of trips to Hersheypark to just be able to forget about everything else and enjoy the family time together. Obviously, in our line of work (retail) we can’t even count on the holidays. But it’s that one week of vacation and those couple of extra day trips we manage to squeeze in somehow that keep us going each year. Sometimes I wish we had the ability to just drop everything and go whenever we wanted to, but that’s life in the real world. We just keep looking forward to each summer when that opportunity presents itself once school comes to a close.

We managed to get our first trip in this past Monday, and, despite the heat, it allowed us the breather we needed from the grindstone of our daily responsibilities. A little breather for a few hours, at any rate. It was nice, though, now with Abby getting to the age where she can really appreciate the park and the rides. It made for great times and a few great videos I have to find the time to work on now. As relaxing as it was though, I still am reminded that there are others that are not as fortunate as we are. There are those others who don’t get the opportunity to go to an amusement park, or to the zoo, or to the aquarium, or to the beach, or even to a local playground. By nature of my involvement with Extra Life, I am always reminded or thinking about the kids who don’t have the chances that Erin and Abby have, of being able to get up and go to school every day, and of being able to have that experience and the experience of taking those all to rare family trips to relax together. I realize that even with our daily struggles, even when we have bad days at work, there are others who always have worse days. So I am thankful that, even if there are only a few days a year where we can truly escape the “real world” for a time that we do indeed have that ability given to us.

I am so glad for the Boo that her hard work has paid off and we can reward her with special occasions like this. I have to say that Erin might work harder than any of us. I was never a great student, and struggled with a lot of things with the exception of the liberal arts part (reading, writing, etc), or whatever it may be called now in the asinine “Common Core” age. But Erin really has put a lot of effort in this year to getting her work done and trying to improve her grades to make Second Honors. She takes a lot of the responsibility upon herself since the CC makes it difficult for pretty much any one with Common Sense to figure out how to answer some of the work that is brought home from school. Day in and day out she trudges along and manages to continue to succeed. With all the work she has done these last 9-odd months, she above all else deserves the reward of Hersheypark more than any of us. She has shown a genuine improvement in herself over the years, and I am so glad that we still have the ability to send her to the school we have chosen for her. It is truly making her a better person for the experience. I was never a big fan of school (really there probably few kids who are), but at the end of the day I wouldn’t have traded that experience in for any other. At the end of the day, it prepared me for dealing with the real world, and gave me the ability to be able to do what I do so I can give the same opportunities to Erin and Abby that my parents gave to me. I am so glad that we can continue the decades long tradition of making the family trips to Hersheypark one of those opportunities. The days spent at work and school make it worth so much more.

100 Days

Another Memorial Day has come and gone, signaling the “start” of yet another summer season. School is winding down, and vacations are in the planning stage. We have thus far survived the first 5 months of what I can only think of as a Reality TV Presidency. That’s the thought that struck me over the weekend as we had another interesting week of Tweets, scandal, and shenanigans in our Political system. It just really seems to me that Trump is just treating this as another one of his Reality ventures. The last five months certainly seem to fit the mold of today’s shows. At the very least, Trump made the attempt to keep the campaign promises he made in his first 100 days in office – for better or worse as they may be. Not many politicians can be held to that claim. He certainly gave the Executive Order plenty of use, if nothing else. That got me to thinking, if I had the ability to hold the highest political office in the United States, what would be my big points of contention I would want to take on in my first 100 days of office?

First and foremost, Executive Order #1 would be to eliminate Daylight Saving Time nationwide in the United States. I wrote another blog post about DST a while back, and the complete uselessness of the system in today’s modern world. The disruption it causes just serves no benefit to us whatsoever, so on Day 1, that’s the first thing to go, no ifs, ands, nor buts, about it.

Next up would be non-essential businesses opening on National Holidays. It’s long past time that we take some of our personal and family time back from the grindstone. It’s only a matter of time before those who work in the Retail Industry lose what little they have left of Thanksgiving, let alone some of the other holidays. There is absolutely not one single business that would be put out of business by remaining closed on National Holidays. So Executive Order #2 would be to close all non-essential businesses in the United States on all National Holidays.  Furthermore, none would be permitted to be open later than normal business hours on the day before the holiday (with forced closures on Midnight, regardless). In addition, no business would be permitted to open prior to 6:00 AM local time on the day after the holiday, regardless of normal business hours.

Finally, my third Executive Order would be to ensure all non-essential businesses are closed when there is a State of Emergency declared that covers their local area. Once again, there is absolutely no reason for any business to put the lives of their employees and customers on the line during a Snow Emergency or other similar event or natural disaster. I just find it incredulous that time and again, whenever an event like this crops up – especially the snow emergencies we have here in the Northeast – that the higher ups sitting in their offices will claim (and state) that the safety of their employees is first and foremost, yet there is no inclination whatsoever to tell the managers to close down those businesses in the affected areas. Once again, there is absolutely nothing that any retail business sells that is essential for anyone to have that requires them to put their lives, and more importantly the lives of others, at risk by going out in such conditions. For the most part, there is plenty of advanced warning so that people can be prepared ahead of time. If you don’t take advantage of that – then screw you, due without until the emergency is over. It’s not like anyone is going to be trapped inside their homes for days, let alone weeks after whatever storm system has passed. Forgot to get your milk? Well, you certainly won’t forget next time, will you? And quite frankly, my life is a hell of a lot more important than your damn gallon of milk.

