21 posts from June 2008

This afternoon I got a call informing me that my Assistant was dead. She was 62. I was told by the Police Department. They are not sure when or how she died. She was on vacation this week and was due in Monday.

 

Geneva Sue Pickett was a good friend, a die hard employee, and one of the most generous women I have known. She volunteered regularly and was a company girl all the way. She enriched my life, improved the quality of each day, and made me laugh so hard that I peed my pants every single day that I knew her.

To say that I will miss her is like saying the sky is blue. Currently the only thing bluer than the sky is me. I was informed rather abruptly and unexpectedly and it has not fully sunk in. I then had the task of informing thousands of people while trying to maintain a brave face for the kids.

 She was at my side, generally trailing two or three steps behind me.  I walk fast and have long legs. She was generally taking notes and scrambling along behind me from building to building and ready and willing to follow me off the face of the Earth if that's where I was going.

I had many names for Sue.  I called her Myrtle, Mable, Edna, Ethel, Pickett, Pickie, SueSue and I called her often.  She was my enforcer and made my daily efforts possible by screening hundreds of calls and putting out forest fires for me all day long and covering 64 acres of chaos. She paid bills, placed orders, met with vendors, and rode shotgun along side of me from the minute she walked in each morning until she decided to leave at the end of the day.

 

Sue could never find her glasses but generally had two pairs on her head while she looked for them.  She would put people on hold after she hung up the phone.  She could outwit any computer with her cunning and crafty ways and would always win any battle she had with them.  They would submit, smoke, and then crash.  They could not keep up with Pickett.  She was just too sly for technology. The more buttons you punch in the shortest amount of time gets the job done.

She was the Senior Women's wear buyer for a very posh chain of Southern Department Stores for 30 years and lived, for the most part a very priviledged life. But in her lifetime she got more out of working with sick people and sick kids then she ever got out of going to lavish parties, fashion shows, and trips abroad. She was presented an award last year for her numerous hours volunterring at the Monroe Carell Children's Hospital at Vanderbilt. He died last week of cancer and was a good friend of hers.

 

If I couldn't find her I need only head out to the employee smoking area and would most certainly find her enjoying a conversation with a patient or a co-worker. Since smoking will be banned in two months throughout the campus we had many discussions about how she would quit. I knew I would be chasing her out of stairwells or find her spraying air freshener under her desk as smoke billowed by.

So at this time I have no idea how or when she died. I made arrangements with her family to start the process of insurance and 401K stuff because they will of course have to make plans.  They were on a family vacation and she decided to stay home with the dog so it didn't have to go to a kennel.  Her nephew came home early for a business meeting but everyone else was in Florida. Her niece called me and we talked for a bit but we had both just had our worlds pulled out from under us. They were all in the car on the way home and had no better idea than I did what happened. 

My world will be considerably less funny, much more chaotic, and empty in a way that nobody else will ever fill. I will miss the smell of her blueberry muffin in the microwave.  I will miss her answering the phone with the receiver upside down.  I will miss the odd calls at all hours of the day and night. But most of all I will miss her friendship and loyalty.

There isn't enough time left in my own life to tell all the stories. But in her little niece Sarah will live the little bit of devil Sue left for us all to enjoy.  She brought great joy to Sue Sue and her stories about Sarah made me laugh out loud every Monday morning.

 

A funny and recent memory was when her female co-workers tried to talk her into getting her set up on Match.com.  The plan was that when she went on a date we would meet her there and sit at tables in close proximity in case any "funny business" was going to happen. We almost talked her into it.

I am grieving Sue.  I will never forget you and will miss you every day. You were a hoot and you were a true humanitarian.  Kevin was going to come and get me when I called him but I didn't want to let you down. The kids in the Gift Shop refused to close because they didn't want to let you down either.

I remember when you told me never to worry about you having a heart attack because you were missing a key ingredient.  A heart. But I think I'll find out in the next day or so that you had one and it was so big and so full that it just couldn't take the strain from it's own size any longer.

