Time to Start a New Year

Well, if you're a believer in the Dooms Day Scenarios, that you may be planning a huge New Year's Day celebration, since, according to the Mayan Calendar, this will be the last New Years Day the human race will see.  December 21, 2012, the Mayan calendar ends and because this calendar that has been around for thousands of years ends, some think the world will also. 

As for me, I'm ready to start the new year.  Not sure why, but for some reason, January 1 of each year is always a time of renewal.  I guess it could just as easily happen on March 10th as it could on January 1, but the start of a new year always brings hope that things will be better than the past year.  2011 wasn't a bad year for me and it wasn't a spectacularly good year either.  A lot of good things happened for me this year, and some not so good things happened too.  But overall it was a pretty good year.

While we always hope things will get better, let's not forget that the reason things typically get better is because we tend to learn from the past.

And so it ends

Well...Christmas Day has come and gone.  I worked a 12 hour day on the 24th, then finished up some last minute Christmas shopping, took advantage of my Giant Eagle fuel perks to fill up my gas tank, then went home to get a nap before going to Christmas Eve service at Church. 

I slept on the couch that evening, waking up periodically to catch bits and pieces of A Christmas Story on TBS, then got up to go to Church services Christmas morning. 

After that I made the drive down to Lancaster to my parents' place.  This year it was just my sister, one of her children and me.  My neice woke up sick, so my brother-in-law stayed home with her while my sister brought my nephew over for Christmas Day.  My younger brother was busy with other things, so he didn't make it over, and my older brother lives in Nebraska and, being a minister, doesn't make it home for Christmas anymore, as he usually has some more important matters to tend to during, what I would consider, the most important time of year for any Christian.

I was back to work early Monday morning as I was able to pick up some overtime.  It'll make for a long week, but that's ok.  The extra money will help to offset the extra cost of "the season".  Last week and this week I'll work at least 28 hours of overtime either covering for sick co-workers or covering for people who took time off for the holidays.  In some ways that's nice, the extra money is nice, but the extra rest is nice too.

2012 will start off with a 5K run, The First on the First starting and ending at the Westerville Ohio Health Campus on Polaris Pky.  After the 5K they serve up some pork and saurkraut...not sure I'll be in the mood for pork and saurkraut after running 5K, but we'll see.

Things I've learned about Santa's sleigh

When I was young I remember listening to the radio.  Dad always listened to WTVN radio, and on Christmas Eve they would update their listeners as NORAD tracked an unidentified object leaving from the North Pole and heading south.  (Of course, no matter which way you go from the North Pole, you're heading south).  It was fun to listen as they tracked the progress of Santa and where he was.

Now of course, we have the ability to track Santa a lot more closely, as NORAD has given us the on line capability of keeping track of where Santa goes.  Each year for the past few years I've tracked Santa's progress on http://www.noradsanta.org/.  In the days leading up to Christmas the site has an area with different games and information about Christmas and Santa to help count down the days.

Yesterday they gave out some information about Santa's sleigh that I found interesting.

According to NORAD Santa's sleigh is a versatile, all-weather vertical/short take-off and landing vehicle.  It is capable of traveling vast distances without refueling and is deployed, as far as we know, only on Christmas Eve and briefly for a test flight about a week before Christmas.  It is equipped with state-of-the-art technology that enables his propulsion skis to fly at the speed of light.  The sleigh is 75 cc (candy canes) long and 55cc high (without reindeer).  We believe the maiden voyage of Santa's sleigh took place on Dec. 24, 343 A.D.  The sleigh, while occassionally updated with new technology, has never been replaced or damaged (although it almost crashed in 1931 near Paris' Eiffel Tower).  The elves, in addition to making toys, are responsible for keeping the sleigh in fine-tuned condition and perform a test run about a week before Christmas each year.  Although Santa typically rides alone, the sleigh seat was built to accomodate helpers.  Mrs. Claus has assisted with the Christmas festivities nearly a dozen times, while several elves over the centuries have helped.  Santa's trip around the world takes approximately 24 hours.  He departs the North Pole at 4:00am EST on December 24 with every present delivered by 4:00am EST on December 25.  The return trip to the North Pole takes significantly less time due to the decreased weight in the sleigh.
Santa's team of reindeer has remained the same since their first ride in 343 A.D., with the exception of Rudolf, who was permitted to join the team in 1031 A.D. 
Santa's sleigh features a high-tech console that uses GPS combined with 2-D visualization to best plot his Christmas Eve route.  Through simple data inputs, Santa can adjust his flight pattern to hone in on those who have gone to bed and fallen sound asleep.  Santa can also tune into Christmas music that radio stations around the world broadcast by satellites and also has a hot chocolate dispenser on his console to keep him warm on the long flight.

Have a Merry Christmas!!

The Answer was Yes

Yes...even though we're less than a week away from Christmas, I did take the time yesterday to put up Christmas lights outside.  Of course I'm sure my neighbors are thrilled that they get to listen to Christmas music outside for the remainder of the week while my lights flash on and off.  The new gutters were in place when I got home from work Saturday.  Sunday was a little busy so I didn't make it outside, but on Monday I started early in the morning putting up lights. 

One set across the front of the house.  One set around the front door and on the pine branches on the bench on my front porch.  One set on the bushes at the corner of my front porch.  One set on the dwarf lilac bush next to my front porch.  One set on the bush next to that.  Then I went to the store and bought a couple snowmen to put on one side of my yard. 

I woke up a little sore this morning, but still found the energy to run a few miles on the treadmill before work.  So now I'm not one of the few dark houses on my streets, and since the neighbors on both sides had decorations out front, it was nice to include my house in the mix. 

At church on Sunday there was a lot of emphasis put on people finding it difficult to really celebrate this Christmas.  With the economy being what it is, and the fact that life doesn't stop being difficult just because it's December, we do need to remember that not everyone is having a happy Christmas season, and this makes it more important than ever to really focus on the true meaning and reason for the Christmas season. 

People close to me are struggling this season.  One of my neighbors told me yesterday that she has had to file bankruptcy due to several medical issues that have created a real financial hardship for her and her family.  Others I know are facing relatives who are ill and may not make through the week.  It seems as though this year I personally know more people who are struggling than I've ever known in the past.  Maybe this is God's way of making realize how blessed I am and helping me to focus on what I have, and not what I don't have.  Maybe this is God's way of getting me to focus less on the lights and presents that I'll give this year and focus more on why we celebrate this time of year. 

I'll still celebrate the holiday with friends and family.  I'll still enjoy the lights and the presents.  I'll still listen to Christmas songs and do all the secular celebrating that I've done every year.  I'll still track Santa on noradsanta.org on Christmas Eve.  But this year I'll be conscious of those who can't.  This year I'll be conscious of just why this time of year is so important to both Christians and non-Christians all over the world. 

We celebrate Christmas because "God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life."

Do I or Don't I?

I'm hoping that when I get home from work today Able Roofing will have been there and replaced my gutters and downspouts on my house.  The question then is...if they were, do I then put up Christmas lights outside this far in to the Christmas season?

One co-worker says yes.  I'm still not sure. 

A few years ago I splurged a little on my outside Christmas decorations and got a box to plug my outside lights in to.  The box plays Christmas music and has six outlets attached for Christmas lights.  The six sets of lights then flash on and off in sync with the Christmas music.  It's pretty cool.  Not nearly as sophisticated as some of the huge displays you see other places, but pretty cool for my own little display in front of my house.

