An up and down week

So where do I begin? Well, this week definitely had it's share of up and down moments. On Monday I woke up energized and ready for a very busy week at work. All kinds of things going on from district hockey games, spring hockey league planning, the zamboni/union transition, that's been a huge topic at work. I'm slowly becoming public enemy #1 in the eyes of many union members. What's sad is they'll never see the benefit this transition could mean to the city, and oh yeah, no one will get laid off as a result of the change. I think there was a new president that got sworn in on Tuesday, that's been all over the news and radio. But the my biggest surprise came on Tuesday evening, I found out that my favority radio station, 1130 am, laid off all of it's main staff, including all personalities. I can't express enough how shocked I was to find this out. As silly as it sounds, when you listen to talk radio, you get to know the personalities, and they become a part of your daily routine. Not only did I listed to this station in the morning and on the drive to work, but I listened frequently while at work as well. Ok, insert a joke here, at times it distracted me at work and I might haven't been the most productive, but it keeps me going and laughing throughout the day. It's good to laugh often. So little did I know that Tuesday at 12pm that the station would be pink-slipping all of it's staff. I didn't even listed to the last show because I was busy at work. I heard through a friend at work who knew someone at this radio station that the station director came in at 12pm, no notice, and handed pink-slips to everyone. No severnce, no notice, nothing. In these crazy times it's sad to think that something like this could happen. It makes me appreciate my job a little more each day, and to work hard, every day, and bust my ass at everything I do. I hope everyone at the station lands on their feet somewhere else in the area, because they were great at what they did.

Zamboni Driving

So today was a big day at work. I found out that in 6 months (around July 1st), city union employees will no longer be employed in my ice rink. What does this mean for me? Well, I have to learn, i mean polish, my driving skills on a Zamboni. I will have a tremendous amount of responsibility added to my plate. I'll have to hire new drivers and train them. I have to build a new budget, and will have 100% responsibility for the ice maintenance for my ice rink. I'm ready for it. I've been waiting for this moment. It will give me a lot more job security in the crazy economy that we have to live in. All in all it's a good thing for the city, and the employees that are being taken out of the ice rink will not lose their jobs, they'll be absorbed in to the Water Department, so I'm happy for them. I'm nervous as all hell with the amount of preparation that needs to happen between now and then. I know there will be a lot of animosity towards me from the union, but the way I look at it is, hey, it gives all of better job security, and how can you argue with that! Sometimes people just need to get that bug out of their ass and focus on the more important things in life. Ok, I'm falling asleep due to a long week, and looking forward to some nice r&r, wait a minute, Dave, Connie, Sis, Rick, Ben and Lindsay are coming down on Saturday (Whoo-hoo!), comedy show, drinks and partying, can't wait, till next time!

To Be Continued

So I've had a day to digest things and continue my thoughts since reading the article. I forgot to mention the other important thing that happened on Sunday, January 11th, I decided to act and do things in my life a little different than usual. After waking up and deciding to go to the gym instead of laying around my wheels started spinning about my life; how I spend my time, how much tv I watch, taking advantage of the positives in my life...my marriage, my health, my family. I'm tired of not living life to the fullest, and when I say fullest I don't mean signing up for a bungee-jumping lesson or jumping out of an airplane. What I decided on Sunday was this: I want to live my life by leading by example, I want to contribute to society in a number of different ways. I don't want to go through the motions, I have the drive and desire to not just do well, but to be a positive influence on those closest to me: my wife, my family, my co-workers, the people of Garden City, but honestly, the most important thing that went through my mind after sharing these thoughts with Kat was the way she responded. She was totally on board, supportive, and wants to do the same, together. I wouldn't have it any other way. She is my soul mate, my best friend, and if she wasn't on board with this new perspective of mine, I don't know if I could go through with it. I truly do admire her, and love her with all my heart. Sometimes when you write in these blogs you can totally get off track, which is a good way to end this entry....until the next time.

Detroiters Carry On

Ok, so I'm new to this whole blog thing. It's been 5 minutes and my wife is already making fun of me for having a blog. So I woke up this morning and did my usual routine; feed the cat, had some breakfast, and watched a little news. It's a Sunday so I'm usually up a minimum of 2 hours before Kat gets up. She loves her beauty rest. Lately I've been consumed with the local news, in the paper and on tv. As a Michigander, owning a home, working in the public sector, you can't help but be cocerned about what's going on in the world, and even more so in our state. So I started reading the Free Press and on the front page was an article from Mitch Albom about his recent work he did for Sports Illustrated. The article in the Free Press was titled "Detroiters Carry On." In this article Mitch talked about how important it was being given the opportunity to write an article for a national periodical about the city of Detroit, and the state of sports in the city. My initial thought when I started reading the article was that it was going to be a sports article, I couldn't have been more wrong. This article made me go through every emotion known to man, and it would stick in the mind throughout the day, and to this very moment writing this blog entry. To be continued....