 It looks like Marian is going to have to get a "noogie" every morning since you won't be there. I went in the Chapel to get away from everything and Eddie came in to sit with me.  I think he must have been trying to keep the lightning from striking by me being in there but I knew you would approve. Maybe I'll pop in again if you promise to come see me when I'm there. I'll call Victoria and Keesha later on if I can. Usually you do all this stuff for me so I'll have to figure out how to do all this stuff.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Beauty is where you find it.

Life is what you make of it.

 

Another week comes to a close and the joy of outdoor living and long languid strolls,

smells of summer foods, sounds of laughter and glee fill the air.  I look everywhere for beauty but

oftentimes I don't have to look far. It's really all around and makes no effort to hide from me.  If I don't

find it then it will find me. It does a pretty good job of keeping me happy. I hope you are as well.

 

Today our electricty went off and we had no idea why.  The bill was paid,lol. The neighbors in general had power.  Maybe a few behind that we couldn't see. So when they came to check it out it seems a squirrel crawled into the transformer and was electrocuted. The transformer blew and the wee one was killed. I thought about how my backyard gang would feel.  Would I see a difference in the behavior of the "others"? I'll see.  There are many squirrels and I wondered how many times I had seen this little guy. I wondered what made him go into the box. I wondered what the other squirrels were thinking and if they really knew he was dead. I will be able to tell by their behavior. They visit me each day and I can tell their moods by their visits. It was clearly not the Squabbit. It had a big poofy tail and the Squabbit does not. Poor little thing. What an awful way to go.

 

This week I get my inheritance from my parents and it comes at a very good time.  The economy is in the toilet and the best time to have money is when nobody else does. Mom and dad are still taking care of me. The net is still beneath my tightrope and there should be much less fear of financial insecurity and instability.

 

I hope you all are well. We are here..........................................X

 

amphitheater

Much to my delight Kevin came running in the back door screaming "Holy shit! I just saw the strangest thing in the back yard"!

I asked him if he saw the Squabbit. I came running in a week ago and was screaming the same thing.  It seems that a squirrel and a bunny have copulated in our back yard, among other woodland creatures (we live downtown so of course I am referring to homeless people and prostitutes ).

As God is my witness we have a genetically retarded animal that really seems to be a Squabbit.  I am planning on building a Squabbit blind to photograph it.  Of course it wasn't nearly as exciting when I saw it.  Kevin said it was just a Squirrel with a short tail but when he saw it "Holy Shit!!!!!!!"!

I love my little micro community out back. I have my Mockingbird.  Can't pass it without singing the song,sad but true.  I have Bright Red Fred and Ethel and Little Ricky (my Cardinals, or Redbirds as they call them here), I have my baby Robin who roosts on top of everything and stares at me like "please don't eat me Mister". And now, in addition to our redneck neighbors and various and sundry homeless celebrities we have a Squabbit. G-dammit, we have a Squabbit.  I don't care what Fish and Wildlife told Kevin on the phone, almost laughing at him.  It is there and there will be a photo.  It's not like Bigfoot or Nessie.  I can't see a risk unless it has a thing for Jugular veins.  So please keep an eye out.  It is truly bizarre. No long tail, bunny back legs, a squirrel head and little stumpy front legs.  At very least we have a retard. Oh, glorious retarded wildlife!!!! If it sings "hello my baby" I think I will have to make a costume.

Or is that Barbara Bush after a day at the ranch? Nah, it's only Del and Phyllis, a couple for over 55 years and finally able to protect each other and look after each other legally. They got married the last go around but it was overturned and anulled because it wasn't legal. You know, the sanctity of it and all.

So on their wedding day they have been together for more years than 97 percent of other legally married couples will ever reach. Many don't make it to two years. It's because of all those gay people as you know.