I was looking at pictures from last Christmas and realized just now nice the front of my house looked last year with all the Christmas lights out front.  So, if the gutters have been replaced, I'm leaning towards getting some outside lights up this weekend to finish up the holiday season. 

As for my last blog...no one has answered any of the questions...I'm disappointed.  My sister did send me a text message saying that she knows the answers, but wasn't sure how to comment on the blog in order to give the answers.  So, I'll go ahead with the "answer key" now...

"Why does Santa wear a red suit?"  The family of toy makers that raised Santa were known for their red suits.  It was their family attire.  So Santa wore his own "Kringle suit".

"Why does Santa slide down the chimney?"  The mayor ordered that all doors be locked to keep "the criminal" Kris Kringle from coming in to homes and leaving illegal toys.  So, in order to get in to the houses, we came in through the chimney.  It was a tradition he continues long after the rule of the mayor had ended.

"Why is Santa Claus also called Kris Kringle?" Santa was orphaned or abandoned as a baby and was adopted by the Kringle family.  They named him Kris..hence the name Kris Kringle.  At the time the Kringle's found the baby the only identifying item he had on him was a tag that said "Claus".  So when Kris Kringle became a "wanted person" for illegally distributing toys, he bagan using the name Claus as an alias and it stuck.

"Why does Santa put presents in stockings?" When toys were illegal the mayor would search the houses every morning to make sure toys hadn't been left for the kids during the night.  So Kris Kringle would hide the toys in the stockings that the kids had hanging by the fireplace to dry.

"Why does Santa have a beard?" Santa grew the beard to disguise his face when the clean shaven Kris Kringle's picture was posted on Wanted posters throughout the town.

"How does Santa get the reindeer to fly?"  Magic feed corn, a present from the Winter Warlock.

"Why does Santa laugh the way he does?"  Santa was taught to laugh by the animals at the north pool..specifically the seals.

"Why does Santa deliver toys on Christmas Eve?"  When Santa first started giving out toys he used to make his round nearly every night.  But as the population grew and Santa got older, it was too difficult to keep up with all the demands.  So he decided to go out only one night a year, and chose the most holy of all nights.

Now, how do I know that Sombertown was in Germany?

Santa Claus IS Coming to Town

My earliest childhood memory of Christmas involves watching the Rankin & Bass classic Santa Claus is Coming to Town.  At 45 years old, I still watch this show whenever it's on at Christmas time.  Before working at my current job I worked for the Meijer department stores in Columbus, and spent a few Christmas Seasons playing Santa in the stores where I worked.  I would use this show to help me answer questions that the children would ask.  After all, the storyline of the show was that the narrator/mailman played by Fred Astaire was answering questions that children had about Santa Claus.  Why do you wear a red suit?  Why do you slide down the chimney?  Why are you also called Kris Kringle?  Why do you put presents in stockings?  Why do you have a beard?  How do you get your reindeer to fly?  Why do you laugh the way you do?  Why do you deliver your toys on Christmas Eve?  All of those questions, and more, were answered in an hour.  So, when at a party this past weekend, someone asked the trivia question, "What is Mrs. Claus' first name?"  I knew the answer...Jessica, of course. 
Here's my challenge to you.  Answer the above questions without going to the internet.  Just comment on this post to answer the questions.

Simpler Times

As one of my co-workers was sitting here at work flying his remote control helicopter around the room, I went on Amazon myself and started looking for the helicopter.  I'll probably buy myself one sometime this week.  The conversation in the room turned to some of the older toys. 

There was once a remote control helicopter that was hooked to the controls by a wire.  It flew in circles and the object was to use the hook on the bottom of the helicopter to pick up objects and then land safely on the helipad.

Who can forget things like "Rock em Sock em Robots"?

A couple of years ago there was this huge craize for a game where the player would spin a top in an arena type setting.  The tops would bump against each other, and the last top spinning was the winner.  Basically it was a remake of a game my brother used to have called "Battling Tops".  Just a little modernized and somehow tied in to some cartoon or anime' characters.

Big Wheels were fun toys when we were kids. 

All of this made me think about the toys we used to have as kids.  I hate to sound like an "old man" but I don't think today's kids would appreciate most of the toys we played with as kids.  It was a simpler time with simpler toys.  I'm probably one of the few people my age who has no video game system in my home.  I don't even play online video games.  I remember getting our first "Pong" TV video game.

Then the original ATARI,

then Intelevision.

When I got out of the Army I went out and bought myself a Nintendo.

Although that was the ultimate video game (at that time) it would be considered ancient by today's standards.  Now, instead of using a joy stick or controller, the games out there use your body movements and voices to control the game.  Who'd have thunk it? 

It used to be that, if I wasn't at home and you tried to call me, no one answered the phone.  Then we started getting machines that would answer the phone for us and take messages.  Now, everyone just carries their phone with them.

It used to be that a friend was someone you talked to and visited with, now it's a number by which your popularity on Facebook is defined.  Ironically, joining Facebook is considered "Social Networking" even though it's caused people to be less social.  There's now a Neighborhood Socal Networking site which is designed for people who live in the same neighborhood so that those people can communicate with each other.  It's set up so that you have to "prove" you live in the neighborhood in order to join a group.  REALLY?  You need a social network to talk to your neighbor now?  Oh well, simpler times.

Addendum and Traditions

I got a text message from my sister the other day.  She is a regular reader of this blog and she let me know that, after reading my last entry, she never did find out one piece of information...how did I make it back from San Francisco to Monterey after my Christmas leave for 1985-86?

If you read the blog, you know that my flight from Columbus to Dallas/Ft. Worth was late, causing me to miss my connecting flight to San Francisco, which, in turn, caused me to have to cancel the ride I had arranged to get me from San Francisco to Monterey.  So after flying in to San Francisco (First Class thanks to a very kind American Airlines ticket agent) I was stuck in San Francisco. 

I wasn't the only one stuck though.  Most major airports have a USO room where members of the military can go to relax when they're waiting for flights, and the USO area in the San Francisco airport was packed with military personnel who's flights had been delayed and were trying to find their way back to their individual bases.  In 1986 there were 3 military facilities in the Monterey area.  The Defense Language Institute-Foreign Language Center (DLI), Ft. Ord, and the US Naval Officers College.  I happened to run in to a couple of guys who were trying to make their ways back to DLI and they had run in to a Naval officer who was trying to make her way back to the Naval College.  She was in the process of renting a car, which the 4 of us split the cost of, and we drove back to Monterey.  I didn't get in until about 1-2 am, but the guy signing people in allowed me to sign back in at 11:55pm, which saved me a day of leave. 

So, for those of you who were on the edge of your seats wondering how I got back to Monterey...there you go.

Speaking of Monterey...as I was decorating my tree this past weekend I thought about the small tree that I had up in my baraks room while I was stationed in Monterey.  That was my first Christmas tree.  It was a small 2-3 foot tree that sat on top of the dresser.  It did have a couple of presents underneath it for a family who was stationed there with me.  I would have preferred to be home during the whole Christmas season, but it was kind of nice to have "my own place" with my own tree that I could decorate.  My own way of continuing my family Christmas traditions while also starting my own personal traditions. 

Traditions WILL change.  Eventually we quit going to the grandparents on Christmas day.  In 1988 my grandmother passed away, so the Burkhardt side of the family started getting together on the Saturday before Christmas.  Eventually we quit going to Lyon grandparents on Christmas day, and now those grandparents have both passed away.  This year, the Burkhardt family tradition of getting together the Saturday before Christmas has changed, and only the older generation will get together for dinner at a restaurant.  I'll miss that part of the Christmas season, but I'll continue to build my own traditions.  It's not just the traditions we've followed for years that make the season special...it's the traditions we begin and build that also make it special.

