This page is dedicated to things I think about that are longer than my Weblog but shorter than a normal Blog. I update this as I ponder about life's lessons.

‡ My Mom and my Dad raised Karen, Michael and I strict. We were taught early on to say 'please' and 'thank you' for everything. I think I am more polite than Karen and Mike; I say 'excuse me' if someone bumps into me, even if it wasn't my fault. Over the years, I've had many people tell me how nice I am. As I right this, I know that I am a sincere person, but one thing that I DO NOT like is when someone asks me to help them or do something for them without, at a minimum, saying 'hello' and 'how are you?' When I'm at work, making telephone calls, or just talking with someone, I always greet and ask about them. So my new stance is when someone approaches me with something and they don't say it, my lines are "Hello! How are you? I'm fine, thanks for asking."

‡ A friend got a ticket for not wearing a seat belt. I thought that was weird, because I feel very uncomfortable if I don't wear seat belts. I've wore seat belts since the late 70s. My Mom had a friend who was in a bad accident and would have died if she wasn't wearing a seat belt. From that point on, my Mom made Mike, Karen and I wear them. We hated it! I thought it was stupid. I had to look like (more of) a nerd in front of my friends when my Mom made everyone in the car wear them. After a while, I got used to it. So when it became a law in Michigan to wear seat belts (July 1985) I didn't have a problem. Today, there are times when I'm not sure if I closed my garage door in the morning. I've driven halfway to work before I'll turn around just to check it. My new trick is to not buckle my seat belt before the door goes down. There is no way I'll drive down the street without a seat belt so now I know I closed the garage.

‡ I was born and raised in Detroit Michigan. Still love it there. Still support my Detroit sports teams. So why won't I travel there from October to April? Because I can't take cold weather! When I joined the Air Force and found out I was going to be stationed in Florida, I was happy. When I decided to separate from the Air Force, I planned to move back to Detroit. When I got my job in Arizona, two things were important: a job and warm weather! People ask do I miss changing seasons, leaf colors and snow. And I say No! If I really wanted to see snow, I can drive 2 hours North. I remember as a kid shoveling snow for an hour just to go and do it again 6 hours later. I remember what the salt does to your car. My 'best' memory is the Winter of 1983-1984. I had a paper route for the Detroit News. I got up early Sunday morning to deliver. It was so cold outside that my hands almost froze. I stopped halfway through my trip, ran home and tried desperately to warm my hands. It felt like a million needles jabbing at my fingers. I was in the basement screaming with pain into a pillow so I wouldn't wake up my family. Finally the agony went away and I could finish my paper route. And that's why I don't miss cold weather.

‡ I've been thinking about my Grandma Mary a lot lately. Mary is 80-something years old and lives in Inkster Michigan with her niece. Mary's sister Rebecca lives right behind them. Mary owned a restaurant in downtown Detroit named B&B Fish Dock. It specialized in soul food. Lots of Detroit dignitaries dined there including judges and mayor Coleman Young. Trivia note: B&B's building is used as a part of Ford Field where the Detroit Lions play NFL football. So if you own a restaurant for at least 30 years, you have to be able to cook well. Mary is an excellent cook. One night in 1990 I was in her neighborhood and I stopped by to visit her and my Grandpa Loyace at home. If you visited Mary, you had to eat something. Mary was cooking steaks so I sat down. As the three of us talked, I noticed my steak had a weird aftertaste. After a few more bites, I said "is this liver?" Loyace said yes. I said "I don't like liver!!!" Mary said she didn't know. One of Mary's best selling items was her fried liver with onions. I've never eaten liver since then but I finished my plate that night.

‡ On 18 September 2009, TV soap opera Guiding Light (GL) aired its last episode, number 15,762. GL is the longest-running drama in television and radio history. It started as a radio show in 1937 and switched to TV in 1952. GL has been losing viewership over the years and was the lowest-rated soap. I'm a little sad because I am a fan of Guiding Light. I first started watching in the mid-1970's because of my sister Karen! I got out of school earlier than she did. Karen wanted for me to tell her what happened. When I was in 10th grade I used to talk about GL with a girl named Glenda. When I first started working at Kresge's in 1984, I would go to work early so I could change the breakroom TV channel from General Hospital to GL. Most of the employees were mad! My favorite storylines were the Kelly and Morgan love affair, Carrie Todd murder trial and the exploits of Nola Reardon. Around 1987 I stopped watching as much. Once I joined the Air Force, I gave up on GL. Up until it got cancelled, every couple of weeks I would DVR GL to watch while I ironed clothes. I would also DVR when big events happened like when Philip Spaudling came back. I watched the last week and thought it ending well, even though they left a few questions. Even though I didn't watch it regularly, I'll miss the citizens of Springfield.

‡ A lot of people ask me about the bag that I used to carry my Karate gear. The bag has Marlboro cigarettes logos all over it. They wonder do/did I smoke. I smoked for about a month back in 1985 when I was 18. I didn't know how to smoke so I just quit. My brand was Newport. Fast forward to 1992 when I worked part time at the JR Store. Mostly rednecks shopped there. I eventually got to know all of the 'regulars' and I think they tolerated me. By far, the most popular cigarettes were Marlboro Reds soft pack. If we ran out of soft pack, I would offer hard pack and most would refuse it. JR received a 5 pack mini-box of Marlboros that we would sell at a special price. Inside of this box were 5 Points to get Marlboro gear. Nobody would ever buy the box and wanted just 1 pack. So we would open the boxes and sell individual packs at the normal price. I threw away at least 300 points before I started saving them. I got a catalog and ordered stuff. I got t-shirts, drink holders, back pack, bottle openers, and hats. The only thing I have left are two bags, one I use to carry my Karate equipment.

