Who moved my cheese?  This is a book that all employees in the Qwest Channel Partners division were given back in 2001.  It depicts certain mice that continue to go back to the same place they have become accustomed to for cheese long after it has moved.  The point of the book is to recognize when your cheese has moved and start looking in a new place.  This is a hard thing to do when you have been getting so much cheese for so long in the same place.

The native Americans that lived in this country were nomads before the white man stole the land.  They hunted in an area until the majority of the animals were killed off and then moved to another area.  The tribes that flourished the most were constantly moving and enjoying the spoils of nature that were in the new lands.  They knew that their survival was contingent on their mobility and ability to adapt to new surroundings.  When they moved from an area, it had time to replenish and eventually another tribe moved back and the cycle repeated itself.

Much is the same in business.  The same cycles repeat themselves and those that are agile and move from place to place are rewarded.  The trouble is that the average Joe doesn’t like change and holds onto the past with a vengeance.  We don’t like change and will spit in the eye of wisdom and stay in the same place long after all of the resources are depleted.  The tribes that practiced this have long since passed into oblivion.  Those who were willing to move on and roll with the punches will always survive.

All of this is the prelude to my farewell to 2006.  There were a few significant changes that occurred in my life:

1.  We sold our church property to Walmart so we could build on our new property on the freeway.  I was one of the 7 men who unanimously agreed that God was pointing us to a new era in the life of our church.  After much prayer, we determined that this was the right thing to do for  the body of believers that worship  together.  We turn the property over to Walmart the third week of February.  What is left of the building that we don’t take with us will be demolished for a Walmart Super Center.  This will be a major change in our lives but I do believe there is a reason for us taking this leap of faith.

Regardless, there is much pain in this significant change in our lives.  Cyndie and I were married in this building over 25 years ago.  We had 3 magnificent boys while in this building.  I personally baptized all 3 boys in this building.  The oldest J married his lovely wife in this building.  I baptized numerous relatives and friends in this building.  We attended countless functions with friends who are no longer on this earth.  Even knowing that eventually everything will return to dust does not ease the pain in change of this significant part of our lives.  The building is not the church but only a building but this still doesn’t provide much comfort in the face of such a significant change

2.  The owners of the company I worked for the last 5 years sold out to a corporate entity.  That company bought our largest competitor and we have been in the process of merging with them for the last 6 months.  Under the private ownership, I was responsible for most of the operations of the company.  Under the current situation, my duties are being delegated to one new hire after another.  There are at least 10 people who are now doing the same work I was doing at the beginning of the year.  Nuff said about this.

3.  I was received a calling to build a retirement community for Americans down in Honduras.  The groundwork has been laid for this project and the next step is for the money to drop in my lap.  This is exactly how the next step will occur and the timing is up to God.

As for welcoming in the new year, I have decided to break the invisible chains of doubt that have bound me.  I have spent too much of my time getting agreement on matters where the direction is obvious to me.  Gone are the days of lying in wait until everything lines up to surmise what I saw at the onset of decision making processes.  There have been too many instances where I can see what needs to happen immediately but others are slow to come around.  I will henceforth be asserting my opinions with gusto and forcing issues I have allowed to play out in the past.

I have already taken steps to live into this new me and the results have been amazing.  Alignment has been waiting for me to assert.  Who would have thought?

Welcome 2007!

Yet another awesome Christmas.  The oldest J and his better half were with us for 5 days and having a house full of family was good.  We started the Holiday with a dinner at our house with the 6 Lowrys and 4 Hortons.  I grilled 16 of the Livestock and Rodeo steaks over charcoal and Bob brought his famous mushrooms.  Cyndie prepared 2 big dishes of fresh asparagus which made for a fun time long after the meal.  We have been eating on the left over steak all week long.

Bob and I went over to my former boss’s house on Saturday and picked up a washer, dryer and freezer that he no longer needed.  After fixing my washer and dryer the weekend before, it was all I could do to remove them from the laundry room and replace them with the top of the line Maytag set that I was given.  The new to me set is around a year old and were being discarded because of the perception that the delicate cycle was not delicate enough.  If that is so, us poor folks can wash them by hand.  Now I have the chore of finding a recipient for my slightly used washer and dryer that have $200 worth of new parts that I installed the weekend before.  Bob graciously took the freezer for his garage and then we headed back down to the Sears parts store.  The antique double oven at Bob’s bit the dust on Thursday so we were on a quest to find replacement heating element.  We struck out a Sears but the lady directed us to another store and bingo, we hit paydirt.  The new element worked fine so their worries about how to cook Christmas dinner were over.  Not so much a worry because they were going to use our oven if we could not find an element but there is something about having to carry everything back and forth that takes the fun out of cooking.

After another day of moving and fixing stuff, we took the Hortons to a Rocket’s game Saturday night and got to see Yao hit the floor and not get up.  It was Bob and Connie’s first visit to the Toyota Center. We really spoiled them with the priority parking passes and suite tickets we received from the same former boss mentioned above.  The Rockets lost and I don’t know the outcome of the injury that was inflicted on Yao.  I noticed a blurb on the front page of the Chronicle with his face in it but I don’t read the sports section so the suspense must go on.  I could have reached down and picked up the sports section to update on this injury for this blog but my interest in these matters ceases when I exit the sports arena.  I am doing good to know that they make a goal in basketball and a touchdown in soccer .

Sunday was our second to last service in our church building.  Since we did not have any classes, I headed home after first service and threw together a meal so we could head out to the inlaws house when Cyndie got home.  I diced up some of the left over steak and scrambled it up with some eggs.  Bob gave me the idea on Saturday and I had a great, simple lunch two days in a row.  We headed up to the sister-in-laws house after feasting on this simple but fabulous meal.

