I guess I'm pretty well traveled...lots of moving back and forth across the US as a kid while pulling a U-haul behind the station wagon. I still have yet to go outside the continental North America, though...I've got to work on that.
I guess I'm pretty well traveled...lots of moving back and forth across the US as a kid while pulling a U-haul behind the station wagon. I still have yet to go outside the continental North America, though...I've got to work on that.
Wow, have I been neglecting my blogging or what? It’s been a crazy week…that’s my only excuse. Last week we had a little over 2000 distributors descend on our little building here for Pearl Camp, and we were bursting at the seams. Duchess was smart and went on trek instead of staying to deal with this little fiasco. I only wish I’d been with her.
Distributors are special people. It takes a certain personality to be a Multi-level Marketing distributor. You have to be tenacious, pushy, stubborn, and slightly unethical. After all, you don’t know if your product is going to help the person you’re trying to sell it to, but you take their $40 anyway. You have to have a slightly dented moral conscience to take advantage of people like that. Needless to say, these types of people don’t take criticism or orders well. They have an inbred sense of entitlement that they love to flout.
Friday was the crazy day. I came into work at 7:30 to get a head start on the day, and was running around crazy doing last minute things. The new plush chairs in the brand new Visitor’s Center had to be rearranged in a pleasing manner. The world map had to be carefully checked and polished. The tables and chairs in the new Café had to be cleaned and arranged. The Pearl Camp Store had to be set up just so. The distributors started arriving at 8:30 am from Salt Lake City, and they were like kids in a candy shop. Many of them have never been to our building, so we set up tours to show them the different departments that keep their businesses flowing smoothly.
Ahh, the tours. Such a simple idea with so many complications. First, there were the people who had already seen the building and had no desire to see it again. They started roaming around just looking at and touching things. No, no, little distributor. This is a functioning business and we’re trying to keep it going. The people who did go on tours were organized into groups of about 50 people and stood clogging the hallways as they listened to their tour guide. Many of them spoke no English, so they had a tour group translator who would translate everything the tour guide said, making the tours twice as long. This made the tours keep bumping into each other as some guides went faster than others. Then there were the tour guides who would leave their posts. That’s right, they left their little sign and went wandering off while people searched frantically for them since they had the script to that specific stop. Meanwhile, these poor distributors would walk to the next stop and stand around looking lost and waiting for someone to tell them what that department does. They’d clog the hallway for about 10 minutes, and then when no one appeared, they’d move on to the next stop. Good little sheep.
At the end of the tour, the guides were supposed to send the distributors down to the Pearl Camp Store. At first they weren’t doing that, so the store was dead. Then they started catching on, and all the tours seemed to come at once. At one point the checkout line was 1.5 hours wait. This does not make distributors happy. They were cutting in line, elbowing each other out for a better place, etc. Not a pretty sight. There was also a lot of shoplifting. I couldn’t believe these people we probably ended up with ½ of the “samples” that we started with. They were supposed to look at an example of the product sitting on the table and then mark how many they wanted of that item on their order form. Some people weren’t aware of this and picked up the item to take to the checkout. Some people, though, simply put items in their purse or backpack with no intention of paying for them. With 200 people milling about the room, bumping into each other and creating huge bottlenecks, it was impossible to keep track of all of our inventory. The people I was working with said they were surprised at how many of our items we managed to recover and considered it a good day.
What we really needed that day was a “babel fish” like in Hitchhiker’s Guide. These people came from all corners of the world and spoke all kinds of languages. I don’t know how many times I had to explain the order form using primitive sign languages and head bobs. They would point to an item and hold up their fingers for how many they wanted to order. I would fill out the form for them, and try to explain how to fill out the credit card information on the back. I remembered a surprising amount of Spanish, thankfully. The Chinese and Taiwanese and Japanese people had no luck with me. There was a lot of head bobbing and pleading looks from both parties.