Kevin and I have been together for 18 years but we will not get marred until it is the Federal Law of the Land. I don't need an empty gesture or crumbs.  I have paid my dues and frankly don't need society's approval sanctioning my partnership. But for folks like these two I say congratulations.  You have been through things no human being could fathom.  You have been called names, and been discriminated against, and faced many challenges, led secret lives, and God knows what else. You have certainly earned the "RIGHT" to call yourselves whatever you wish and to celebrate your undying love for the entire world to see. They should all be so lucky.  They should all exemplify the true value of marriage the way you have for 55 years.

You go Girls!!!!!!!!

I have no doubt that if they would have met earlier they would have been together longer.

This is a really funny decorating show on CMT called Mobile Home Disasters. Cappy, Joe, Kyle and Lori Lynn are all there to take a trailer and turn it into a renovated trailer. It's still a trailer,lol. But they are really funny and they aren't really awful looking so it's an easy watch. Cappy, the fatter, funny guy said that Joe is the result of Bob the Builder and Tom Selleck having a baby.  Kyle has a girlfriend but he seems very chummy with Joe who has guest carpenters and contractors visit. He seems pretty, er uhm, chummy with them also and they're usually pretty good looking. Either way, Cappy is hysterical.  They have psychics cleanse the trailer or have a feng shui guru arrange things.  It's to be funny though. They have to take care of the families pets and then send them on vacation while they fix the trailer.  They always have a big block party and all the neighbors get together for a cook out. I enjoy it and I think you will too. It's on Friday's around 8 on CMT.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I spelled Lauri Lynn and it should be Lori Lynn. Sorry. These guys look so gay. One of them is and the other one just plays one on TV.

(Columbia, South Carolina) A 19 year old man has been sentenced to three years in prison in the death of a gay man who was beaten outside a Greenville, South Carolina bar.

Prior to sentencing Stephen Andrew Moller pled guilty to involuntary manslaughter in the May 2007 death of 19-year-old Sean William Kennedy.

Kennedy had just left the bar and was walking to his car last May when a vehicle stopped along side him. A man got out, approached Kennedy, uttering anti-gay remarks and then hit Kennedy in the face.

The young man fell and struck his head on the pavement. He later died in hospital without regaining consciousness.

Based on witness accounts of the attacker and car Sheriff's deputies arrested Moller. He was originally charged with murder but last fall a grand jury had reduced the charge to involuntary manslaughter.

Prosecutors said the murder charge unlikely would not hold up in court because there was no way of proving that Moller intended to kill Kennedy when he punched him.

Kennedy's mother said she was glad Moller would serve at least some time behind bars but that no amount of time would bring her son back.

"It's the best that we could have hoped for, but it's not enough," Elke Kennedy told The Associated Press.

But Moller's attorney said imprisonment was unjustified. Ryan Beasley said Moller, who has been out on bond since December and now has a child, has learned from his mistake.

The case has prompted new calls for hate crime legislation in South Carolina. But of course living is considered "special treatment" if you're gay.

©365Gay.com 2008

 

So if I shoot somebody and say that I only wanted to put a hole in them and not kill them can I get away with it? He has a kid now so while Sean lays dead in a grave he's off "nailing chicks" and impregnating them? While out on bail?

Does the punishment really fit the crime? Slamming somebody in the head is involuntary manslaughter? Another monster out on the streets.  Another kid dead. This is not in some foreign country. This is right here and coming to a town near you. But don't worry.  They'll learn their lesson.  The lesson they learn is that it is still okay to fag bash and killing a faggot is the same as it always has been. The poor kid was just out having fun with friends. I won't forget Sean. Some day you will be avenged.  

But we're too old too be able to handle that mess,lol!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Friday couldn't get here soon enough.

Be advised that non-Democratic voters are swarming the blogs and riling Clinton supporters disguised as Obama supporters.  They are trying their hardest to continue dividing the Democratic Party by claiming to be Obama supporters and irritating "Big Mouths" like me.  I have been getting e-mails and responses to my posts making rude statements about Hillary.  I never delete anything but because this is tactical on their part I am deleting them so as not to enflame other voters.

