When you just hate recognition that much…
4 minute read
May 15, 2018, 11:05 PM
People are always amazed when I tell them that I hate receiving recognition. I just don’t like it. I don’t find it enjoyable. In fact, I find it incredibly awkward all around. I don’t know what it is, but it just isn’t a fun thing. This came to mind recently because of two discussions that I had with colleagues in the last few weeks. One was about an operator competition that my employer was having, and another was about an employee of the month program that my specific division has.
In the case of the former, where train operators go out and demonstrate their skills for judges, I couldn’t see any way to get a satisfactory result for myself as a participant. If I don’t place, I’m kicking myself for not doing better. If I place, then I have to deal with a whole bunch of unwanted recognition. Not participating at all seems to take care of both concerns, and I have no problem attending as a non-competitor and watching others compete. I’ve done that before at a similar event for the bus, where I was there but didn’t compete, and I had a blast. Besides, I have the most fun just being myself while operating the service.
In the case of the latter, a coworker brought up the idea of it, and how I would possibly be a good candidate for the employee of the month award. I was honest about it: if I ever were to get the award, I believe that my response would be, “Thank you very much, but please give it to someone else.” In other words, I would probably decline it. I just want to do my job and call it a day, and a whole bunch of unnecessary attention just gets in the way of my being awesome.
Continue reading…Long hat is long!
5 minute read
December 15, 2008, 7:12 PM
Let me just say that I had a wonderful day on Saturday. First off, I had an early lunch with Kathleen Haines, the Lutheran and Presbyterian campus minister at JMU, whom I had not seen since 2004. We went to Cafe Luna, one of my favorite Dupont Circle restaurants. Kathleen looks exactly the same as she did back in my day, and we had great stories to share. It was great seeing her again. And afterwards, we got a quick photo together:
And yes, this was a quick turn-the-phone-on-ourselves kind of shot.
Categories: LPCM, Project Chanology
And one last thing
< 1 minute read
November 28, 2003, 2:30 AM
It is up to my sister to come up with a better picture than my November 2003 picture for the splash page. She said, upon seeing it, “What are you doing to that poor dresser?” I will admit – after being told what it looks like, it does look like I’m humping the dresser, but I swear it was totally innocent. Ask Kathleen from LPCM, who took the picture, and she’ll tell you that it was innocent, too.
So my sister is in charge of December’s picture. She needs a little coaching on what I want in a picture. She wants to find a premade image of a buff guy totally naked except for a Santa hat covering his you-know-what, and photoshop my head onto it. I rejected it out of hand. No way on that one.
She still has to come up with something, and it had better be better than that last idea. I’m interested to see, myself…
Categories: Family, LPCM, Schumin Web meta
Guys want to support breast cancer awareness, too, but not all of us are secure enough in our masculinity to wear the shirts…
2 minute read
October 30, 2003, 6:56 PM
Look at this picture, an LPCM file photo that I took way back in fall 2002:
The girl on the left is my friend Laura from LPCM. She is wearing the pink “MADISON” shirts that a group on campus is selling in regards to raising money to fight breast cancer. Now I’m all for supporting medical research. Anything that gets people to the next birthday is great by any means. I just think that pink alone is limiting their market just a little bit.
Back from Pittsburgh, and what a time it was…
2 minute read
October 20, 2003, 9:41 PM
I actually got back from Pittsburgh yesterday, but I was SO tired yesterday, this journal was about the last thing on my mind.
Anyway, though, it was interesting. We worked at a soup kitchen, we helped with distribution of food, visited a drop-in center for homeless people, and of course, our main event: cleaning carpets at Sojourner House, a facility for mothers recovering from drug addictions.
On Saturday night, after everything was finished, we went out on the town, and met up with my friend Patrick Jarrett, who I’ve known for several years online. He gave some of us a tour of the town, and we also rode the Incline and rode “The T”, which is Pittsburgh’s light-rail system (their equivalent to Metro).