Because the store was open I missed the governor and mayor coming to cut the ribbon, the Tahitian dancers, and most of the food. Eventually they remembered us poor saps in the store and brought us some box lunches before we fainted. (That was nice since the day before I had been one of the people assembling the 2,700 box lunches in the hot outdoors.) The one thing that really bugged me was the B.O. It STANK in the store. I have no idea if these people don’t believe in soap or what, but phew!! 200 people all pressed together doesn’t make for a pleasing odor. You can imagine.
I guess it was pretty fun. Mostly exhausting. I ended up working about 8 hours (2 more than usual) and crashing on the couch as soon as I got home. Thankfully, Dinomyn was asleep and I didn’t have to watch him for awhile. The experience really made me appreciate my slow desk job more, so that’s something. It also made me realize what New York Convention must have been like, although I think Duchess and I would have had a blast! Oh well, there’s always next year! I think next year it’s in Anaheim…
Distributors are special people. It takes a certain personality to be a Multi-level Marketing distributor. You have to be tenacious, pushy, stubborn, and slightly unethical. After all, you don’t know if your product is going to help the person you’re trying to sell it to, but you take their $40 anyway. You have to have a slightly dented moral conscience to take advantage of people like that. Needless to say, these types of people don’t take criticism or orders well. They have an inbred sense of entitlement that they love to flout.
Friday was the crazy day. I came into work at 7:30 to get a head start on the day, and was running around crazy doing last minute things. The new plush chairs in the brand new Visitor’s Center had to be rearranged in a pleasing manner. The world map had to be carefully checked and polished. The tables and chairs in the new Café had to be cleaned and arranged. The Pearl Camp Store had to be set up just so. The distributors started arriving at 8:30 am from Salt Lake City, and they were like kids in a candy shop. Many of them have never been to our building, so we set up tours to show them the different departments that keep their businesses flowing smoothly.
Ahh, the tours. Such a simple idea with so many complications. First, there were the people who had already seen the building and had no desire to see it again. They started roaming around just looking at and touching things. No, no, little distributor. This is a functioning business and we’re trying to keep it going. The people who did go on tours were organized into groups of about 50 people and stood clogging the hallways as they listened to their tour guide. Many of them spoke no English, so they had a tour group translator who would translate everything the tour guide said, making the tours twice as long. This made the tours keep bumping into each other as some guides went faster than others. Then there were the tour guides who would leave their posts. That’s right, they left their little sign and went wandering off while people searched frantically for them since they had the script to that specific stop. Meanwhile, these poor distributors would walk to the next stop and stand around looking lost and waiting for someone to tell them what that department does. They’d clog the hallway for about 10 minutes, and then when no one appeared, they’d move on to the next stop. Good little sheep.
At the end of the tour, the guides were supposed to send the distributors down to the Pearl Camp Store. At first they weren’t doing that, so the store was dead. Then they started catching on, and all the tours seemed to come at once. At one point the checkout line was 1.5 hours wait. This does not make distributors happy. They were cutting in line, elbowing each other out for a better place, etc. Not a pretty sight. There was also a lot of shoplifting. I couldn’t believe these people we probably ended up with ½ of the “samples” that we started with. They were supposed to look at an example of the product sitting on the table and then mark how many they wanted of that item on their order form. Some people weren’t aware of this and picked up the item to take to the checkout. Some people, though, simply put items in their purse or backpack with no intention of paying for them. With 200 people milling about the room, bumping into each other and creating huge bottlenecks, it was impossible to keep track of all of our inventory. The people I was working with said they were surprised at how many of our items we managed to recover and considered it a good day.
What we really needed that day was a “babel fish” like in Hitchhiker’s Guide. These people came from all corners of the world and spoke all kinds of languages. I don’t know how many times I had to explain the order form using primitive sign languages and head bobs. They would point to an item and hold up their fingers for how many they wanted to order. I would fill out the form for them, and try to explain how to fill out the credit card information on the back. I remembered a surprising amount of Spanish, thankfully. The Chinese and Taiwanese and Japanese people had no luck with me. There was a lot of head bobbing and pleading looks from both parties.