I Guess I've Been Lucky

In 1984 I graduated from high school, and joined the Army the following November.  I actually left for basic training on the Monday following Thanksgiving.  However, the Army is the only branch of the Armed Forces that allows their trainees to go home at Christmas time.  When I was in basic training all training bases pretty much shut down on December 19 and didn't restart training until January 3.  Trainees were allowed, and actually encouraged, to take leave and go home. 
The funny part of all of this was, here we are, training to be combat soldiers, yet when we went on leave we had to be able to show either a bus ticket leaving from Ft. McClellan, AL or plane ticket home, or our parents could pick us up at our basic training units.  If we didn't have one of those things, then we weren't allowed to go.  Now, for most that was not an issue.  But I had one guy in my platoon who was 34 years old at the time he was going through basic training.  Both his parents were deceased.  His WIFE was picking him up.  Yet he had to jump through all kinds of hoops with the drill sgts. and the commander in order to be able to go home on leave.
We marched to the buses, which were all leaving from Ft. McClellan and I prepared for a very long bus ride from Alabama to Ohio.  As I sat there however, I saw a guy get on the bus who I knew.  A guy I had graduated High School with.  Being able to chat with a friend on the way home helped the bus ride go a lot faster.
Anyway, I was able to get home for leave at Christmas time while in basic training in 1984.  In 1985 I had completed basic training, but had been assigned to the Defense Language Institute - Foreign Language Center in Monterey, CA.  Another training assignment.  So, once again, we were allowed and even encouraged to take leave time over the Christmas holiday.  So, once again, I made it home for Christmas.  Coming back wasn't so easy.  While stationed in Monterey I would fly in and out of San Francisco Airport whenever I came home.  I would always fly from San Francisco to either O'Hare Airport in Chicago, or Dallas-Fort Worth Airport, and then on to Columbus.  On my way back to California after my Christmas break in 1985, my flight from Columbus to Dallas was late getting started.  I landed in Dallas as my connecting flight to San Francisco was leaving.  So I went to the ticket counter and the lady was very nice.  She gave me a ticket to the next flight to San Francisco.  This wouldn't get me in to San Francisco until late, and then I had to get from there to Monterey.  I had arranged for someone to pick me up at the airport, but had to cancel that ride since the flight delay meant it would be several hours later before I got there.  Then I had to call my unit in Monterey and request an extra day extension on my leave.  This was taken care of and I spent the next several hours wandering around Dallas-Fort Worth Airport with nothing to do but wonder how I was going to be able to get from San Francisco to Monterey once I finally got back.  When my flight finally left Dallas I noticed something strange about my boarding pass.  The seat number was 1B.  Now, I've flown enough to know that the number is the row you're in and the letter is which seat you are assigned to in that row.  At first I thought it must be a smaller plane than I usually fly on, and one which has no first class.  After all, I sure didn't pay for a first class ticket.  But as I prepared to board the plane I noticed it wasn't any smaller than any other plane I'd ever been on.  Then when I actually boarded, I was directed to the area behind the magic curtain.  If you've ever flown you know...only the SPECIAL ones get to go behind that curtain.  As I sat down in that nice large chair, the flight attendant approached me and asked, "Would like orange juice or champaign before we take off?"  WHAT??!! Yes, I was upgraded to first class without even knowing it.  Now, to this day I don't know if the upgrade was due to the fact that my flight was late and they upgraded me to make up for me missing my connecting flight, if I was put there because they didn't have any coach seats left, or if they upgraded me because I happened to be a soldier in uniform.  Whatever the reason...THANK YOU AMERICAN AIRLINES!
In 1986 I was still in the Army, and now stationed in Germany.  Getting home for Christmas was not going to happen.  However, my uncle was also in the Army and also stationed in Germany.  I would go visit him on occassion.  I would take the train from Wertheim to Frankfurt where I would snack on a couple of ham broechen (mmmmmmmmmmmmmmm) then switch trains to head up to where my uncle was stationed.  Fortunately I was able to get time off at Christmas to spend time with him and his wife.  So, even though I was not home for the first Christmas in my life, I was with family.
In 1998 I started working my current job with the Dublin Police Dept.  This will be the 14th Christmas that I've worked for the department.  But I've only actually been at work for one of those, and that Christmas I was off work at 2:45pm and down to mom and dad's within about an hour. 
So, three years in the Army and fourteen years working in public safety, and I've only worked one Christmas and only missed being home once.  It brings to mind the number of people who haven't been so lucky.  Especially those currently serving in war zones and those who have spent more than one or even two holiday seasons in war zones.  I'll be thinking of them even more this year.
See...this blogging thing does serve some purpose.  It makes me stop and really think about things when I put them in writing.  I realize now just how fortunate I have been.

Santa Claus was a Bully!

Now this might come as a surprise...but last night as Kristine and I were watching the Rankin & Bass classic Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer Kristine made an observation that had never really struck me before.  That classic Christmas show revealed that bullying was something that has been happening for years.  Rudolph first aired in 1964, 47 years ago.  What this movie shows is that both Rudolph and Hermie were victims of bullying.  But not just from their peers, but in Rudolph's case, from his father, and even Santa. 

Yes, I said it!  Santa was a bully.  If you've never noticed it before, in this movie Santa is pretty much a grouch.  When the Elves practice their song for him all Santa can say is "Needs work."  When it's revealed to all the residents in Christmas Town that Rudolph has a red nose Santa's only comment is to tell Donner (Rudolph's father) that he ought to be ashamed of himself.  Yes, that's right, Santa tells Rudolph's father that he should be ASHAMED to have a son who is different.  And the coach (Blitzen) encourages this bullying behavior.  Instead of being the adult and discouraging this behavior, Blitzen not only partakes, but then declares that Rudolph will no longer be allowed to participate in the reindeer games. 

In today's society, Rudolph might have resorted to violence towards himself or the other residents of Christmas Town.  When Santa came to Rudolph and asked for help to get through the storm on Christmas Eve, Rudolph COULD have told Santa what to do with his sleigh.  Instead, he took the high road...he led the sleigh..and he did indeed "go down in history". 

Is it wrong to psychoanalyze Rankin & Bass? 

Making Rocks

This weekend was spent in a combination of football viewing, some Christmas decorating around the house, and the baking of the rocks.  If you read my earlier blog you know that rocks are a family recipe that has been passed down for at least 3 generations.  I haven't made rocks in several years myself, but isn't it amazing how memories can come flooding back just from the smells that certain things create.  I remembered that it wasn't JUST the smell of fresh pine that brought back Christmas memories, but the smell of Christmas cookies (especially rocks) being baked.  I'm sitting here at work right now and I just went back to grab a couple of rocks...when I opened the tin the smell of the spices and brown sugar and walnuts took me back to some of my boyhood Christmases.  So allow me to share some of this with you.

First you cream together 2 cups of shortening with 3 cups of brown sugar

Then you add 4 well beaten eggs to the mixture

And mix well

Then add 1/2 tsp ground cloves, 1 tsp cinnamon, 1/2 tsp allspice, 1/4 tsp ginger and 1 tsp salt

Then dissolve 2 tsp baking soda in 4 tblsp of hot orange juice and add to mixture

Now comes the fun part... add 6 cups of flour, 2 lbs of walnuts and 2 lbs of dates (optional)...this part usually involves mixing with you hands so PLEASE wash your hands.

