Old guy back at the new job...which is the old job

I know...I know. You're saying, "What's up with that title?" I was thinking that it's was good to be back at the old job. I kind of modeled my title after that show with Julia Louise Dryfuss "The New Adventures of Old Christine. For those of you who haven't seen the show the premise is this: Christine (Julia) gets divorced and her husband marries a younger woman (MUCH younger) whose name happens to be...CHRISTINE. So Julia is now the OLD Christine who now has to have NEW advertures. Get it? I digress...let's get back on track. For those of you who don't know it...I went back to the job I used to have back about a year ago. There are a few difference this time...

-I only work part time

-I work at night

- I won't stick my nose up to this gify from God (given to me again..

even though I don't deserve it.)

I departed from this job July 2006, exactly ten months ago, thinking I could do better. I now know that I didn't think it through and almost threw a good job away. Sometime I feel like Homer Simpson after he does something stupid. He always utters that famous phrase...

The job is good and I am making good money for calling people on the phone and inviting them to some technology show or offering them some free piece of software for their website. A lot of the same people are still here (fortunately, they did get rid of some people who made the workplace difficult.) It is a lot quieter now. That was usually my issue...it got so loud during the day that I couldn't concerntrate (a HUGE issue for those of us with Adult ADD.)

The funny thing in all those 10 months of working jobs I didn't like or working for people who couldn't seem to pay me weekly, I found out it was all for nothing. All I had to do was call my old boss back and ask him if he would forgive me for leaving and take me back. He told me he would've. I realize now that he did like me and I was doing a good job. I was working an account who's owner liked me..a lot. I was building a business relationship with him (imagine that...I am in business development and that is EXACTLY what I was doing...kudos for me!)

However my ADD brain was bored. I was frustrated because I was doing well and it wasn't a struggle. I know weird, but that is how this old cranium works sometimes! If I had just gone to my boss and told him what was frustrating me....instead of thinking all these stupid things in my head, he probably would've told me I was doing well and gave me what I wanted.

To those non-ADD brains out there this is simple logic. To me it's an assertive effort. This is NOT an excuse either. It seems that I figure these things out AFTER the fact. I am working hard to correct that.

Pray for me....and....thanks :)

Blessings....

A family reunion brings back some memories

This spring I got a call from my cousin Kathy. She wants to have a family reunion this summer. What a great idea. I am not sure what prompted her to do this, but I think it has to do with the passing of our Uncle Arthur. He was only 67 years old and lost his battle to cancer early this spring.

My uncle was one of those guys who was always the life of any gathering. He was funny, but not in an over the top kind of a way...his humor was more like David Letterman...more subtle. I used to love when he would tell one of his colorful stories...he always had a way of giving you a funny visual that, by the end of the story, had you laughing so hard you stomach would hurt!

When I was about nine, I went over to his and my aunt's house. He had just arrived home and had a bag of what looked like candy. I LOVED CANDY! He looked at me and asked if I wanted a piece....HELLO? YES! I started munching on the candy and he looked at me and started to smile. "Do you like that candy?" Oh ooo! "Yes," I said. "Good cause it's chocolate covered ants!" he said laughing. I thought he was kidding until my aunt came out, "Art, you didn't give him some of those chocolate covered ants did you?"

He wasn't kidding!

He hooked me like a trout on a shiny lure! After that I was always a bit gun-shy whenever he offered me something to eat or drink. "What did you do to it Uncle Arthur?" "Nothing" he would say with a grin. I used to always check with my aunt just to make sure.

When he wasn't joking he was a dad to four kids and a loving husband to my Aunt. I remember many Thanksgivings and Christmas dinners at his home in New Hampshire. He would help with the cooking of the turkey or making his homemade stuffing. There were jokes and lots of laughter.

I remember one pre-christmas party we had a "Yankee Swap." This is when you get a wrapped gift, it can be new or old, and everyone puts the gifts under the tree. Then you draw numbers and pick a gift. You can keep it or swap with someone else (who has already opened their gift. We decided that year to give old or used ones.) I found this old ship in my cellar....wrapped it up, dust, cobwebs and all and brought it to the party. Well, guess who opened up that gift? You got it... Uncle Arthur...of course he swaped it with his son! I think I got that ship back a year or so later. I'm not sure who has it now...it probably ended up being firewood.