The method is to find Clinton supporters and make rude and sexist comments about Senator Clinton in the hopes of turning us into McCain supporters. Because I am very vocal and use the same name on many, many politically oriented blogs I have been targetted pretty hard. They create accounts, smear Senator Clinton and then delete their accounts. At this point it does Obama supporters no good whatsoever to do this.  I have been warned by other bloggers that they too are being targetted.

Be advised.  Spread the word to people you know that have supported Hillary Clinton to not let this affect them. It is totally tactical.

It should be very clear to Obama supporters by now that they need the Clinton votes to win the General Election so it is quite obvious that this is coming from the other team. I don't believe that Senator McCain would approve. I am quite sure he has no idea it is going on. It's just not his style. Like him or hate him he is not a dishonest or dirty person and has generally maintained more high ground than most other Political candidates. He hasn't been a dirty player before and I don't see it as his way of doing things even if I don't agree with things he stands for.

GUYUSA is one such person. If you get comments from people and their picture is blacked out and their account is deleted the same day it is opened twice you know something fishy is going on.

These are some of the big construction projects at work.  Daniel is being built into a high powered financier. Darius is being converted into an Athletics Manager. Jazz is doing an internship as an on-air Sportscaster and being molded into a National Sports Reporter. Katrina is going into Pediatrics and would like to be a Midwife. April is in research and currently trying to find a cure for Breast Cancer. The Medical Center is adding another 140 bed tower over our Emergency Room. Me....well, I guess I'm in construction. These bright and shining faces are being brought to you by Vanderbilt Medical Center and the future looks bright from where I sit. I don't worry about the future.  I just can't wait for it to get here.

 

I took Clifford down to our Children's Hospital to visit a sick little fella.  We got there just before he went in for surgery and boy was this little guy excited. His family was very happy. I was really emotional. Clifford was more than just a Big Red Dog to me. He did something that no medical procedure ever could do. He gave this little boy more joy in 10 minutes than he has had in his whole life. He thought is was just for him but the rest of us got as much as he did out of it.

My two kids started their mentoring today.  Funny and smart kids and I have to drag them around all summer. Darius and Darius. Last year I had Darius ( a different one) Note to self:  Name your kid Darius and his life is going to be in for some trouble. I think to myself that these kids must be in real trouble if they are going to stick them with me for an upgrade,lol.

So now I have an MBA, a Molecular Biologist, the Marching Band leader, A pre-med student and two "at-risk" youths to follow me around all summer and I can't help but think that I'll be the one learning something. What richness I get from all these visitors to my life. How thankful I am to have fallen into a job that is more of an education than work. Plus I get paid for it. So if I have two Darius' does that mean I have Dariai? TJ starts as soon as summer school is over. His mom's boyfriend got out of jail last week. Vince Gill is sponsoring one Darius for college. I am certain he will go on to be a brilliant young man with a bright future.  Darius II is perhaps not quite as polished but a funny and warm kid. TJ spent last summer with me and wants to be a Police Officer.  He told me he can spot a criminal from a mile away. I bet he has seen enough of them to spot them from two miles away. I arranged a "shadowing" so he'll get to ride around in a squad car one day a week for the next 12 weeks. God help us all.

Daniel will work at the Credit Union, CJ will work at the Pharmacy, Darius I is moving over to Sports Medicine, and Darius II is going to the Plumbing Shop. AJ will work again in the Heart Clinic and TJ will be my humble servant when he isn't collaring criminals. I figured out a long time ago that the best way I can mentor these kids is to hand them off lovingly to somebody else after easing them into "Institutional" life. I break their spirit, teach them manners, and then send them off to do things they show an interest in. I still hear from my success stories and remind them that I am really their success story. Last year I did a post about Victoria, a former student who pulled up in front of my house in her brand new car on her way to college.  She just finished her first year and is staying in Chatanooga to work this summer. I am very proud of her.