‡ I'm amazed when actors cry on demand. An actress (Melody Thomas Scott who plays Nikki Newman on Young and the Restless) who is an excellent crier says that she taps into a sad moment from her past to drive her on-screen emotions. Whenever I feel bad and need to smile, I think of this: in May 1993 I went back to Detroit, Michigan on leave/vacation. Of course, at that time I was in the Air Force and stationed in Northwest Florida. Johnny, a Detroit police officer and my best friend in high school, and I went to Cedar Point, the great amusement park in Sandusky, Ohio. Weekdays in the middle of May is an incredible time to go, because CP isn't crowded and you can get maximum rides with short wait times. Even though I love roller coasters, one of My Favorite Things is the bumper (or Dodgem) cars. I don't like hitting other cars; I like to drive around avoiding hitting/getting hit and making the car go backwards. I'm cruising along when a little girl, around 12 years old, hit me head-on and started laughing! I said "watch out" and the girl, lets call her Lucy, stuck her tongue out at me and said "You watch out!" I told Johnny that we were going to get her. Then the ride stopped. Lucy immediately got out of her car, got back in line, and entered another car. Johnny and I did the same. Since there were few people riding the Dodgem, we could get off and back on quickly without waiting. We did this about 4 riding cycles, with Lucy avoiding us each time. The 5^th time we trapped Lucy. Johnny smashed her on her right side, startling Lucy. As he hit Lucy, Johnny said "BAM!" At that point, I swooped in from Lucy's front-left side and yelled "Hey Kid!" Lucy turned to me and looked with her eyes and mouth wide open in shock. I struck Lucy while shouting "BAM!" Right after, Dodgem stopped. Lucy ran over to her parents and they walked away. Johnny and I jumped out our cars laughing so hard that we fell on the ground crying. For the next hour, all we talked about was the look of fear on Lucy's face. Whenever I need a pick-me-up, I think of Lucy.

‡ So the other day someone asked how did I become a PhD in the Study of the Human Condition? After asking that person to stay out of my personal business, I said I read, wrote a thesis and took tests. They went on to ask what is the Human Condition? First of all, how dare this person try to grill me?!? Second, it would take days to fully answer that question. A condensed answer is observing behavior. I'll give you an example: As you read on my Work History page, I had a job in retail for almost 10 years. One place that I didn't mention was from 1991-1993, when I was living in Panama City, Florida I worked the overnight shift at a convenience store called JR (pronounced Junior) Food Mart . This was one of the those combination gas stations with an attached shopping area and sold hot dogs, drinks, potato chips, lottery tickets and cigarettes. Actually, I have a story about cigarette habits but that's another Random Thought. One thing I liked to watch was coffee drinkers. {Full disclosure: I like my morning cup of coffee at work. Sometimes I'll drink coffee at home but it's mainly a work thing.} I made sure JR had a fresh pot of coffee for my shift. At 3:30 A.M. I started keeping more than one pot, increasing as it got to closer to 6:00, my quitting time. I noticed that people automatically reach for the coffee pot that is directly under the maker, assuming it is the freshest pot. So I started putting the "older" coffee underneath the maker and "newer" pots on the warmers. No one noticed a difference. At my present job, we have a similar coffee maker setup and I watch how people still drink from the "new" pot of coffee.

‡ My friend Chris Thornton made Senior Master Sergeant (E-8) in the United States Air Force. I'm incredibly happy for him. To see a good guy make rank shows that it doesn't take ass-kissing to get promoted. Another great example of a hard-working man who got promoted is Master Sergeant Aramis Stevenson. I supervised Aramis back in 1997 so I know what type of person he is. Also I should mention Robert Grimmett, who turned in his Master Sergeant stripes and went to officer school and it now a Captain stationed in Hawaii. Why do I mention this in Random Thoughts? I often wonder: Where would I be at if I were still in the Air Force? Before I decided to separate from the Air Force, I had the next 5 years of my military career planned out. I was going to go to Korea, then go to the 726 Air Control Squadron (ACS) in Mountain Home, Idaho. During my 726^th tour I would go to Advanced Weapons Director School. I wanted to go to Army Jump School. I figured sometime in the twilight of my career I would like to work at a school like where I work now (607 ACS). Hopefully by this point (March 2009) I would at least been a Master Sergeant. But who knows? I thought I was a hard worker. I always got excellent reviews (but so did everyone else). If I study, I know I can pass any test. In the back of my mind, I wanted to go to Officer Training School. With the way I was working and not taking college classes, I'm not sure if I would have ever received my Bachelor's degree but now with online schools I could have received it. I'm not sure if would be thinking about this if I still didn't work with the Air Force.

‡ While washing my face, I noticed two small holes on my left earlobe. Back in October 2008, a female who watched my Black Belt Test said it was good that I took out my earrings. I told her I don't have earrings. I got my left ear pierced back in November 1988. My brother Michael got his done first. Since I'm older, I got two gold studs. I thought it was cool. Back then I was working in retail at McCrory's as a management trainee and the regional managers didn't like it. So in February 1989 I took my earrings out and never put it back in. 20 years later the holes are still visible even though they're closed.