Put dough in muffin tins about 3/4 full.  You can use full size muffin tins or mini-muffin tins...your choice

And bake in 350 degree oven.  If using mini muffin tins bake for 15-20 min.  If using regular size tins bake for 25-30 min.

The rocks can be stored in metal tins (we used to use the Charlie Chips tin)

Christmas in a Different House

We moved from Groveport to Pickerington in 1978 and for the first time bought an artificial Christmas tree.  What used to take an hour just to set up changed to about 10-15 minutes.  Putting up the artificial tree was easier, and therefore less stressful.  It was nice not to have the stress, and once the tree was decorated it looked just as nice as a real tree.  The Christmas lights were still tangled, but that would soon end too.  The only thing I missed was that smell of pine that always reminded me that it was Christmas season.  I guess that's the reason why, when I finally bought my own house, I've always gotten a real tree at Christmas time. 

The house in Pickerington was decorated a little differently.  I no longer shared a room with my older brother, but my bedroom became the gathering point on Christmas morning while we waited for mom and dad to wake up.  The house in Pickerington was two stories, so instead of having the sheet hanging over the opening to the living room, we just knew that we had to stay upstairs until dad went down and prepared everything for us to come down.  This change led to Christmas music being played, along with the Christmas lights being turned on.  By this time we all knew the "truth" about Santa Claus, so that bit of fun was no longer part of the day.  But we still enjoyed the holiday.  We still made the trips to the grandparents' after doing our own morning Christmas routine. 

1978 would be the last year that we spent with all 4 grandparents, as one of my grandfathers would pass away a little more than a month later.  Realizing that fact now keeps me in mind of that fact that we need to cherish these memories each time.  We all know that family can get on your nerves.  They can do things that you don't like, or don't agree with, but they are still family.  That doesn't mean that you disregard the things they may do to hurt you.  But maybe what we need to do is distinguish between the times when people do things to hurt us, and when people do things that we don't agree with.  If someone makes a decision in their life that doesn't affect me, isn't malicious, and doesn't affect the people I care about...then it's not my place to judge that decision.  Just like it's no one else's place to judge my decisions.

Christmas Eve at Work

When we lived in Groveport as kids we attended the Groveport United Methodist Church.  Although none of us could sing, we were all members of the church Jr. Choir.  On Christmas Eve each year the Jr. Choir would put on a Christmas presentation.  One year dad was on call at work and while on the way home from the Christmas Eve service his pager went off.  We went home and dad dropped off my mom along with my younger brother and sister.  My older brother and I went in to work with dad.  Dad worked for the phone company and had to fix some problem with the system.  It was a change from the routine and was something that made that particular year a little more special.  For two kids our age to go to work with dad on Christmas Eve was something special. 

One other year that there was a change to "normal" Christmas routine, was the year that dad had to work overnight on Christmas Eve.  At the time I didn't realize how hard it must have been for dad to work all night on Christmas Eve, and then spend all day Christmas day doing the Christmas stuff at home and then driving 90 minutes to go to the grandparents' and back at the end of the night.  He had to have been completely exhausted.  On that morning, instead of waiting in the bedroom we all went to the kitchen and ate breakfast.  But we had to cut through the bathroom to get to the kitchen and for the shutter doors between the kitchen and living room were shut.  That was the only time that happened in all the years we lived at that house.

More Christmas Memories

Although this has nothing to do with Christmas...I'll start by saying that I ran my first 5K Event of the season this past Sunday.  The "Beat Michigan 5K" on the campus of Ohio State.  I really like this course as it winds through campus, passing Ohio Stadium and running through the Buckeye Grove outside the stadium ... for you non-OSU fans, the Buckeye Grove is an area where the university plants a Buckeye Tree for every OSU Football player who is named as an All-American.  I wasn't fast, and I did take a few walk breaks along the way, but the weather was great for running (not to hot and not too cold) and running around "The Oval" and past Mirror Lake...and of course, past both the north end and south end of "The 'Shoe" and through the Buckeye Grove made for a nice 5K.  I'm hoping to find a 5K or two each month to run as I prepare to run a half marathon in May...I'm still debating on which 1/2 to run...do I run the CapCity Half Marathon in Columbus or do I run the Flying Pig Half Marathon in Cincinnati?  The Flying Pig will get me in to Kentucky so I can cross that state off my list of states to run in, but I've seen the hills in Cincinnati...do I really want to run those?

OK...now to Christmas.  Last night, as I was sitting around watching TV I started to do some lite decorating.  I have a picture frame that hangs on my wall.  It's holds eight different pictures.  I have my normal year round pictures and behind them I store pictures to display at Christmas time.  The Christmas pictures are now in front of the others.  I took down my large picture of the NYC skyline and hung a big picture of Santa.  I removed a few other pictures from the walls and hung up Christmas photos and plaques.  Tonight I will remove the Hummel figurines from my corner cabinet and replace them with the figurines I bought a few years back of Rudolph and all his friends from the Island of Misfit Toys.  I've put together a shopping list of ingrediants that I need to make rocks, and plan on making them for the first time in several years.  Unfortunately the hanging of Christmas lights outside will have to wait this year, as I will be waiting for Able Roofing to replace all my gutters before I put up any outside decorations which might get in their way.  I'm hoping to hear from them soon.

As I think about the decorating I remember the fun times, but I also remember that they usually didn't start out fun.  Getting the Christmas tree to stand up straight was always a struggle.  It always involved a lot of adjusting, a few firring strips under one or two legs of the tree stand and a lot of words that I won't repeat here.  Then there were the lights.  For some reason the lights were always tangled when we tried to get them out of the box.  It would take a while to untangle the lights and a lot of those same words that usually came with trying to stand the tree up straight would also be used to untangle lights.  As a kid I could never understand how lights that were put in a box and left untouched for a year could somehow get themselves so tangled up.  (As I got older I figured out that if "someone" would have taken the time to put the lights away without just bundling them up and throwing them in the box then they might not have been so tangled up the next year and he might not have gotten so frustrated the following year and wouldn't have had to resort to taking out his frustration on those of us who had nothing to do with tangling the lights)  ;-)  Then came the matter of testing the lights.  Of course these were the kinds of lights that, when one bulb didn't work, none of them worked.  And this was all truely like a scene from "A Christmas Story".

But once the tree was up straight and the lights were untangled and working, then we would go about hanging the ornaments on the tree.  There were a few ornaments that I remember hanging every year.  I can't remember getting the ornaments, we had them for as long as I could remember.  The red felt cello.  The four elves on shelves ornaments.  The string of copper bells.  Every year some of the ornaments would be broken when we opened the box, but some of them would last year in and year out.  Once all the lights and all the ornaments were on the tree, then the icycles got thrown on.  We didn't waste icycles either...we had another bread bag that contained all the icycles that were on the tree the previous year.  I used to really like just sitting in the living room with all the lights out and looking at the Christmas lights.  I still like that.  Now the Christmas tree stands are made to adjust easier to get the trees to stand up straight.  Lights can have a bulb or two burned out without the entire string going out.  I've started my own collection of ornaments that go on my tree each year.  I have my own string of bells.  Even though my house is small, I have, for the last ten years, gotten a real Christmas Tree.  Although getting an artificial tree made erecting the tree easier, the thing that reminds me most of Christmas is the smell of fresh pine in the living room.  That's something you can't get with an artificial tree.  So far it's been worth the extra effort to put up each year and extra effort to clean up too.

