A Little Hazelnutty

In my last post, when I said "That's a blog for another time", this is that one. Another time has arrived. Over the the past couple of years, I've been hearing the same commentary on the labor market from everybody & their brother. I've even said it myself a few times. "Nobody wants to work". That's an inaccurate statement. It's no secret that the service industry is suffering the most. Yeah, we've heard about fields like plumbing, where not enough people are pursuing careers to replace the professionals that are retiring. I think we could all agree, though, that you are most aware of the "labor shortage" when you are waiting in line. Whether that's at the grocery store, the coffee shop, the bank, or the fast food drive-thru. Nobody wants to work... for customers. It is true, that in March of 2020, a lot of people took time off from work because they were afraid, and some of those people found ways to stay home for a while c...

I haven't written for a very long time... years, actually, but I want to do it more, so here we go.   I don't want to talk about the policies surrounding the virus, there's plenty of people doing that. I just want to share a bit about what it has been like to work at a grocery store during this time. In 2010, when I was 20 years old, I was hired as a cashier at Hannaford. During my first winter working there, I drove to work in a few snowstorms. One was nasty enough that business was pretty slow when I got there. I had been there maybe an hour or so, when a manager asked me if I would like to go home. Obviously, I said "no", after going through the trouble of getting to work in the storm, it seemed foolish to only work for an hour. I was given the task of doing some deep cleaning, since there was nothing else for me to do on such a slow day. I asked "Why doesn't the store just close on days like this? It's so slow that people are looking for things to...

Well, yesterday was National Best Friends Day, and I started writing this yesterday, so it's appropriate that this blog is kind of about friendship. Community is something that we were designed for. Growing up in church, it almost seemed sinful to utter words like "I feel alone". If you dare to say that in the company of other believers, you'll likely get a response like "You're not alone, you have Jesus". As if we're not supposed to desire human companionship. It's time to stop using this line. We need to stop telling people who probably are alone, that they're not. Yes, it's true. Christ satisfies us more than any sinful, imperfect human ever can. He is the only one who will never, ever let you down.... ...but that's not all that we need. How do I know this? Genesis 2:18 At this point, sin had not yet entered the world. There was no chasm between God and man. Adam had absolutely perfect communion with God, and yet God stil...

My family has had cats since I was little. One of them, Midnite, was a black female (not a miss-spelling). We got her when I was 7, and she had to be put down about 3 1/2 years ago. She had quite a personality, and plenty of quirks. She liked to play fetch. About a year later, We got 2 more cats (despite the fact that my mother said "no more" after Midnite). A male and a female, both black. The male, Max has long hair, and the female, Speckles is short-haired, just like Midnite. In some ways, she reminds me of Midnite, but in many ways she's different, with all of her own quirks. She likes to fetch just like Midnite did. She's also absolutely obsessed with being brushed, she seeks attention constantly like a dog, and there are a number of other little personality differences that make her unique and different than Midnite. This got me thinking one day. How cool is God? Anybody who has had pets would agree that they're all different. There is variation even wit...

Every Sunday, the person doing the announcements at church asks "Are there any birthdays or anniversaries, this past week or this coming week?", and if there are, we have those people stand & we all sing 'Happy birthday' to them. Today, when that question was asked, I couldn't help thinking, tomorrow my brother would have been 27 years old. Me or my mother used to announce his birthday, even though he lived out of state, because many people at church knew him...... but I didn't last year, and I didn't today. I know where my brother is, and that gives me peace...... but it's days like this that are hard. I saw a display at Hannaford of the new Bob Marley cd.... normally I would've sent that down to him for his birthday, since he can't get Bob Marley cds in South Carolina....... I would've called him to say 'happy birthday'....... but instead, it will just be another day. It's little things like that that are hard to de...

In a previous blog about SoulFest 2009, I mentioned a little meltdown that I had. Sometimes a meltdown is necessary. At least, for me it is. It wouldn't be if I didn't keep pushing things down. I usually don't cry when I feel like I need to. I also mentioned this in a previous blog. I don't cry in front of people. It's one of my rules. I should have learned by now, that it's a terrible rule. I guess I have a small issue with pride. So... I hold back for a long time (months) until it all comes out at once. That happened to me Friday night. I kind of had a feeling it was coming. I didn't want it to, but it was inevitable. It started last week when I found my brother's dog tag. For years, I used to wear his dog tag all the time. He had left it at home when he came to visit back in 2002. I started wearing it because a). my friends & I were still kind of going through our "camo phase" and b). I was proud of my brother and I missed him. I wore it...

