Games..Must We?

Holy Week MI-5

This week is the week many Christians refer to as "Holy Week." Here are five questions inspired by the week. Well, inspired in a low-brow way!

1) Palm Sunday. On this day, Jesus rode into Jerusalem on a colt--one that had never been ridden before. What's the most unusual form of transport you've ever been on? Fighter jet? Submarine? Dog sled?

Ironically it happened in the last year. I was changing planes through Dulles airport and got a chance to ride in a Mobile Lounge. This is a system of boarding and deboarding people from airplanes that was used at some airports before the jetway. In my case it wasn't used to get on or off a plane but instead it was used to ferry people from one terminal to another. I recall it could be driven from either end and it was similar to a subway car. Dulles was using these for this purpose because about 80% of the airport is under construction and they have no way to get between some terminals. So you take this thing across a jet taxiway to the other terminal. It is almost like a ferry boat across a small river. It isn't far across at all. They are going to be all retired soon so I am glad I got a chance to ride in a piece of history.

2) Maundy Thursday. On Thursday of Holy Week, Christ and His disciples ate the Last Supper. What would you want to eat for your final meal?

Steak is probably my favorite food so probably a really high quality steak. We are talking dry aged and all that. I had a meal at Ruth's Chris steak house once that woud due quite nicely.

3) Good Friday. Christ is crucified. What's the most excruciating physical pain you've endured? (And just so we can get some cool/interesting answers, ladies please eliminate child birth. We know that hurts wicked!)

It is a tie between when they set my broken leg in the hospital and right after the surgery to put the rod in my leg. The leg set was bad enough that I actually yelled in pain. I couldn't help it. It hurt badly but I told the doctor to just do whatever he had to do. It took him like 4 tries too. The post operation pain was just horrible. It went on for hours unlike the leg setting pain that was intense and fast. I recall begging the nurse for meds. They couldn't give me anything till the anesesia from the operation wore off. If I had a gun I would have shot myself. It was that bad.

4) Holy Saturday. It's sometimes observed with silence. Can you think of something significant to share dealing with silence?

Now that I am older I think it is interesting how much I appreciate silence. I work much better in quiet areas. I relax better in quiet. I just really like silence. I sleep better with white noise though.

5) Easter Sunday. The Lord is raised from the dead. Even many non-religious people celebrate Easter in some fashion. Do you have a family tradition on Easter? A dinner? An egg roll (the rolling of eggs on a lawn, not a noodle rolled around napa and bok choy!)? If you're Jewish and playing along, how about a Passover family tradition?

Church is a tradition but a newer one. Then a spiral cut ham for easter dinner which was hold for our middle meal and not our evening meal.

Since this issue has been on my mind as of late, here is a 5 about
jobs and careers (Billy wanted it to be about funk tunes, but this is
cathartic, so bear with me):

1) Think back now. What was your first REAL job ... you know, one that
you had a W-2 from at the end of the year. Tell us about it:

That woudl be a dishwasher at the Black Pearl restaurant. I got the job because my sister worked there as a hostess. It was a decent enough job for a kid but I recall I didn't work there that long because I got a chance to go to McDonalds so I finished my summer job there. McDonalds paid more and they were air conditioned. The month or so I worked at the Black Pearl we had a heat wave. Work in a small kitchen during a heat wave with a steam making dish washer, heat lamps and an oven and I can tell you I sweat about a gallon an hour. They encouraged us to drink water or soda but then didn't like it when we stopped working. It was also the kind of place where you worked your shift which was the lunch shift for me and then they would call you back into work every night. I hated it. I was so glad to leave.

2) Everybody has had a favorite job, perhaps one that they are still
in. What was yours?

I used to do caretaking down in Owls Head for several summer homes. These were summer homes that were far nicer than most people's regular homes. One of them had tennis courts and a heated swimming pool next to the ocean. That one had a lawn that took 6 hours to mow on a huge three blade ride on mower. I think that was my favorite job. They owners were never there and I had the place to myself. I just did whatever I wanted to do. If I saw something that needed fixing I did it. If I wanted to plant a garden or flowers somewhere I did it and they paid for it. They just liked to see it taken care of. I had full use of the house all the time for whatever I wanted. I had a few partys there over the years and it was a great place to take a girlfriend to get away from everyone. I used to love mowing the lawn. I would ride the mower and look at the ocean while listening to the radio though my headphones. I had hearing protectors with sound in them. It was a great job. I even got to know the neigbors. It was my house in a way and I got paid to work there. I worked when I wanted and left when I wanted. How do you beat it.

3) Remember that job that you thought would be great ... that wasn't?
Tell us about your biggest career-related error in judgment:

I think that would be Comlabs. I left a part time job of 8 years getting paid very well for the day and I had full health insurance. I was in college and they would work around my schedule at school. I had some college left but I left that job to take a full time job and never ended up retuning to finish that degree. It derailed my entire career choice and path. A really stupid decision. The worst part is that the owner/boss was a huge jerk and after being there not even three months the whole place started imploding. He fired a bunch of people and laid off the people that were working with me. I was left to do almost nothing but had to look busy in front of the boss. Eventually he laid me off to and I was happy to get a few weeks severence and get out of there. I will say he did take the time to sit down with me and tell me that it wasn't my fault and that he would help me find new work if he could. So I wasn't fired but the company structure just changed very fast.

4) What is more important to you in your career choice: Money or
Satisfaction? Or both ... or something else? Explain:

A little of both. One of the reasons I never worked at MBNA is because of the satisfaction part. The money would be great but who wants to live with the stress. I think you need to strike a balance.

5) OK, it's dream job time. For the sake of this exercise, we'll
assume that you can at least make a comfortable living wage from the
work ... regardless of its nature. So, what is it that you would
choose to do, day in, day out, to earn your daily bread?

I think a job where the work was interesting and it wasn't overly stressful would be fine. Some days I would love to have one of those big city jobs where I could have tons of great lunch choices nearby and time to head to the gym during the work day. Maybe that is just on tv. Then other days I think I would love to do something like run large equipment. I guess my dream job just has to have certain elements to be my dream job. It doesn't have to be anything in particluar. Ideally I would love to be a real estate developer and own my own company. I think the idea of developing projects that really help others would be great. Then again I would like working in ministry too. hehe