My uncle ran a successful window shade and blinds business for many years until his retirement. He and my aunt moved to Florida where he was until his passing. Looking back I think he had a pretty full life. His love for humor and people will remain with us forever.

Uncle Arthur...when Jesus takes me home to be with him...meet me at the gate, just don't bring any food for me... cause I still don't think I will eat it.

Blessings... :-)

ADD Humor of the day

I was goggling the other day and decided to see if I could find any sites with Adult ADD humor. Google, as it usually does, gave me this cool site. I am not sure if you could find it by the web address, but it's called ADD-Link by Categorey...and no I didn't mispell "Catagory"...they did!.

The web address is: http://user.cybrzn.com. Again, I don't know if you can pull it up this way, but feel free to try. Enjoy!


You Know You've Got ADD When . . .

. . .your parents are both grey haired and have a rather perplexed look on their face.

. . .you finally find your pencil in your book bag, look up and the rest of the class are no longer in the room.

. . . you ask your parents,"can I borrow the car"...and they hand you the insurace policy AND the car keys.

. . . your spouse asks if it was good and you say "What?"

. . . you have lost your cars keys more than once in the last 10mins.

. . . a fairy steals your homework out of your bookbag...EVERY day...

. . .you haven't sent out the baby announcements yet...and you're at his commencement.

. . .the stack of papers on your desk is as high as you are.

. . .your kid tells you that you gave him permission to stay out all night, but you just forgot.

. . .you don't have to buy and write out Christmas cards this year...because you just found last year's stamped and ready to mail...in the trunk.

. . .you realize that you've forgotten to schedule the sitter for tommorrow night and your 7 year old informs you that SHE took care of it yesterday!

. . .your very ADHD child looks at you with a concerned look on his face and says, "Mom, sometimes you pay less attention than I do."

. . .you find the peanut butter in the freezer and you have no idea how it got there.

. . .the car is never parked where you think you left it.

. . .one little patch of poison Ivey turns into cortazone city because you can't stop scratching it.

. . .you suddenly realize that you're girlfriend has left the room ... one hour later.

. . .you return to your desk only to realize that you forgot what you went for in the first place.

. . .you can't remember what you got up for until you sit down again.

. . .with 6 of us in this house, 5 of us diagnosed I keep threatening to put a sign up next to the front door: PLEASE IGNORE THE MESS WE ALL HAVE ADD!!

. . .you lose your car keys before you even get out of the car!

. . .you can't remember the thing you were not supposed to forget, or the key word you thought up to remind yourself with.

. . .you tell your child it's time to organize his room and he tells you NEVER to use the "O" word in his presence.

Paris Hilton....from party-girl to jail-bird

So....let me assume that you have all heard the news about Paris Hilton arrest and then release from LA County Jail last week? Who hasn't. I guess poor Paris needs to really get a clue about life....when the judge ordered her back to court for the hearing to find out why she was released to house arrest, she wanted to do the hearing via a telephone!

Wow...talk about out of touch with reality. As we know, her 24 hour house arrest came to a quick end and now she is serving her remaining 45 days (which ironically it is written that she will serve more time than others who have received the same sentence for the same offense!) I guess, unlike OJ Simpson, celebs do have to serve their time for their crime! It was rumored that Paris was suicidal...she was crying all night long in her cell. I know that prison is no picnic, but being in for 45 days made her suicidal (allegedly) yike! I don't know about you, but I would call that a bit unnerving...even unstable.

I find it interesting that Sherriff Lee Baca wouldn't give a reason for his decision for releasing her to house arrest. I know a lot of you are thinking bad things, but I think it had to do with her unstability (is that a word???) He made a HUGE mistake and, I think, probably paid for it dearly. He makes Mayberry's Barney Fife look like a brilliant officer! Today the Sherriff's Department Spokesman Steve Whitmore said that Paris medical condition was "stable." What I want to know is what IS this condition?

So, what do we really know about Paris Hilton? She is the great graddaugher of Conrad Hilton, the mastermind behind what is now known as The Hilton Hotel Empire. That empire has an estimated value of $300 million....I thought it would be more. She is listed online as a "socialite" which basically means she gets paid large sums of money (like she needs it) to "appear" at the hottest parties in Tinseltown! Oh...she was also a model...apprearing in GQ, Vogue and others.

