November 2007

Not too Bad of a Day…

It wasn’t nearly as busy at work as I thought it would be. One of my restaurants sites at the edge of the Wal-Mart parking lot and we are generally pretty busy on Black Friday so I was expecting to be extremely busy. It started at around 5am and we were busy until around 7:30, then it died for a couple of hours and got busy again, but nothing like I thought it would. Even the Wal-Mart parking lot wasn’t as full as I had seen it in years past. As far as I am concerned that’s a darn good thing.

We did around the same amount of business as last year but I was actually hoping for a bit more since I am a better operator than the last guy that was there. I ended up leaving around noon and going back down to the store where I have no manager so that I could get some work caught up there and shoot out early.

Some of the malls and stores around the country opened at midnight and one to catch the early shoppers. Check out these fools as they rush the mall in Mesquite, Texas at one this morning.

The police look like they are thinking ‘fuck this noise’. I don’t blame them a bit. That stuff is what the Internet is for.

I did manage to get out at a decent time and have already gotten home and set up the Christmas tree. I will leave it to the kids to decorate tonight as I think I am going to lie down and take a nap soon. Unfortunately I have to be back tonight at 9pm and am pretty darned tired.

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Deepak and Satish to be in Court Today…

Deepak and Satish Kalpoe, two of the suspects in the disappearance of Natalee Holloway are to be appearing in court today for a hearing to decide if prosecutors were right in having them arrested two days ago. As I posted yesterday, and has been all over the Internet for the last two days, Joran van der Sloot was also arrested and will be extradited from the Netherlands to Aruba shortly.

According to the prosecutors, the new arrests came about because new material in the investigation has surfaced and although they have not stated what the new evidence is Aruba’s chief prosecutor Hans Mos stated that the new evidence is ‘so important that we think we should have arrested these three guys‘.

During the preliminary hearing the judge can authorize their detention for eight more days, giving police that much time to produce the evidence, at which point they go before a judge again.

 

Dave Holloway, the father, believes that areas of deep water near Aruba were not searched extensively enough and is relaunching a search for evidence of her remains in the area. Based on talks with a police official and a private forensic expert, he believes that Natalee was thrown into deeper waters than the depths of 300+ feet that have already been searched.

A private boat owner is providing divers, sonar equipment and the ability to map the ocean floor to the search.

As far as the arrests, Dave Holloway stated that ‘I hope I’m not going to be disappointed, we’ve seen these arrests and re-arrests in the past’. All three of the young men were first detained in 2005 and released for lack of evidence.

 

Shopping

With today being ‘Black Friday’ I have been up for about thirty minutes. Certainly not because I am going shopping but as a result of other folks going out to do the same. I have to go into work about an hour early as today will be one of the busiest of the year. One of my stores sits in a Wal-Mart parking lot and thus will stay packed most of the day.

I was looking online for some deals last night though and once I am finished writing for the morning will go back out to a couple of web sites. There are still a few presents that I need to get. I was looking at a couple of Raymond Weil watches for someone and I need to pick up a couple more toys as well. We have already purchased most of the stuff for the girls as well as my nephew but I still need to find something for my niece.

Joke of The Day

I got this via email from my brother last night and it made me laugh so I thought I would share. I certainly needed a laugh when I received it…

This Year’s First Christmas Joke
Three men died on Christmas Eve and were met by Saint Peter at the pearly
gates.

“In honor of this holy season” Saint Peter said,”You must each possess
something that symbolizes Christmas to get into heaven.”

The first man fumbled through his pockets and pulled out a lighter. He
flicked it on. “It represents a candle”, he said.

“You may pass through the pearly gates” Saint Peter said.

The second man reached into his pocket and pulled out a set of Keys He shook
them and said, “They’re bells.”

Saint Peter said “You may pass through the pearly gates”.

The third man started searching desperately through his pockets and finally
pulled out a pair of women’s panties.

St. Peter looked at the man with a raised eyebrow and asked, “And just what
do those symbolize??

The man replied, “These are Carols.”

And So The Christmas Season Begins……

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!

thanksgiving.jpg
I just wanted to take a moment to wish everyone a happy thanksgiving. Today starts the Holiday season off for me at work which unfortunately just means more work for me. By now I have probably been there for thirty minutes or so, think about me.
If all goes well I should be able to get out of there around 2pm and go have Thanksgiving supper with my family. I am not allowed to leave until my managers have finished their day and left so I am going to see if I can help them out and get them out of there as early as possible.
This is also my Thanksgiving Day Open Track-back post. If you have something you would like to share with other folks, just ping this entry and it will show up at the bottom.