Yeah, I think those are the three things that would need to be done in the first 100 days of a new Presidency. So, all you politicians out there who have aspirations of running for President in the future ... guarantee me that you will tackle these issues during your term of office, and you’ll get my vote any day of the week!

The Purple Hair Challenge

Before I get to the topic at hand, I just had to comment about the wild and wacky weather we had this winter season. As much as I like a good winter storm, I never expected to have one bring us a White Saint Patrick’s Day. Although I did find it fascinating that once again we got another smaller snow storm right around March 9^th this year as well. This was something I had noticed 20 odd years ago – it seems that when we get snow later in the season, such as February, March, and every once in a great while April, it seems to hit around the 9^th of each of those months. Obviously this is just my perception, but still, it’s always one of those things that seemed to perk my interest whenever those storms come to town with a bit of snow the last couple of decades. It would be fascinating to do a bit a research and see a record of snowfall in this area and how often it does fall around the 9^th of the month in comparison to other days.

But that’s something for another time, when there is more time, I suppose. What I wanted to do this time around was get an early start on talking about Extra Life for 2017. I have to thank everyone again for all the support you have given me over the last four years. It’s a great feeling to know that being able to do something so simple can have a great impact on so many, especially when those affected are kids. Combined, all of us who supported the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia in 2016 raised nearly $200,000 for CHOP and all the kids who need its services. By comparison, my $250 raised doesn’t seem like a lot, but it was all put in perspective for my by a fellow Extra Life Stream Team member not too long ago. He had mentioned that there are specialized baby bottles that allow infants born with cleft lips or other mouth deformities to be able to nurse. These bottles only cost a couple of bucks, so in the end, when someone donates a dollar or two, they are helping to buy these bottles for the kids that need them to survive. It hammers home the point for me, that every dollar really does make a difference and my #1DollarAtATime campaign went a long way to helping a lot of kids. So I’ll be hyping it up again for this year’s fundraising, but I still want to do more.

Already this year I have raised $35 of my $250 goal. I am hoping to keep bumping up my goal, as I did last year, all throughout the remainder of the year, and want to try to do more to reach my ultimate goal of $1000. That’s where the Purple Hair Challenge comes in. As I have watched and talked with many other Extra Life participants over the years, many of them have come up with ideas to enhance and encourage their fundraising efforts. Some host giveaways for games and other things, while other perform stunts after meeting a certain goal. I want to try to do both this year. I can’t really afford to do much in the way of giveaways, but I have an idea that I have been kicking around, and will reveal in an upcoming blog post. For this entry, I want to talk about my “stunt”.

Quite a few Extra Lifers do things like shave their heads, the ice bucket challenge, wax their backs, etc. so I figured I would join in the antics this year. So for my 5^th year of fundraising for CHOP, if I can raise that $1000, I will dye my hair purple. The only stipulation is that I would like to meet that goal before I begin my 25 hour marathon on Friday, November 3^rd. That way, I have enough time to get it dyed before the marathon and show off the efforts of my challenge – and the generosity of all involved, live on stream. This would be the first time in my 40+ years of life that I would actually dye my hair a different color, so I’m kind of excited about the prospect of being able to do something slightly wild and crazy. I hope I can count on everyone reading this to help me meet this challenge – even if it’s only to pass this blog entry on to other people you know, and mention the guy trying to get purple hair.

It’s also important for me to note, as I have done in the past, that everything I raise in my efforts goes directly to CHOP and their kids. That’s one of the other reasons I am so proud to be able to be a part of something like this. Everything we do is a complete and direct benefit for the kids of the hospital we have chosen to represent as a participant. I’m glad to be able to do something like this year in and year out, because I never know when something could happen, and it’s our family or the family of someone we know taking their child to CHOP. I never want to see that day come when Abby or Erin need the hospital; or Connor or Fin; or Ally or Cate; or Nick, Joey, or Cate. I don’t just do this for the kids who need the hospital now; I also do it in case the unthinkable happens and one of my kids needs CHOP and I want to make sure they have the best care possible. If I need purple hair to do it, then I don’t mind at all!

http://www.extra-life.org/participant/RealMillenniumGroup

Hail to the Chief

What an interesting couple of months we’ve had since my last entry in this here blog. There just never seems enough time to write them like I had originally planned. Well, I’m not making a resolution about it, because I just don’t believe in New Year’s Resolutions. A belated happy 2017 everyone!