Because the store was open I missed the governor and mayor coming to cut the ribbon, the Tahitian dancers, and most of the food. Eventually they remembered us poor saps in the store and brought us some box lunches before we fainted. (That was nice since the day before I had been one of the people assembling the 2,700 box lunches in the hot outdoors.) The one thing that really bugged me was the B.O. It STANK in the store. I have no idea if these people don’t believe in soap or what, but phew!! 200 people all pressed together doesn’t make for a pleasing odor. You can imagine.
I guess it was pretty fun. Mostly exhausting. I ended up working about 8 hours (2 more than usual) and crashing on the couch as soon as I got home. Thankfully, Dinomyn was asleep and I didn’t have to watch him for awhile. The experience really made me appreciate my slow desk job more, so that’s something. It also made me realize what New York Convention must have been like, although I think Duchess and I would have had a blast! Oh well, there’s always next year! I think next year it’s in Anaheim…
We went to see Batman Begins last night, and may I say...what a great movie!! It was definitely worth the $7.50 we paid to see it. Much, much better than the old Batman movies that seemed to focus on the girls instead of on Bruce. This story really told it all. I laughed, I cried, I jumped at the scary parts. Two thumbs up.
It did get me wondering about something though, and in an effort to not spoil the show for everyone who hasn't seen it, I'll be vague. In the movie the villian, as villians are wont to do, tries to wipe out Gotham City. He does it for convoluted reasons, though, comparing it to Sodom and Gommorah and saying they're too evil to continue living. That got me thinking about whether it was right to do that. Laban was killed because he was evil and if he continued living he would have only hurt himself more and allowed a nation to dwindle in unbelief. The Flood was sent because the earth's population (with the exception of the Noahs) was evil and needed to be destroyed before they could damn themselves further. Bruce Wayne, obviously, opposes the villian, saying that there are still good people in the city and that the evil people can change. Typical hero stuff: give them one more chance, don't kill someone even after you've fought with them for 15 minutes and you have them at knife-point. The villian has to die in a way that gives no fault to the hero in all of these kinds of stories or he lives and gets away to plan his next hostile takeover. I'm not saying which.
So, my point is: is Bruce right or is God right? Should we just take the good people out of an evil city and bomb the heck out of it, or do we give them an infinite number of chances to redeem themselves. Are these just two different situations that I'm simplifying down to the point of non-issue? True, God knows the intents of our hearts, while Batman just flies around looking good in a cape and bodysuit. But what are we to do? If we have the villian in a death grip do we squeeze just a bit tighter and become an executioner? Or do we let him go and remain pure ourselves while possibly subjecting the world to more danger? I guess in the end we just can't judge. We protect ourselves and our family and our way of life when it is threatened. We are merciful wherever we can be merciful. Where we can't be merciful, we inflict quick justice. This is who we are.
It did get me wondering about something though, and in an effort to not spoil the show for everyone who hasn't seen it, I'll be vague. In the movie the villian, as villians are wont to do, tries to wipe out Gotham City. He does it for convoluted reasons, though, comparing it to Sodom and Gommorah and saying they're too evil to continue living. That got me thinking about whether it was right to do that. Laban was killed because he was evil and if he continued living he would have only hurt himself more and allowed a nation to dwindle in unbelief. The Flood was sent because the earth's population (with the exception of the Noahs) was evil and needed to be destroyed before they could damn themselves further. Bruce Wayne, obviously, opposes the villian, saying that there are still good people in the city and that the evil people can change. Typical hero stuff: give them one more chance, don't kill someone even after you've fought with them for 15 minutes and you have them at knife-point. The villian has to die in a way that gives no fault to the hero in all of these kinds of stories or he lives and gets away to plan his next hostile takeover. I'm not saying which.
