With Thanksgiving approaching rapidly, my thoughts turn to the poetry of Robert Frost, whose poetry I grew up on and adore.

Today, we visit those snowy woods.

Whose woods these are I think I know.
His house is in the village though;
He will not see me stopping here
To watch his woods fill up with snow.

My little horse must think it queer
To stop without a farmhouse near
Between the woods and frozen lake
The darkest evening of the year.

He gives his harness bells a shake
To ask if there is some mistake.
The only other sound’s the sweep
Of easy wind and downy flake.

The woods are lovely, dark and deep.
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.

Robert Frost 1923

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/22/us/22trial.html?hpw

Congratulations, Mr. Odumbo – you have given the terrorists exactly what they wanted.

“He acknowledges that he helped plan the 9/11 attacks, and he says he’s looking forward to dying,” Mr. Fenstermaker said of Mr. Ali. But he said he expected Mr. Ali and his co-defendants to plead not guilty “so they can have a trial and try to get their message out.”

. . .

The report of Mr. Ali’s comments may add to complaints from critics of Mr. Holder’s decision who favored military trials in Cuba and have said a criminal trial will provide terrorists with a propaganda platform.

Count me amongst those critics.

I found this article in yesterday’s Washington Post – http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/11/18/AR2009111803665.html

The article raises questions about the job creation numbers being bantered about by the O-baaaaah-ma administration resulting from the economic stimulus program.  Essentially, the GAO raises questions about the validity of the information because the administration can’t figure out what to count – big surprise.

Some of my favorite revelations from the article:

• complicating efforts, state and local governments have used much of the money to pay for temporary, part-time or seasonal work, making it unclear when and how such jobs should be reported.
• The Government Accountability Office found that almost 4,000 designated recipients who have not yet received stimulus funding reported creating or saving more than 58,000 jobs.

and my favorite

• Another 9,200 recipients reported no job creation, despite receiving a total of $965 million. The findings demonstrate the difficulty of counting jobs created by the stimulus.  Other recipients that already spent money are reporting zero jobs created or saved.

Wow – maybe I should have applied for these dollars.  I could have gotten $100,000, on average, and done nothing to promote job growth.

Well, here it is about 28 hours since I got the news.  I didn’t sleep much last night, and what sleep I did get was drug induced – valium is a wonderful drug

As for today, it was the first day of the rest of my life.  Since I woke up early, I read the blogs of the Empress Bee and Sarge Charlie – great news about the tumor.  Knowing how much they love taking the holiday cruise with the family, I hope Nurses Flat Jeter and Flat Skeezix do a great job keeping the Sarge healthy so that he and Bee can be along for the ride.

Then, I decided to begin this new phase by playing golf – some might call that a stupid move, but the game relaxes me and it accomplished it’s purpose.  I shot a 102, not a great score, but I managed to spend some solitary time without thinking about the current situation .

The rest of the day I spend doing things to prepare for unemployment.  I spent time paying bills and planning a budget – something everyone should do, but so few of us actually accomplish.  We don’t have to worry about going homeless or without meals (although the latter would probably benefit me).

I also spoke with the HR VP about some issues – I have formally requested reconsideration of the length of my severance package.  The issue is rather trivial IMO – I had a six week break in service in 2000 and they changed my date of hire.  To make matters more interesting, they changed the policy in 2003 and I have been raising the issue of being grandfathered ever since.  Now, it is coming back to haunt me.  Hopefully, there will be a decision in my favor.

Last night, I was going to make a CAKE, but the Mrs. was a REAL HOUSEWIFE and she baked an apple pie instead.  Well, baked is relative – the top turned out a color that went beyond brown, if you catch my drift.

I haven’t told my family about my situation yet – I don’t think any of them actually read my blog, but if they do, then they know.  Not that I am worried about my BIG BROTHER(S) reaction(s), but I see no particular reason to share the news when I am still doing OK.

Speaking of OK, I sent several applications off today, including one to Stillwater OK.  I very quickly got back an email from the HR recruiter stating that “she was going to put my resume in front of the CEO today” – makes me wonder how long they have been looking and what the issues might be, but it is encouraging.

Well, that’s enough rambling for today – until tomorrow, or whenever I post next, just remember that any day that you wake up is a good day.

JustJon

At shortly after 3PM today, I was called into the HR office at the hospital where I work and informed that my services were no longer required.  Honestly, I think it probably was for the best, but still . . .

For some time, I have been unhappy at my job – there is no advancement possibility, no one seems to care about the fact that I was bored as all get out and every suggestion that I made was shot down with rapid fire.

At least now, I can concentrate on finding a job full-time – I did get a severance package, which we have a slight disagreement on the length of, but I don’t have to worry about where my next meal is coming from.