Thanksgiving Week

Well, as we enter Thanksgiving week I'll try my best to maintain that thankful attitude that I've been working on this month.  But the joy for me will come when the Christmas season is officially here.  I've loved Christmas since I was kid.  My earliest memories of Christmas involved my younger brother and sister coming to the bedroom I shared with my older brother.  We would wake up Christmas morning to find our stockings sitting outside our bedroom doors...always with an orange in the bottom...and that hard tack ribbon candy that would get red felt stuck all over it.  We would go through our stockings and open whatever gift was included as a stocking stuffer.  Then we'd wait until mom & dad woke up.  Sometimes we would argue over who had to go in to their bedrooms to wake them up if it was taking them too long.  In that house the living room, where the Christmas tree was always set up, was at other end of the hallway from all our bedrooms.  There would be a sheet up over the entry to the living room so we couldn't see what presents were there.  Then dad would go in to the living room, turn on the lights on the tree and remove the sheet (or one year it was a cardboard box that had held the air hockeye table that we received that year).  Then, and only then, were we allowed to enter the living room and start opening presents. 

After opening presents and playing for a little while, we would all get ready and head down to Guernsey County.  We would head down to the grandparents' to celebrate Christmas there.  First stop was always the Burkhardt grandparents to drop off gifts and food.  Then we would head to the Lyon grandparents.  In our younger years Santa would stop by on Christmas Day.  I remember the day we found the Santa suit in my grandparents' basement and realized that John, a boarder who lived there for several years, was "Santa". 
After opening presents at the Lyon grandparents and having an early Christmas dinner, we would head back to the Burkhardt grandparents.  Now my mother is an only child, so Christmas at the Lyon grandparents meant we were the only ones there.  My dad is the oldest of six, so Christmas at the Burkhardt grandparents meant the house was full of family.  Both situations were special for their own unique reasons.

At the Burkhardt grandparents we could count on a few things...rocks, anise cookies and sugar cookies.  Now when I say rocks, I'm not talking about the kind that made up the driveway to the house, I'm talking about a family recipe.  A spiced Christmas cookie that I'm assuming had been passed down for at least a few generations.  They're made in muffin tins and contain a lot of different spices, walnuts, and originally dates (although most of the family started leaving out the dates several years ago).  I can tell you this about rocks...they last.  I've only missed being home for Christmas once, when I was stationed in Germany in 1986.  That year my mom sent me a care package with some rocks in it.  Only after I had eaten them was I told that the rocks she sent were left over from the previous Christmas.  It didn't matter, they tasted GREAT!

We would usually end up getting home pretty late in the evening (or maybe it was just because it got dark so early that it SEEMED late).  But it always made for a full day. 

But it wasn't just Christmas day that was full...the whole season was full of memories that made me love the season.  Decorating the yard was always fun.  Dad had made a huge wreath out of some styrophome and garland.  He would hang it on the front of the house and have a spotlight in the yard shining on the wreath.  Plastic bread bags sealed with nylon ties would cover the plugs to keep them from getting wet.  My older brother and I would climb up on the roof to run a string of lights across the top because dad, although he was ok climbing a ladder, was not ok with getting on the roof (or actually I think he was not ok with trying to get back on the ladder if he had to get on the roof).  So, since dad was never a big fan of heights, Kevin and I would get to climb up on the roof to string the lights.   

I'll talk more about Christmas memories over the next few weeks.  I love the season!

Better News

After last week's news I thought I really needed to find something more positive in the news.  The fact is that, however horrific the "Penn State Events" were and are, there really is bad news out there every week.  So I thought, in the interest in staying positive, I would go on the local news website and look for some good news to highlight in this blog.  It was harder than I thought it would be. 

The headlines I found on the website included things like:

3 Hospitalized: Shot in East Columbus Apartment Complex
Shooting Victim Runs, Collapses in Store Parking Lot
Computers Stolen from OSU Building
Female Suspect Accused of Misuse of Credit Cards
Accused Mom Posts She's 'Unfit Mother' on Facebook

But, believe it or not, I was able to find something positive in the news.  A story out of Portsmouth, Ohio.  The headline... Ohio school has shy kids practice reading to dogs

The program, at a Portsmouth elementary school, had so many children interested that they couldn't all fit in the classroom.  Now I'm willing to bet that some of the kids that participated did so more because they liked the idea of being able to have some time with the dog, and not because they were quite as shy as some of the other kids.  But it's something positive...at some point someone started thinking outside the box to figure out a way to bring these kids out of their shells and help them to socialize a little more comfortably.  In a week that started with hearing about kids who were targeted as victims, it's nice to see a situation in which some people are trying to help kids and build their confidence.  I'll still be praying for those kids who were and are victims...but I'll be praying also for more teachers like those at Portsmouth West Elementary school too.

Abundance Based Living

This morning I was going through my email and reading the weekly newsletter from my pastor.  In the email he wrote about his experience with "Abundance Based Living" through the month of October.  He had made a commitment to spend the month of October focused on Abundance Based Living rather than Scarcity Based Living.  Promising to start each day knowing that his needs would be provided for, pausing in the middle of each day to reflect on his blessings, and ending each day thankful for what had been provided.
Now, whether you're a believer or not, the idea of trying to focus on Abundance Based Living seems to me to be a good attitude to have.  It basically boils down to focusing on the positive rather than the negative.  It's not always easy.  So often we focus on what our lives lack instead of focusing on the blessings in our lives.  So often we focus on what "the other guy" has that we don't have.  So often we focus on what how we'd have done it differently or "the RIGHT way" instead of recognizing that doing it "different" is NOT the same as doing it "wrong". 
So I challenge anyone who follows my blog (all one of you)...lol...try it for a a month.  Try to wake up every morning thankful for the day you've been given and the blessings you have.  Pause each day to reflect on the good that has happened.  And end each day thankful that you made it through another day.  If you're reading this then let me clue you in....you've obviously got access to a computer, so I have no doubt that you've got a roof over your head and food to eat.  There's a start.  Many in this world don't even have that much.
To ramble on just a bit more....a few years ago I had the priviledge of meeting two women from New Orleans, LA.  These women were both dispatchers for the New Orleans Police Dept. and had been at work when Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf coast.  Both had lost their houses in the disaster.  Not only had they lost their houses, but they had lost everything that was in their houses.  They came out of Hurricane Katrina with no possessions other than the clothes on their backs.  These two women were the most positive individuals I had ever met.  They laughed, they joked and they were thankful for what they had.  Yes, that's right...two women who had lost what we might describe as "everything" were thankful.  I wondered how that could be.  How could these two women have such a positive outlook on life after what they'd been through and everything they'd lost?  I asked them that question...and the answer I got was so simple.  It wasn't the fact that they'd lost so much that they focused on...it was what they had.  They knew that, following such a disaster, they were really the lucky ones.  They still had jobs to go to...many did not.  Even though they'd lost their homes, they had been provided with a roof over their heads...many had not.  They woke up each morning and went to bed each night...many had died in that disaster.  Simply being alive was a blessing.  We take so much foregranted and maybe THAT is why we have to work to focus on the positives in our lives.
Try it for month.  If you can honestly say that you focused on your HAVES and not your HAVE NOTS for a full month and it didn't change the way you think about life...it didn't make you happier...it didn't make you more content...it didn't relieve a lot of the stress in your life...then I'll concede defeat.  But if you honestly live an Abundance Based life for the month, spending each day being thankful for what you have and what God has given you, instead of being upset about what you don't have and can't control, then I predict that you will live a much happier life, not just in November, but for a long time to come.