So, my point is: is Bruce right or is God right? Should we just take the good people out of an evil city and bomb the heck out of it, or do we give them an infinite number of chances to redeem themselves. Are these just two different situations that I'm simplifying down to the point of non-issue? True, God knows the intents of our hearts, while Batman just flies around looking good in a cape and bodysuit. But what are we to do? If we have the villian in a death grip do we squeeze just a bit tighter and become an executioner? Or do we let him go and remain pure ourselves while possibly subjecting the world to more danger? I guess in the end we just can't judge. We protect ourselves and our family and our way of life when it is threatened. We are merciful wherever we can be merciful. Where we can't be merciful, we inflict quick justice. This is who we are.
Nothing major has happened...at least nothing I could write a whole blog about, so in compromise I'm going to write about several small things.
The Hearse:
Yesterday a hearse followed me home from work. I looked in my rearview mirror as I left the parking lot and there it was. It stayed right behind me (tailgaiting me, actually) all the way to my street. Creepy. Not that I have anything against dead bodies. Quite the contrary, in fact, as Anatomy and Physiology were my favorite classes I got to take for my degree. No, I don't mind dead bodies. It was just that you don't usually see hearses on the street except for funeral processions. I guess even hearses have to get a tune-up and oil change. I don't know what about a hearse seems so forboding. The little black curtains on the windows? The boxy shape? The curly-cue accents on the sides? In any case I thought "Well, if he hits me and I die, at least there's a hearse already here..."
The Job:
I wonder what my boss thinks I do all day. We have maybe 3 meetings a week, and he gives me about 2 hours of stuff (en toto) to do on top of that. And yet I'm at the office for 30 hours a week. Does he think that I'm so slow that it takes me all week to do those 5 hours worth of work? Does he just not think about it? When he has a slow day he goes golfing. When I have a slow day (like every day is) I surf the internet and go talk to Duchess. Sometimes I imagine what it would be like if I had an assistant. If I couldn't keep werf busy, would I pay werf to sit and surf? A surfing werf? Now I sound like Dr. Seuss. I have way too much time on my hands.
The Kid:
So Dinomyn has decided to give up crying for awhile. Nice, you say? Well, maybe. He's replaced it with yelling. When we put him down for naps and he doesn't want to go to sleep, he'll yell. No more waah-waah. Now it's Yaaaa! Yaaaa! I kind of like the change. Crying just sounds so sad and pathetic and heart-wrenching. Yelling just makes him sound mad, which I can deal with.
That's all I can think of for now. Maybe I'll post again later when I have more to talk about.
The Hearse:
Yesterday a hearse followed me home from work. I looked in my rearview mirror as I left the parking lot and there it was. It stayed right behind me (tailgaiting me, actually) all the way to my street. Creepy. Not that I have anything against dead bodies. Quite the contrary, in fact, as Anatomy and Physiology were my favorite classes I got to take for my degree. No, I don't mind dead bodies. It was just that you don't usually see hearses on the street except for funeral processions. I guess even hearses have to get a tune-up and oil change. I don't know what about a hearse seems so forboding. The little black curtains on the windows? The boxy shape? The curly-cue accents on the sides? In any case I thought "Well, if he hits me and I die, at least there's a hearse already here..."
The Job:
I wonder what my boss thinks I do all day. We have maybe 3 meetings a week, and he gives me about 2 hours of stuff (en toto) to do on top of that. And yet I'm at the office for 30 hours a week. Does he think that I'm so slow that it takes me all week to do those 5 hours worth of work? Does he just not think about it? When he has a slow day he goes golfing. When I have a slow day (like every day is) I surf the internet and go talk to Duchess. Sometimes I imagine what it would be like if I had an assistant. If I couldn't keep werf busy, would I pay werf to sit and surf? A surfing werf? Now I sound like Dr. Seuss. I have way too much time on my hands.
The Kid:
So Dinomyn has decided to give up crying for awhile. Nice, you say? Well, maybe. He's replaced it with yelling. When we put him down for naps and he doesn't want to go to sleep, he'll yell. No more waah-waah. Now it's Yaaaa! Yaaaa! I kind of like the change. Crying just sounds so sad and pathetic and heart-wrenching. Yelling just makes him sound mad, which I can deal with.