Categories: LPCM, Pittsburgh
Two grown people going wacko about one of our feathered friends…
2 minute read
October 16, 2003, 12:51 PM
Sometimes it’s interesting what happens when the unexpected happens and you have to deal with it. Somehow, a bird got into Canterbury. Don’t ask me how. I don’t know. All I know is that when I came to Canterbury today to visit Kathleen to talk Pittsburgh (which we’re going to today), I heard a flapping sound, looked in the direction of the sound, and there was a bird on the first floor of Canterbury, inside.
So I go upstairs, tell Kathleen that (A) I double-parked her, and (B) that there is a bird in the house (to which she said, “Yeew”). So we’re talking about stuff and working on stuff, and we hear a sound in the main upstairs room. First instinct is that it’s someone, but it turns out to be the bird. So we close the door so it doesn’t get in the room where we are.
When it’s time to leave, the bird is right upstairs in the next room, trying to get out, but not realizing that the window is closed. Poor bird. Meanwhile, Kathleen and I are no help, flipping out at every little move the bird makes, and ready to jump if it comes any closer to us, and we can’t just open the windows it’s running into, since neither one of us wants to go near it.
Categories: LPCM
“And if you can hear the wind, you should be able to feel it! Wa-haa!”
< 1 minute read
October 15, 2003, 8:32 AM
What a windy day out today! It hasn’t been this windy since Hurricane Isabel. However, it’s not nearly that windy. According to Weatherbug, winds are about 20-30 MPH, with gusts up to 50 MPH. Nothing to sneeze at nonetheless. You can definitely hear it outside. Who knows… maybe I’ll lose my other screen now. I lost the first one during Hurricane Isabel, and it’s now in the garage awaiting reinstallation.
Otherwise, tomorrow I’m going to Pittsburgh! I’m going with LPCM, and we’re going to be cleaning rugs at Sojourner House, which is basically a halfway house for mothers who are recovering from drug addictions.
And lastly, I’ve hung an image that my father grew up with on my door. Basically, I hung up a picture of the Palace Amusements character “Tillie” (named for George Tilyou), which graces one side of Palace Amusements in Asbury Park, New Jersey. I’ve actually been to Asbury Park, but was too young to remember seeing Tillie in person. But the reason I hung Tillie up in here is because I’ve been studying vintage roadside architecture lately, and Palace Amusements ranks high up there, but has suffered tremendous decay since they closed in the late 1980s. There’s now a group trying to save the place and have it restored. Plus I think it would be a pleasant surprise for Dad to see Tillie again.
(Although if I had a better ink cartridge, maybe Tillie would look more normal instead of having purple hair due to my lack of yellow ink)
Categories: Asbury Park, LPCM, Weather
You don’t realize how much you missed it until you’re back…
< 1 minute read
September 4, 2003, 1:51 AM
Whee, today was a trip down memory lane. I was in Harrisonburg today, and re-connected with all the buddies. First I went to Canterbury for LPCM, where we did the usual Wednesday thing. Good to be back! Then I visited Jackson, Chris, Patrick, Will, Adam, etc., along with Callie, and connected with them for a while.
AND THEN…
I called up my friend Aaron, who’s a current RA in Potomac, and so I got to spend about half an hour visiting Potomac again! Boy, how I miss that place. Potomac has a special place in my heart. So many fond memories.
So many memories, and so many good friends…
Death, divorce, and moving…
< 1 minute read
August 10, 2003, 8:51 PM
They say that these three things are the most stressful things in a person’s life. I experienced one today, and the way I feel, I feel like I could experience another.
Today, I did the legwork in moving the LPCM office from Muhlenberg Lutheran Church to Canterbury. Kathleen recommended bringing a dolly with me, which I did, and it turned out to be more trouble than it was worth. Due to the very short platform on the dolly, out of the three loads carried on it, I managed to spill three loads. Needless to say, the dolly was abandoned. Maybe if Mr. Cheapskate (i.e. me) had shelled out for a more expensive dolly, maybe I would have actually gotten some use out of it.
So without the dolly, I carried everything myself, and so everything is in there, and in one piece. I really do hate moving. And due to having to move it all myself, that’s where we get #2. I feel like I could just drop, let me tell you. And to think that we’re moving stuff out of storage next. I will definitely be sore tonight, though…
Categories: LPCM