What if God says "No"?

"Touched by an Angel" was a show I used to watch on occassion.  The premise of the show was that three angels roamed the earth helping people to see God's glory, or preparing people for their transition from their earthly existance to their heavenly existance. 
In one episode a town in the American Southwest was experiencing a severe drought.  The townspeople prayed for rain, but none came.  So..in order to make a point, a lawyer in the town filed a class action lawsuit against God.  That's right, they sued God for not answering their prayers.  During the show one of the angels is on the stand trying to explain that God answers prayers "in his own time" and that it was beyond human understanding to know why and for what purpose God had not answered the prayers.  The court recessed for lunch, and when they came back the same angel took the stand and said that she had spoken with God during the recess and that God had given her an answer to the town's prayers....the answer was "No".  It wasn't a case of God not answering the prayers or not listening.  God had listened..he had heard the prayers..and his answer to prayers of "please give us rain" was ... "No". 
Now that's a difficult concept to grasp.  It's difficult for a believer to grasp the concept that God would say no to such a request.  I mean, it wasn't like God was being asked to give them an extra helping of their favorite flavor of ice cream.  These people were in dire need of rain and were being told no. 
Most of the times I've asked God for help I've received it.  And it's come in a form that is I understand.  I almost immediately see the results of my prayers.  But there have been times I've been told No.  Usually I figure out why at some point down the road...but at the time I'm told no, it's really difficult to understand why.  I'm a good person.  I consider myself to be a decent, loving human being.  That's not to say that I haven't made my mistakes along the way, and not to say that I won't make more in the future.  But overall I'm a good person and I deserve the things I ask for don't I?
The Garth Brooks song "Unanswered Prayers" comes to mind.  At the time the answer of "No" comes around, it hurts.  No one likes to be told no.  But just like a parent tells a child no, we have to remember that we are children of God.  And we must have faith that when He tells us no, there's a reason that's beyond our understanding, and at some point in the future that reason will be made clear to us.

Striving for Excellence

This weekend is one of those weekends that comes around every three years here at work.  This is the weekend that assessors from the Commission on Accredidation of Law Enforcement Agencies (CALEA) visits the Dublin Police Department to perform their on-site assessment of our department.  Dublin has been an accreditted agency since before I started working here nearly 14 years ago.  Basically CALEA has a set of standards that they use to accredit agencies.  Agencies go through of voluntary process if they wish to be accreditted through CALEA.  On the face of it, it looks good.  Our department complies with a set of standards and we are recognized for it.  But the standards aren't arbitrary.  The standards are set by CALEA in order to help make sure that any agency they recognize are serving their communities in a professional manner, ensuring that these agencies have some of the best trainings and guidelines to make sure they're doing the job that the public expects of them.  As a matter of fact, part of the accredidation process is also holding a community forum.  A time when any member of the community can come in and speak to the assessors and the department about how they think the department is doing. 

The first couple of times that I worked during the assessment process I was a little nervous.  The assessors will walk around the building and talk to the employees.  While they're doing this they ask questions...seemingly because their curious about our department and how we do things, but in reality they're checking to see if we're doing things the way we're supposed to be in order to be compliant with the standards.  After the first couple of on-site visits however, I realized that it's really not that difficult.  We're trained pretty well here and the "standards" that are in place are just part of the way we do business here. 

The last two assessments have gone very well here.  Dublin has been a "Flagship" agency.  Now I can't tell you exactly what that means, other than to say that we did very well in the assessment process.  Preparing for and keeping up with the assessment process is not an easy task.  So I will give credit to Lt. Dejarnette, Lt. Farmer and Sgt. Paez...those are the people who have been responsible for maintaining all the files, because complying with the standards not only involves knowing the standards, but we have to be able to produce records to prove that we actually comply with those standards during our normal course of business...THAT is the time consuming part of the process and involves a lot of work on their part.

So why does the Dublin Police Dept. find it necessary to go through this process?  Their are a few.  Part is cost...insurance companies tend to charge less for liability insurance to departments who have this accredidation.  Part is to show that we are a professional department.  Meeting these standards means that we don't practice law enforcement "by the seat of our pants."  But in the end it involves striving for excellence. 

So why have I spent all this time blogging about the Dublin Police Dept. and the current accreditation process?  Well, it's about the excellence.  During my first few years with the agency we were still a little bit new to the whole accreditation thing.  But as we've continued to go through the process every few years, it seems to get easier and easier.  Going from a place that is less than excellent and trying to achieve excellence takes a lot of work.  But once you get there the road gets a little easier.   That's not to say that you don't have work to stay excellent.  That's also not to say that it's not easier to just relax and go back to being "good enough".  So is being "good enough" good enough?  Or should we be striving for excellence?  There are a few different schools of thought on that one.  Just a little food for thought I guess. 

Today's Run and Other Fun

Well the plan this morning was to run 2 miles at a nice easy pace.  I was able to accomplish that, and like most times when I run, felt refreshed afterwards.  But I do feel myself becoming increasingly bored with the treadmill.  The act of running in place while a belt spins under your feet does not do a good job of keeping one focused on running.  So I can tell that I will have to start running outdoors soon.  I'm looking forward to that.  Especially now that the weather is cooler.  When I started running my biggest problem was knowing how much to wear.  Running wear in the summer was easy to figure out...a pair of shorts and a good wicking technical shirt.  However, running in the fall and winter was a little more difficult.  I would always start off dressing comfortably, but by the time I was half way in to the run I was always way too warm.  A co-worker gave me a good piece of advise.  "Dress like it's 20 degrees warmer than it really is."  Once I started doing that, my comfort level during runs increased dramatically.  I never found myself getting too warm.  That served me very well while training through the winter for my first marathon.  I expect it will serve me well as I get back in to running through this fall and winter.

The cost of running is pretty minimal, unless I want to actually run in some events.  The cost of running in those events have gotten a tad bit more expensive.  It actually seems that most of the runs done in support of charities seem to cost less than the runs that are done just as promotional runs/money makers for running companies.  So I think it will be a while before I start running multiple events in a month (or a weekend) like I used to.  I'm thinking right now that I'll probably budget to do one run a month for now.  I'm really thinking about possibly doing the Myrtle Beach Half-Marathon in February...but that's a risky proposition.  In 2009, when I ran the marathon there, the weather was great.  It was unseasonably warm for Feb. and I was able to spend a week actually enjoying the beach.  But the following year they got snow and had to cancel the marathon.  Not something I'd be happy about if I actually spent the money to register, travel and stay in a hotel in Myrtle Beach.  So that's up in the air.  But I do plan to run the Columbus Half Marathon next year with one of my co-workers.  She didn't hit her goal of running the half in under 3 hours, so she's determined to do that next year.  For my part, I want to get back to the point of pushing myself for that extra distance.  Not sure that I'd ever do a full marathon again.  But the half marathon is long enough to require a lot of preparation and discipline, without being so long that I end up regretting it when it's too late. 


 

The Running Bug

Anyone who knows me knows that I was, for a couple of years, a pretty avid runner.  I wasn't a FAST runner...just an avid runner.  Over a couple of years I had run several 5K's, 3 Half Marathons and 2 Full Marathons.  Then I got away from running.  It's not that I stopped enjoying running.  As a matter of fact, for the time that I've been away from running, I've really missed it.  I finally got to the point where I put myself back on the treadmill.  I've signed up for a 5K next month, and am setting a goal of running the Columbus Half Marathon next year.