I know, it's supposed to be "music's biggest night". I disagree. Here's my recap, I won't go into detail: Lady Gaga: The whole performance was strange, and if her outfit had been even a little bit smaller, we would've had a clear view of her crotch. I could've done without that. Green Day: I didn't really have a problem with this one. I thought it was pretty well put together. I'm just not a big fan of Green Day. Beyonce: I'm not saying the girl can't sing, but I would've been far more impressed if she had done it without getting down on her knees and dancing like a stripper. Pink: This one was disgusting. Yet again, I'm impressed by women who can sing, and put on a good show without looking slutty. Black-Eyed Peas: Who decided that they could waste my time with two songs. One was more than enough. Lady Antebellum: I like Lady Antebellum. Hillary Scott is not a great live singer, but there performance was very simple, and that w...

Several months ago, somebody brought a dvd to our church called "Daniel's Timeline ". Basically, the guy on this dvd claims to know the day when Jesus will return & when the tribulation is supposed to start. We watched it on a Friday night instead of having our usual service. It was the biggest load of bullshit that I have ever heard. I didn't believe it at all. This guy picks & chooses which verses he wants to read, and he skips over the ones that contradict his theory. He points out several verses that he claims prove that we are supposed to know the day, such as First Thessalonians 5:4, which says " But you, brothers, are not in darkness so that this day should surprise you like a thief". This verse, and all the others that he referred to, are only telling us to be prepared. Do you have to know when something in your house will catch fire to be prepared? No, you just need to have a fire extinguisher on hand. We need to be prepared, meaning that w...

Okay, so I weighed myself this morning, and I was down to 172lbs. Pretty good, considering that last Saturday I was 175lbs. So... what did I do right? Other than being more conscious of what I was eating, the exercise I got in the last 2 days mad e up for an y lack of it in the entire month of September. Thursday, Casey & me had the grand idea to go bike riding after work. I had not rode a bike in years. By the time we got back, the whole lower half of m y body hurt. I was still in pain when I woke up yesterday . However, I didn't get a break yesterday. Casey & me w ere going to the Pillar concert (the Confessions Tour). This was the line-up: 7eventh Time Down RunKidRun KJ52 Pillar Nathan was supposed to go,....... but he changed h is mind. Whatever. The concert was at New Life Fellowship Church in Biddeford. Casey picked me up at 3:00 , and when we stopped to get gas, I ran into the store to get us each a Dr. P epper . When we go t to Biddeford we went to Wendy's ...

Okay, so I don't really have anything important to say in this blog. I just thought that it had been a little too long since my last one. I did get to see my nieces this month. My brother's wife, Chantel, flew up with their 2 daughters a couple weeks ago. Her mother, Trina came with her. The girls were adorable. Aaliyah will be 4 in February, and Emily turned 2 in August. I hadn't seen Aaliyah since she was 8 months old, and I had never even met Emily. Me, mum, Chuck, and my grandparents met them at their hotel in Portland on Thursday (the 17th), then we went out for supper at Longhorn Steakhouse. The waiter was one of the best I have ever had. That guy was good at his job. I was worried that the girls might not be that interested in me, since they didn't actually know me. As we were waiting for our table, Aaliyah looked up at me & said "Can I sit with you?" Of course, I said "yes", and she wanted me to hold her hand as we walked to the table. Fr...

It was so awesome, where do I begin ? I think I'll begin with Tuesday, the day before SoulFest , the day that we left....... Tuesday: I had just gotten my hair done on Saturday. Pink & blonde streaks. We left at about 9:30 am. Casey's father ga ve us an outdated m ap from 1999, and therefore, we got LOST. We were looking for Hayes Corner, it seemed to exist only on the map. So, we took a wrong turn. We quickly got back on track. Then, while looki ng for our hotel (which we knew was on route 3), we went in the wrong direction on route 3, and we ended up i n Tilton ..... this is not where we wanted to be. I really needed to pee, so we stopped a t W endy' s, an d I ran in to pee. So, we turned around, w ent the other direction and finally got to the place where we were supposed to check in at the Lazy E Inn. T hen, we went down the road to the condo, to drop off our stuff. We were in a hurry because we wanted to take a cruise on the m/s Moun t Washington. We made it 5 m...

Just 25 days until SoulFest....... I can't believe it, that's less than a month. This year started out really crappy for me... for about the first 6 months. But, God has been very good to me, and complaining about every negative thing that happens to me won't get me anywhere. This year, I think I have become a stronger person, and my faith has grown immensely. I've also found out who my real friends are, and that hasn't always been a pleasant experience, but I don't waste time anymore trying to make anybody want to be a part of my life. I think I've also become a bit bolder. Skilly has gone back to his crazy Guinea Pig ways. So, good things have happened in between all the crappy stuff. Now, the best part of the year has almost arrived. SoulFest . I love SoulFest, I look forward to it all year, and I can't believe it's only 25 days away. Skillet will be headlining the main stage on the first night. I'm so excited. I LOVE music, and I especially...