Finally an Arrest in the Natalee Hollaway Case!

I got the breaking news alert yesterday and wanted to put something up on it last night but as I ended up working 16 hours yesterday I was pretty tired and ended up going straight to bed last night.

natalee

Police in Aruba re-arrested Deepak and Satish Kalpoe at the same time that Joran Van Der Sloot was picked up in Holland at the request of the Aruban government yesterday. All three of them had initially been arrested in 2005 but at the time prosecutors felt that there was insufficient evidence and all three were set free. They have been charged with the involvement in the voluntary manslaughter of Natalee Holloway or causing serious bodily harm to Natalee Holloway, resulting in her death according to the statement.

There is currently no information about what new information there is that has led to the arrests.

The Associated Press released this video yesterday which recaps the arrest as well as the original story:

 

I posted quite a few times on the case back in 2005 and the level of frustration felt by her family and the public at large was palpable.

If you’ll remember, Scared Monkeys reported quite a bit on the case and they are still posting. From comments one of their readers in Diario left:

This afternoon both the Kalpoe brothers and Joran van der Sloot were rearrested and are now in Custody. The Kalpoe brother were arrested in Aruba and Joran in Arnhem, Holland. New evidence has surfaced that warranted this measure. In an official press release, the Prosecution gave all the details to the media, except what the new evidence is. The Kalpoe brothers were arrested for two days, after which they will be brought before a judge for the prolongation of their arrest. Joran was arrested for 8 days and will be sent to Aruba as soon as possible. He too will be brought before the Judge at the conclusion of the 8 days for a prolongation of his detention. The suspects are now charged with involvement in the voluntary manslaughter on Natalee Holloway or causing serious bodily harm to Natalee Holloway, resulting in her death.

It should prove interesting the see what happens next. Aruban law is a direct descendent of Napoleonic law unlike the law here in the U.S. and there will be no jury trial. If the judge feels that enough evidence has been presented that shows them guilty that’s all she wrote.

Obviously it’s Thanksgiving and I will be working long hours this week but I will be posting more in this as time permits.

Linkfest Haven, the Blogger's Oasis

Trackposted to Leaning Straight Up, thanks to Linkfest Haven Deluxe.

 

Thursday Thirteen #8 – My Thirteen Favorite Thanksgiving Foods


Thirteen Things I Love to Eat DURING THANKSGIVING

  1. The first is of course, Roast Turkey
  2. Cornbread Dressing
  3. Mashed Potatoes
  4. Deviled Eggs
  5. Cranberry Sauce, the kind that comes in a can.
  6. Gravy
  7. Sweet Potatoes
  8. Corn on the cob, which I can’t eat anymore 🙁
  9. Chocolate Pecan Pie
  10. Pumpkin Pie
  11. Spiral Ham
  12. Baked Beans
  13. Banana Pudding

The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others comments. It’s easy, and fun! Be sure to update your Thirteen with links that are left for you, as well! I will link to everyone who participates and leaves a link to their 13 things. Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted!


Wednesday Hero

Spc. Roger G. Ling

Spc. Roger G. Ling 20 years old from Douglaston, New York Company C, 1st Battalion, 34th Armor Regiment, 1st Brigade Combat Team February 19, 2004

 

When Spc. Roger G. Ling’s Humvee was struck by a homemade bomb in October of 2003, he survived the attack and he worked to keep his superior officer, Lt. Matt Homa, alive. Spc. Ling was riding in the backseat of the Humvee when it was hit. It destroyed Lt. Homa’s door.

“It almost killed me. From what I’ve been told, Roger helped keep me awake until my medic arrived.” said Lt. Homa. “Ling was a good kid. You could count on him to do anything.”

Spc. Ling was killed, along with Second Lieutenant Jeffrey C. Graham of Elizabethtown, Kentucky, when their unit came under fire from insurgents in Khalidiyah, Iraq. Only two miles from where he’d survived the attack just four months earlier.

Leona Ling said she was grateful her brother came home in August of 2003 just before leaving for Iraq.

“He had to have his tonsils taken out,” she said. “It was a blessing in disguise because we got to see him again.”

In phone calls home, the soldier spoke wistfully of returning to New York and going to college. “He wanted to hear about what was going on at home and all the latest family gossip,” Leona Ling recalled.

Survivors include his father, Wai Ling, a U.S. Army veteran.

These brave men and women sacrifice so much in their lives so that others may enjoy the freedoms we get to enjoy everyday. For that, I am proud to call them Hero.
We Should Not Only Mourn These Men And Women Who Died, We Should Also Thank God That Such People Lived

This post is part of the Wednesday Hero Blogroll. For more information about Wednesday Hero, or if you would like to post it on your blog, you can go here.