That's all I can think of for now. Maybe I'll post again later when I have more to talk about.
I never thought I could be this in-love. I laughed and doubted all of the women who had gone sappy over this special someone in their life. It's just a person, I thought, what's so flippin great about that? I had no idea.
As I sat and fed my son this quiet, sunny, Sunday afternoon, I was overwhelmed with a feeling of great love and caring. I would do anything in the world for him. He has me wrapped around his little fingers. I want to protect him from everything, and at the same time I want him to learn from his mistakes and be a strong little man.
My Biology classes call it hormones. The oxytocin stimulated by nursing releases hormones from the hypothalamus gland and the mother is overwhelmed by strong loving and protective emotions. My religion classes call it The Spirit. True god-like love for another human being brings us closer to what our Heavenly Parents feel than anything else we can experience. I think it's probably something in between. After all, God did create these bodies and set up our glands to release these hormones at just the right time. It's funny that I didn't feel this way at first. It was just all exhaustion and coping then. Now it's different. He doesn't cry all the time. He has a personality and a smile and a giggle. He's everything I could have hoped for.
Now the cynics out there can roll their eyes like I did as much as they want. All I can say is the same thing that was said to me: You have no idea until it's your child. Just wait, you'll see. It's absolutely wonderful. I wish everyone in the world could experience these feelings. I'm totally in love.
As I sat and fed my son this quiet, sunny, Sunday afternoon, I was overwhelmed with a feeling of great love and caring. I would do anything in the world for him. He has me wrapped around his little fingers. I want to protect him from everything, and at the same time I want him to learn from his mistakes and be a strong little man.
My Biology classes call it hormones. The oxytocin stimulated by nursing releases hormones from the hypothalamus gland and the mother is overwhelmed by strong loving and protective emotions. My religion classes call it The Spirit. True god-like love for another human being brings us closer to what our Heavenly Parents feel than anything else we can experience. I think it's probably something in between. After all, God did create these bodies and set up our glands to release these hormones at just the right time. It's funny that I didn't feel this way at first. It was just all exhaustion and coping then. Now it's different. He doesn't cry all the time. He has a personality and a smile and a giggle. He's everything I could have hoped for.
Now the cynics out there can roll their eyes like I did as much as they want. All I can say is the same thing that was said to me: You have no idea until it's your child. Just wait, you'll see. It's absolutely wonderful. I wish everyone in the world could experience these feelings. I'm totally in love.
Apparently I'm a: Social Conservative (30% permissive) and an... Economic Liberal (35% permissive) I am best described as a:Totalitarian
I exhibit a very well-developed sense of Right and Wrong and believe in economic fairness.
I took Becca's poll and I think that's just about right. I'm not surprised that I didn't come up die-hard Republican. I guess to each his own. I usually end up voting Republican, but I've been known to vote Dem or 3rd party. It just depends.
I think most of our generation is in the same boat. No blind, strict party adherance like our parents. Mostly we decide individually which candidate is the best one. Sometimes it's a decision between two goods or two evils, but more and more it seems like a choice between two nearly-identical platforms. Don't you jut love democracy?
Here's the link to the poll.
http://www.okcupid.com/politics
Enjoy!
I exhibit a very well-developed sense of Right and Wrong and believe in economic fairness.
I took Becca's poll and I think that's just about right. I'm not surprised that I didn't come up die-hard Republican. I guess to each his own. I usually end up voting Republican, but I've been known to vote Dem or 3rd party. It just depends.
I think most of our generation is in the same boat. No blind, strict party adherance like our parents. Mostly we decide individually which candidate is the best one. Sometimes it's a decision between two goods or two evils, but more and more it seems like a choice between two nearly-identical platforms. Don't you jut love democracy?
Here's the link to the poll.
http://www.okcupid.com/politics
Enjoy!