Her Hollywood movies career (excluding the X rated stuff) was a movie called "House of Wax" a horror flick. She did such a great job on it that she was awarded 2 razzies for "Worst Supporting Actress." Sad. I really feel bad for this young girl...all that money and has it made her happy? No.

I was thinking about the last known Hollywood socialite to get arrested. Not Lindsey Lohan, not Matthew Perry....rememeber Zza Zza Gabor? She was the one who slapped the LA Police officer back in the 90's? That didn't work out too well for her either! What will Paris do when she gets out in a month? Will she change her ways? It was said that she told a reporter (was it BaBa Walters??) that she found "religion" while in jail.

Really? Interested. Being a christian I know that the definition of "religion" means to "bind up." What you need Paris is to be set free! Maybe Jesus CAN change you. If you really meant what you said. Heck, he saved Saul who became the apostle Paul....he used to persecute Christians.

If Jesus can do that....He can do anything! I am waited with baited breath to see where Paris will go when is gets out. Make us proud Paris.

Blessings,

Is it June ALREADY???!!!

It seems to me that time is flying by and everytime I turn around it's the beginning of another month! I have been working hard with my brother and his business...it is physical work and my lazy butt is not used to physical work (I've been doing the cube farm thing for over 15 years...that's office work in case you don't know the term "cube farm" or cubicle office worker.)

I like being outside (even though my body pains at the end of the day) and the time seems to fly as I wash windows or help my brother with pressure washing homes. I still needed to have another full time job until we get the business as a year round one. I was having a really bad time finding something because it had to be night work. I was online and saw an ad for the lead generation company I once worked for was looking for people. I emailed them and asked him if he would hire me back for night work. Long story short...I start on Monday.

I was really happy to go back there because I did a dumb thing and left this job over a year and a half ago...thinking a found a better job...which ended up being a HUGE mistake. I thought I had burned a bridge by leaving (I later found out I hadn't and could've gone back once the job I left to go to didn't work out.) When I worked there I found that I was successful and happy with what I was doing. I was making good money and the owners liked me.

So what happend?

I guess I could blame my Adult ADD and my tendency to have a restless side. In layman's terms...I get bored easily. Aside from my ADD, I think I got caught up in the outside effects of those that I work with (actually, this IS an ADD trait.) I have a hard time concentrating when there is a lot of outside noise (and there was.) I thought I found a job that was closer to home. Basically, I jumped without thinking it through...a spontaneous decision...not a good thing for those with ADD.

So now I am gainfully employed (as well as the weekend job at the radio station) and things are good. I feel less stress and my wife feels A LOT less stress! I began to think about how there are so many instances for those of us with ADD to see all of the negative things about it. I decided to google "positive things about having ADD." I love Google! I found some really interesting articles that I would like to share with you.

I found a CNN health minute article which grabbed my attention because it was written by Judy Fortin. I used to work with Judy at a local TV station in Manchester NH. The article quoted Stephanie Moulton Sarkis who stated that 4% of Americans have a diagnosed ADD, but those who have it and don't know it is not known. ADD is still thought of as a child/adolescents condition. What is really alarming is that 70% "grow into Adult ADD." I am not sure what they meant by this, but I will assume it means that the "unknown percentage" not knowing they have it, discover it later in life....that's my story as you already know.

Sarkis' book "10 Simple Solutions to Adult ADD" ( www.stephaniesarkis.com) states that medication is NOT a cure to the condition. Meds should be used in conjunction with counseling...I agree. She said to also take a look at your lifestyle, exercise and get enough sleep.
She said to choose a flexible job...hmmmm...working for my brother is flexible! What I found really funny is she suggests that most people with ADD don't do well in a 9-5 cubile-type job! That makes me laugh as that is what I've been doing for the past 15 yrs. I thought about this.

I think the reason that I did so well at the Lead Generations job is because I had full control over what I did. I found it challenging to call people and get their interest in what I had to offer them. I also found a good way to talk to people and immediately know if they were interested. The job also allowed me to multitask while I was there. I could look up a company and get info on them before calling. I also could surf the net while waiting for someone to answer the phone. Normally, surfing the net wouldn't allow someone to perform. For me it worked. I was usually looking at the company's website while on hold. It worked for me.

The more I read about the aspects of ADD, the more I wanted to see if there were anymore articles praising the positives of Adult ADD. I will share more of what I found out next time.

Blessings...