The biggest question for myself was what I was going to write about when I finally took the time to sit down and write another blog for my Outhouse reading pleasure. Certainly I haven’t been lacking for subjects – I had wanted to give one more update on my Extra Life efforts for the year (thanks to all who helped me raise $250 for CHOP in 2016! As a group, all CHOP supporters raised almost $200,000 this year!). There’s also that little movie set in the Star Wars universe titled Rogue One that came out about a month ago. I posted my initial reaction on Facebook after seeing the movie with Erin on opening day. Long blog short, to reiterate it ranks as one of my top (if not the top) movie in the franchise as of right now. But like Extra Life, there’s more I can say on that topic, but just am not prepared for it, and I wanted to get a blog entry in while I am enjoying an extended weekend and have the time to sit and pound on the keyboard for a bit.

What really got me motivated, however, is that bit of unpleasantness we have been witness to over the course of the last 12 months and more. Oh yes, the wonderful Electoral Process we have here in the United States of America. I’ve already said my piece about the candidates and the process in a few entries over the course of 2016, so I don’t have much to add to that, but a few things surrounding the inaugural really got under my goat, and I just have to get it off my chest, so for good or ill, here we go!

There’s no doubt that Representative John Lewis has done a great service for this country, and more importantly for the African-American community over the course of his life. All due respect goes to the man who put his life on the line to support those basic human rights that for some reason we all still have to fight and struggle to achieve at this point in the 21^st Century. However, I take serious issue with his comments (and those of many others to be fair at this point) regarding the Russian’s and the “interference” with the 2016 election. To say that now President Trump is not a legitimate President because of this “interference” is just as asinine as the Birther movement against President Obama has been over the last eight years. For Mr. Lewis to say that what the Russians did undermined the fair and democratic process in this country is disingenuous, especially in terms of the information we received out of the DNC this summer. The Democratic insiders did more to undermine the fairness of the electoral process than the Russians ever could do without Putin personally voting for Trump. It’s that kind of Political bullshit that caused Trump to win the election in the first place.

At this point in time, there is absolutely no evidence that the Russians hacked any voting machine in this country to give Trump the votes he needed to win the election. Therefore any cause that the Russians gave for people to vote for Trump over Clinton is wholly based upon the actions of both political parties. 

The nonsense going on now just makes the Democrats look like spoiled children crying and stomping over their feet because they didn’t get the toy they wanted. At the end of the day, they didn’t lose the election because the Russians unfairly released negative information about one party without releasing similar information about the other party (none of which was ever proven to be falsified information as far as I know). They lost because the Republicans courted the right people in the right states which the Democrats ignored. The Democrats lost because of the political shenanigans prevalent in both parties, and like the New England Patriots, they were the ones who got caught with their pants down, even though they weren’t the only guilty party.

The Democrats ultimately lost because they were more concerned with Glass Ceilings than they were with ensuring they had a candidate that was the best possible alternative to what the Republicans offered up. This country has been more than ready for a female President for many years. We just needed one that was a good candidate for the job – from either party. The ones we have had so far, are by no means close to being that. There is absolutely no way that Trump should have been close to winning this election. The Democrats lost because of their own actions not because of the actions of the Russians.

You want a good conspiracy theory for this past election – I got one for you! I fully believe that Joe Biden, despite the untimely death of his son, would have been prepared and would have gone through with running for President if he thought it was the best thing to do for his party and the country. Despite being an insider himself, and still being a Sanders supporter, I found him to be more in tune with the needs of all Americans than the Clinton’s ever have been. I would have supported and voted for either Biden or Sanders in the general election. However, it is my firm belief that in addition to the death of his son, the Democratic party made it clear to Biden that they wanted Clinton to be the nominee and they ultimately cemented his decision not to run. I think that if the Democrats weren’t so hell bent on the Glass Ceiling, they would have and could have convinced Biden to run for the nomination. He would have won in a landslide.

Now we have to live with the results of the typical Political bullshit and corruption that goes on in Washington for the next four years. Like I said in my previous blogs on this topic, what we have witnessed is many Americans giving a big middle finger to the Political Establishment and the Media for decades of self-serving nonsense. The Establishment and the Media only have themselves to blame for this outcome – no other country or entity is responsible for results of this election. It would be my hope that they all grew up and learned a valuable lesson from this, but unfortunately, as history has shown, the only thing the political parties will take away from this is the motivation to further entrench their own interests and desires over that of the common American peasant. Mr. Lewis’ comments are only proof positive of that attitude.

At the end of the day, President Donald J. Trump may not be the person I voted for, nor the person I would want leading the country, but as an American who exercised one of the most basic rights available in our Democracy, he is my President and will be my President for the next four years. I wish him all the best and all the luck that he can make our country a better place in which all of us can live. At the very least, if he can be the one who truly changes some of the typical business as usual in Washington, than I would consider that a success and a positive step forward in our process of Democracy.