During the time that I was really enjoying running I was asked by my HR Rep. at work to write an article for our employee newsletter about why I run.  I'm re-posting that article here as a reminder to myself.  A reminder of all the things I love about running and a reminder of why I run.  As you read the article, please remember that it was written in 2009.

Anyone who knew me three years ago would have found it difficult to believe that I was a cross country and track runner in high school.  They may have also found it difficult to believe that I spent three years as a military policeman in the Army, where running and strenuous physical activity was an everyday thing.  As a matter of fact, running had been such a dominant part of my life for so many years that I had grown to purely hate the thought of it.  I didn’t just hate the thought it…I hated doing it.  I hated going to cross country practice.  I hated going to track practice.  I hated waking up at 4:00am to run and words “double-time march” were words that I grew to despise.

However, the fact that I hated running is not why those who knew me would have found it difficult to believe that I’d ever done it.  Not that my current physique would bring to mind “runner”, but three years ago I was 200 pounds heavier than I am now.  With a history of heart disease on both my mother’s and father’s side of my family I was, at 440 pounds, on the fast track to an early grave.  I got winded walking from the justice center parking lot to the communications center, so the thought that I would, or could, run anywhere was unbelievable.

I made a decision three years ago that, if I wanted to live more than ten years, I had to take drastic steps.  Within a year, with the help of diet, exercise and weight loss surgery, I had lost over 200 pounds.  My blood pressure, which was borderline, is now good.  My blood sugar levels, which were close to becoming diabetic, are now normal.  My LDL cholesterol level, which was high, is now normal.

While I can certainly attribute most of my weight loss to the effects of the surgery and the restricted diet, I have to attribute the amount of weight lost and the short amount of time in which I lost it, to the exercise that was promoted by my bariatric surgeon and his staff.  There is no doubt in my mind that maintaining my weight loss over the last two years can only be attributed to the exercise.

But something happened during all that exercise.  I started to actually enjoy it.  I started to realize when people say that exercise is the best way to deal with stress, that’s not just a line to get people to exercise.  It really is true.  As you can imagine, working in a 9-1-1 communications center can be a stressful environment.  Instead of turning to food to deal with the stress, something I had done in the past without even realizing it, I turned to exercise.  Instead of an order of the house Lo Mein, I would put in a couple of miles on the treadmill.  What was more amazing to me was that I was enjoying my time on the treadmill, I had started to like running and in time would run anywhere from two to six miles on the treadmill each day or every other day. 

Then, last spring, some friends encouraged me to register for a four mile run at Alum Creek.  I was leery about running out on the roads.  Afraid of what might happen to my knees, which had spent years supporting my 300-400 plus pound frame.  I was also afraid of how I would look, with all those runners.  After all, I wasn’t really a runner.  I was just someone who ran for exercise.  I couldn’t possibly keep up with people who register for these four mile road races and run for the competition.  What I found out though, was that the running community is not like that at all.  People of all abilities come out to run, or walk.  As a matter of fact, I didn’t run the entire four mile course.  I ran about three miles and walked for about a mile, but no one laughed at me, no one ridiculed me.  I wasn’t the only one to slow down and walk part of the course, other runners were doing the same thing.  Another thing that I found was that the running/walking community is very supportive.  As I approached the finish line, those who were there to support other participants and those who had already finished the course cheered me across the finish line.  They didn’t know me, they’d never seen me before, they didn’t know that this was my first race since high school.  All they knew was that I was finishing, and that was all that mattered.  From that point on I was hooked.

Throughout the remainder of 2008 I participated in more than thirty running/walking events.  During that time I found that the City of Dublin has its own running community.  Within the Justice Center there are at least three police officers and a mayors court clerk who have run marathons, and several other employees who run for exercise, recreation or both.  It’s not just the Justice Center either.  Employees from all over the city run or walk.

Recently I did something that I would have never thought was possible.  Even when I was running two or three or even four 5K events in a weekend, I would have never thought it possible that I would run a marathon.  People who were in much better shape than I was in ran marathons.  I ran 5K’s.  Competitive runners ran marathons.  I ran 5K’s.  But I read a book and it inspired me.  The book, “Marathoning for Mortals”, was written by John Bingham and Jenny Hadfield.  John was someone I identified with.  He was someone who started running to lose weight.  He was someone who didn’t run very fast but had gotten hooked by the running community.  He was also someone who had completed thirty marathons.  After reading the book I decided to give it a shot and registered for the 2009 Myrtle Beach Marathon.  I trained using a 20 week training program in the book, then on February 14 I participated in the Myrtle Beach Marathon.  By mile 16 I was wondering why I had taken on such a challenge.  By mile 20 I swore that I would never do it again.  But I finished.  I crossed the finish line 5 hours 38 minutes and 21 seconds after I started.  I came back home, proud of the finishers medal I had received.  I took a week away from running, then signed up to run seven 5K and 4 mile runs.  Then, remembering my promise to myself that I would NEVER run another marathon, I registered for the Columbus Marathon this October.  My training starts tomorrow.      

What do we believe?

I read an article yesterday talking about the "literal translation of the Bible".  There are many different ways to look at the Bible, and many theories concerning its interpretation.  Some say that the Bible is the word of God, no ifs ands or buts, what is says is what it means and there should be no question about that.  On the other end of this spectrum are those who believe that the bible is a group of fairy tales.  Fables made up by a group of authors who were too ignorant to understand how life was formed, so made up their own versions and wrote them down. 
Then there are those who fall at various places between those two groups.  Many believe you can't take the Bible literally, and many believe that some of the Bible was meant to be literal, while other parts were not. 
Now for where I fall on this spectrum. 
A little over 200 years ago a group of people sat down and penned a document meant to be a guide or a set of rules for how the government of the United States is to be run.  Within that document they set up a procedure to be used for making changes.  They knew that times would change and that changes would be needed.  My belief is that we are so far removed from what those founders intended when they started this country that they might be turning over in their graves if they had seen some of the ways in which the things they wrote have been misinterpreted.  So...if over a 200 year time span we have misinterpreted what was written in English, then is it unreasonable to believe that books written over 2000 years ago, in languages that are no longer spoken have been misinterpreted?  Or at least their intent?  Add to that the fact that (and anyone who has ever learned a 2nd language knows this) a literal interpretation from one language to another is often impossible.  For example, in German the phrase "Was ist los?" means "What's going on?" or "What's up?"  The literal translation is "What is loose?"  So sometimes, when translating from one language to another requires knowing the original intent. 
One example of this was part of the sermon the pastor at my church gave last Sunday.  The Bible says “Whoever does any work on the Sabbath day shall be put to death.”  Rev. Steindham went on to discuss some things about how the Bible was written and interpretted.  He went on to say some of the same things I had come to believe, that being that the Bible was written by men.  Also, that the Bible was translated from one language to another, and that language itself has evolved greatly over the last 2000 years, and the language being used at that time had fewer words, and fewer ways to express the information they were trying to get across.
So, did God really mean to say that if you worked on the Sabbath you should be put to death?  Ironically, I didn't see this sermon, I read it later....because I was at work on Sunday morning and unable to attend church.
When it's all said and done, my belief is that, when I find myself in heaven at the end of my earthly life, I will find out that no one on earth today had it completely right.