Starting The Day With A Rant

I slept like crap last night. I hate when the wife is away. I was up at 12:30, 2:30, 3:30 and then finally got out of bed for good around a quarter till 5 this morning. Today is going to be a long one as well, so I was really hoping for a good night’s sleep. I seem to have a bit of the creeping death so looked for Nyquil in the closet last night and since there was none had a big shot of whiskey in the hopes that it would knock me out long enough to sleep a full seven hours. No such luck.

I can always tell when I haven’t had anything to drink in a while. I’m such a lightweight. I have been so busy I don’t think I’ve even had a beer since the Blogtoberfest get-together back in October. The whiskey went right to my head in the course of about ten minutes. It did knock me out but obviously only for a couple of hours. The stupid cat was out on the front porch fighting. She’s been in heat for a few days and managed to slip out when I was letting the dog out last night. Sneaky beast must have been hiding under the bed waiting to get out. I am going to be pissed if she’s pregnant. I think maybe next week, if I can get a few minutes off of work, I will go ahead and take her to the vet and get her fixed. Wednesday they have a deal so that would be the day.

I just realized that I am out of my medicines completely. I just took the last Protonix and my cholesteral medicine has been empty for several days now. Before I can get them refilled I have to go get some bloodwork done and then make an appointment with the doctor. That’s all fine and dandy except for the fact that I have no free time in the mornings and if it’s on a work day I have been up for several hours before the lab opens and there is no way that I am going to go three or four hours in the morning without anything to eat or drink. That just sucks. I will have to figure out a way to make time for it somehow though.

Today is going to be a long’un. Once first shift is over I have a meeting at three, orientation for some new employees at four and then all of the multi-unit managers (that would be me) have to work supper supervision from six until ten. That pretty much sucks but it’s part and parcel with what I do on a daily basis, not to mention that I no longer have a manager at one of my stores and have to run it as well.

My local HR/recruiter had a meeting with the ex-manager in order to try and save her the other day. It’s still possible that they are going to be able to keep her but she will most likely never be back in my store, which is a good thing. It’s not worth trading 50% of my staff in order to keep someone who thinks they are smarter and more worthy than her employees. She says that she needs to be in a position where she gives orders and people automatically do what she says and that she doesn’t need to be at the level she was at. What a load of horse shit. You have to earn the respect of your employees in any business and acting like an asshat just doesn’t do it.

He (the recruiter) pissed me off a bit though. He said ‘no offense to you or (your boss) but I could have made her succesful’. He went on to let me know that I would most likely not be getting the available manager trainee since I have managed to run off two managers in two months and that I would either continue to have it as an open unit through the holidays or they would demote me and check me in. Fuck them. Assholes. I’m not the fuckwit that made the hiring descision to put people in the fucking restaurant that had no people skills whatsoever. The last bitch couldn’t even fucking add. It would take her 30 fucking minutes to count the till, something that could take five. She would literally come out on the floor screaming at the employees in front of god and everyone and even just about hit one of the girls with a fucking plate throwing one of her fits. Perhaps if they would start leaving some of the hiring desicions to the people that actually have to work with other people they might not have these issues.

Obviously I am slightly miffed about this, thus the fact that I am hating my job lately. Not that I am looking for a new one. It’s just been a hard month and things will start brightening up once I get the train wreck fixed.

I have been on too long and need to start getting ready for work I suppose. Lot’s to do today. I could probably go on and on but the longer I sit here the madder I get.

Various Stuff…

When I was helping to load the truck yesterday so that the girls could go pick up the Marine I was truly amazed. No luggage. All they had packed between the three of them was a little bitty bag to take since they aren’t going to be gone long. That was pretty cool. Heck, even if I was going by myself for two days I most likely would have packed at least as much as the three of them did, of course half of it would have been gadgets 🙂

The hardest part of them being gone for two days is the fact that I have to sleep by myself for one night. I hate it when one of us has to go out of town without the other.

Completely off the subject but I am really starting to love that Roomba I ‘won’ last month. I had not really noticed until today because I normally let it vaccuum and then turn it off to take it back to the charger but when the battery starts getting low it navigates itself back and hooks up. Sweet. I ran it twice today and it managed to get back to the docking station on it’s own both times. Amazon is doing their ‘Customer Votes’ thing again this year and one of the possibilities is a Roomba for $69. Very nice. It doesn’t look as if it’s going to win but that’s only because these fools don’t know what they are missing.