I may even take advantage of this situation and take a last minute cruise from somewhere to somewhere.  News to follow on that one.

Hope your day was tits – mine was not.

I had to get a prescription refilled – my doctor made a mistake and only wrote it for one month.  My prescription plan is one of those plans that have you send in a three month script and only have a two month copay.

Anyway, I did not want to both the doctor with rewriting the script – honestly, he is taking care of my ADHD as a favor.  So I decided to call my pharmacy to find out what the script would cost, knowing I could fill it twice under my plan before they would want me to go mail order as a maintenance drug.

So I called the local Happy Harry’s (great name for a great drug store, even though they are now part of Walgreens) and asked for pricing information – $47.99 for 90 tablets, but the price would be reduced to $17.99 if I purchase the Walgreens prescription card (which I already have).

So, I went in last night and had the prescription filled – my cost was $6.90!!!!  (My generic copay is $12.00, so the cost was the actual price).

So we have -

Private pay = $47.99

Walgreens card = $17.99

Prescription plan = $6.90

And people complain that hospitals gouge the self-pay patient.

Today, I played golf with three retirees.  I had a good time, as it was my first time playing in a couple of weeks.

When they found out what I did for a living, I was asked my thoughts regarding health care reform.  Before I could even formulate an answer, all three of them were voicing their opposition to the Democratic efforts to reform health care.

I read recently that 53 percent of Americans surveyed oppose the current form of health care reform being debated in Washington.  Yet, the Democrats seem to believe that they have an overwhelming mandate to transform the health care system.

So, where is the support for health care reform coming from?  My best guess is that it eminates from the liberal, idealic youth of our country who, quite frankly, utilize very few health care services.  It is apparent that the elderly, those who are the largest users of health care services, are fearful of the potential effects that this reformation could have on their ability to access the services that they require.

Is there anything sadder than a family whose loved one is deploying?  I really can’t think of anything that comes to mind.

Today, my thoughts and prayers go out to Lala and Aero as he deploys – this deployment will be the first time that the two of them have been apart for any length of time since their marriage fourteen months ago.

My thoughts and prayers also go out to thousands of families affected by this same phenomenon – a loved one deploying overseas, whether on land, sea or air.

God Bless them all – service members and their families.  May God ensure that they will soon be reunited.

Jon

Those of you who follow Muffin53’s blog know that the Empress is currently undergoing bathroom repairs – that have nothing to do with her bathroom.  Poor Bee.

Her travails remind me of an story regarding a bathroom that I had as a young child.   No, not that kind of bathroom experience – get your minds out of the gutter, Flat Jeter.

My parents bought a Cape Cod house when my father went to work for the structural steel company in the early ’50s.  The house had four bedrooms, but only one bath.  At the time they bought the house, they had two babies.

My mother wanted thirteen (yes, 13) children and she (and my father) tried her darnedest to accomplish this goal.  She had a total of eight children in eleven years.  By the time my youngest sister was born, the house was clearly too small, but we still lived there for another two years.

BTW – my mother was a REAL HOUSEWIFE.

Now, one must understand that I grew up in a small village – so small that we used to come home for lunch from school.  Until I got to high school, my school day included going home – except for one day in second grade.

You see, our bathroom floor needed to be replaced for my parents to sell the house so we could move to a larger house (one street over).  To this day, I remember the note my mother wrote “Please let [my younger brother] and Jon eat lunch at school today, they have no bathroom at home.”  Yes, I was a BIG BROTHER in this experience and we ate lunch at the school with the teachers, but no other students.

Now, our repairs took one day – clearly, we could not have gotten by without a bathroom and eight people needing one (two sisters were too young to be using the BR).  Why, then, I ask are the repairs to Bee’s BR taking so long???

Sadly, my parents are now both dead and the only CRUISING they ever did was going for a Sunday drive – up to the islands during apple season or out to Sadies in Malletts Bay for ice cream over the roller coaster road (as we called it).

I know I have missed some elements, but what the heck – I got the key element in by mentioning the EMPRESS BEE.

Hope your Saturday is peachy keeno.

JustJon

While I am on the topic of our dear inept Chief Executive, have you seen his recent decree about how to conduct the war on terrorism in Afghanistan?  I reject every and all recommendations made by my counselors.

Are you afraid to make a decision, Mr. O-baaaaah-ma?  We are talking terrorism here.  How much longer must we tolerate these individuals preparing to wage Jihad (literally, Holy War) on us?  Will it take another event as bad as 9/11 for you to act?

Show some cahoonas and make up your mind.  Isn’t that what you were (sadly) elected to do?