Running Again

Well, after quite a while of not running, I finally got back on the treadmill.  I woke up at 4:30 this morning to come in to work and run.  Having not run in quite a while, I had set the goal at a very slow 1 mile run on the treadmill.  I jumped on the treadmill to do a quick 5 minute warm-up run, planning on stretching, then getting back on the treadmill and running the 1 mile I had set out to do.
Instead, the warm-up turned in to the actual run, and after running the 1 mile I had planned, the music hadn't stopped, so I kept running.  Well...after that song ended another good running song came on the iPod, so I kept running.  I ended up running 1.5 miles.  Now it was a SLOW 1.5 miles, but it felt really good.  It felt great to get the heart rate up again, to feel those endorphins that are released when I run and to run 50% further than I had intended. 
I'm also registered for my first 5K event of the year.  On November 19 I'll be running the "Beat Michigan 5K" around the OSU campus area.  I'm thinking about registering for a couple more events before the end of the year, but not sure if that will happen as the registration costs for 5K's seem to have gone up quite a bit over the last couple of years.  I think the days of running 2, 3 or 4 events in a weekend are gone, but the joy I get from running is not. 

Paying for the Sins of Another

My director has a sign on the window to his office that says "A.P.I. - Don't your co-workers deserve it?"  The basic premise is that A.P.I. stands for Assume Positive Intent.  Too many times people assume the worst.  What we typically find, if we take the time to look in to it, is that more often than not, the intent of the person you're questioning is positve.  However, more often than not, we assume that their intent was negative.  So, if we know that the intent is usually positive, why do we usually assume the intent was negative until proven otherwise? 
Probably because we tend to remember the negative much more easily than we do the positive.  The negative tends to have a much deeper impact on us than the positive.  Basically, we're paying for the sins of others.  When other people did "A" it was because their intent was "B".  So when we do "A" then the assumption is that our intent is "B"...when in reality the intent of most people is really "C". 
We've become very cynical, and while it bothers me to be the "victim" of the cynicism, I've also found myself being cynical of things I'm told by others.  Assuming the intent to be something other than what it probably is.  In the end, I'll do my best to take people at their word, put it in God's hands, and hope that it doesn't end up burning me in the end. 

You choose your mood

Occassionally I teach a class at the Ohio Peace Officer Training Academy.  The class I teach is Public Safety Telecommunicator I.  It's, for lack of a better term, a "Dispatching 101" course.  I teach some of the basics of dispatching, call taking and the technology used in the profession.  But the day I like best in the class is when we talk about the stress involved in the profession and discuss some techniques for dealing with stress.  One of the things we talk about is "choosing your mood".  I am a firm believer that, most of the time, you choose your mood.  You can choose to be in a good mood, you choose to be in a bad mood.  You choose to focus on the negative.  You choose to focus on the positive.  The biggest examples I can give in my own life on the Cincinnati Bengals and the Ohio State Buckeyes.  The Bengals haven't had a decent team in years, which makes it difficult to be a Bengals.  And the Buckeyes...well, if you watch the news around Columbus at all then you know the deal there.  I could focus on the negative, I could whine and complain about everything that's going on.  But what difference does a winning season in Cincinnati make in my life?  Not a bit.  What difference does it really make in my life if Ohio State has a losing season this year?  Not a bit.  Yeah, it makes it a little less fun to watch the games on Saturdays and Sundays, but it's not going to change who I am, or I have around me.  Who I associate with.  How I spend my free time.  As a matter of fact, it really gives me more free time. 
You choose your mood.  So next time you're focusing on the bad day you're having at work...remember this...you have a job...nowadays that's a fortunate thing.  Next time you feel yourself focusing on the negative choose to look at the positive.  Next time someone starts to tell you about the nasty things someone said about you behind your back...tell them to stop telling you.  If knowing negative things people are saying about you behind your back accomplishes nothing more than to put you in a bad mood, then why listen to it?  Being in a bad mood only accomplishes one thing...it puts you in a bad mood.  Choose to be happy.  Choose to focus on the blessings in your life and discard those things in your life that serve no purpose other than to frustrate you and put you in a bad mood. 

Speculation, Rumors and Gossip - OH MY!

From 2002-2006 I was a Communications Supervisor where I work.  One of biggest frustrations I had as a supervisor was when the people that worked in my department would speculate as to why I made certain decisions or what steps I was or was not taking to deal with certain issues.  99.9% of the time those people were wrong.  I also learned that I had to be careful to base my decisions on fact and not my own speculation.  Someone once said that, in the absence of an honest explanation, peoples' perceptions become their reality.  (I'm sure I butchered the quote, but I think you get the picture).  However, there are times when explanations are not possible for whatever reasons.  Or the explanation part of the equation may not be anyone else's business.  It still happens all the time, and I'll admit that I'm sometimes guilty of it myself. 
One example of this was my recent decision to delete my Facebook account.  The reasons basically boiled down to drama.  When I got to the point where I was stressing over my "status updates" and trying to make sure that I was wording things so as not to be taken out context, it just became easier not to have facebook.  When I had to deal with people actually being jealous over the reactions I would get to my facebook status or things I posted on facebook...it was just easier not to have facebook.  But here's the part that, had it not been so funny, would have been frustrating.  I found out recently that people were actually speculating as to WHY I had deleted my facebook account.  This came in spite of the fact that I explained my reasons on facebook and in person.  Of course the speculation was that my decision was made for reasons other than those I gave. 
So I would just ask this.  If you want to know why I made a decision, just ask.  If you want to know why I did something, just ask.  If you want to know why I didn't do something, just ask.  I'll either answer the question honestly or I won't answer it at all.  If I choose to not answer the question...then that means that the answer is none of your business and therefore nothing for you worry about.  Basically it boils down to this...don't try to read my mind...you're not very good at it.

Why Worry?

Nowadays it seems like there's so much stuff going on in the world that you can't help but worry.  But when it comes right down to it, what good does worrying do?  Not a whole lot...I saw a comedian recently who put it all in to perspective...

Take a look..

Alonzo Bodden Puts Everying in Perspective

Back to Work

Well after returning from vacation I'm back to work...well sort of.  My first two days back to work after my weekend in Myrtle Beach were spent in training classes.  Crimes in Progress and Active Shooter classes for dispatchers.  Then this week I started my week in Xenia for a dispatcher training day.  The "highlight" of that training was a review of a tragic event and hearing the event from the perspective of the dispatchers working that day.  The event was the killing of Dep. Suzanne Hopper with the Clark Co. Sheriff's Office.  She was probably the first officer killed in the line of duty this year in a year that has seen an unusual amount of violence directed at police officers. 

For me, going to training outside of my own agency is a way to improve my skills, keep my skills up, and I'll admit to even relaxing a bit and being able to do a little networking with dispatchers from other departments, and seeing some people from other departments who I've met along the way over the last 13-14 years dispatching.   

But the best part of the last couple of weeks wasn't getting out away from the grind while still getting paid...it was taking a 9-1-1 call last Saturday.  Now usually taking 9-1-1 calls involves someone calling at a bad point in their life.  But this was a little different.  Imagine taking your wife to the hospital and having her give birth right in the car.  They didn't even have time to get pulled off to the side of the road.  She just gave birth while enroute.  So when dad called he decided that, rather than pull over and wait for a medic, he'd just drive on in to the hospital.  That turned out to be a pretty easy call...pretty much just involved staying on the phone with dad while he drove mom and baby to the hospital.  I was also able to radio ahead to the hospital and let them know what they had coming in to their ER.  Dad and mom both did a pretty good job of staying calm and everyone made it to the hospital safe.  It was a good day.