I made sure the boys took the Wii.  It was funny to be making them pack it up and take it with us.  There have been many times when they wanted to take their playstation or X-box and we have not allowed it.  Wii is different.  We did not let it dominate our visit with the traditional Christmas Eve celebration with Cyndie’s family.  Counting the Alred clan which included a son-in-law and girl friend-in-law, the Kuses and us which included a daughter-in-law, there were 15 of us eating tamales and opening presents.  Before we began the festivities, we did something that really made the day.  My brother-in-law, Ed, approached me with an idea to have each family member say something memorable about AC and Nan.  He gave his clan a heads up and I gave my boys the same.  He wanted me to lead the conversation and that meant that I could go last.

Before we started gorging ourselves, we gathered in a circle in the living room as we have in the past for a prayer.  I then told everyone our intentions and let my youngest start the blessing chain as I will now call it.  He did a magnificent job of setting the tone and everyone else followed with the same.  There were some happy tears shed and we began a tradition that will be a welcome part of our future holiday gatherings.

Christmas day was spent at my step-dad’s house with all of my family.  My niece and nephew who are 5 and 4 made the holiday complete.  Christmas is not Christmas without children.  We had a great meal and fellowship with the 20 people that showed up.  Our brother John did not come because he “had a hangover”.  We did not let his absence put a damper on our fun.  The day was not complete without a couple of games of Skipbo.  We got home that evening early enough that I actually had the energy to replace the ice maker on our refrigerator.  I returned the part that I had ordered the previous weekend and bought a new one when Bob and I were at Sears on Saturday.  The old one had been leaking water into the ice tray and chipping this huge block of ice out was the most time consuming part of the task.  Once that was out of the way, the actual replacement took all of 5 minutes from start to finish.

I took my last vacation day of the year on Monday and we did not let the grass grow under our feet.  I had the oil changed in my truck and bought groceries before the boys were out of bed.  Cyndie and I took Jacob to see The Good Shepard early in the afternoon.  It was a good but slow movie.  Good thing it was Early afternoon.  Cyndie said that she only fell asleep a few times.

The evening was topped out with me spending time at Cyndie’s computer attempting to remove a virus to no avail.  Two hours of my life down the drain.  I spent three hours on it last night reloading the operating system and installing updates.  I figure that I will only have to spend another couple of hours installing other vital programs before she can use it.  When it is done, there will only be one administrator account that is owned by me and the only other profile will be hers.  There will not be any use of this machine by any offspring or spouses of offspring or friends of offspring or any other human being going forward forever and ever AMEN.

Did my frustration show in that last sentence?

Anywhoo, that was the first half of the holidays.  Actually that was the Christmas part of the holiday season.  In my political correctness I found myself having to force out “have a merry Christmas” when at church last Sunday.  Whoever says we are not influenced by the agenda to take Christ out of Christmas is not feeling the temperature of the water in the pot rise.

My brother John who many people know as sitiniraq called Wednesday to tell me that he got a job.  He needed some money to buy some rubber boots and other items he needed and I gladly obliged.  He said that he had held off on asking me for a loan until he got a job.  Today is two days in a row that he has worked which is a record for the last 11 months.  I just hope he can find it in himself to keep it.  I was suprised to feel a load come off my shoulders when he told me that he had a job.  Although he is not my responsibility, he is family and looks to me as the patriarch and lifeboat.

My uncle Clifford called the same day just to say hi.  This is the first time that he has called since my Dad died two years ago.  I have been the one to attempt to keep in touch with him and my cousin and after many requests to have him and his new wife come visit us, to no avail, I had just given up.  It was good to talk to him and I am glad that he reached out and made contact.  He told me that my cousin’s oldest daughter and husband are now living here in Houston.  He called me back yesterday to give me her phone number and to give me an updated phone number for my cousin.  Uncle Clifford was always someone that I looked up to as a child and I still do.  I sure hope we can get together sometime in the new year and visit.

The oldest J and his wife arrived last night from Florida for the holidays.  It is so good to have them here.  Jason and I played 5 or 6 games of pool tonight and then he skunked me at bowling on the WII.  He really got into a groove after the first few games and I am glad that he did better than me.  Pool was a different story.  After I beat him the first 2 games I asked him if he had a problem with me playing to win.  He said that he would not have it any other way.  I did scratch when shooting for the 8 ball so he did win one game.

Work has been interesting.  Monday was a day that was very unusual for me.  One thing after another was happening to make it a day that I would rather forget but I learned a few things about myself.  I sometimes let people push my buttons and loose my cool in a way that is not healthy.  I have an issue with condescending conversations, especially ones that are directed at me.  I felt as if there was a target on my back the entire day.  Tuesday was the exact opposite.  Everything that screamed that I was incompetent on Monday was reversed and those that were throwing barbs my way showed up as different people without any hint that anything was wrong on Monday.  I interviewed a guy that will be taking the responsibilities that I have been temporarily been filling for the last 5 months.  After interviewing the guy, I had another conversation with our CEO regarding my role in the company and he reiterated that he still didn’t know what to do with me.  It was a healthy conversation because he sees value in my contribution but still doesn’t know where I fit in the new corporate structure.  It would be easy to feel insecure about the conversation but I keep reminding myself that my destiny is in greater hands than those I work for.

We have 2 more Sundays in our church building.  Demolition has been happening for the past 5 Sundays on half of the building in preparation for the move.  We have 6 shipping containers that have already been filled with salvaged building materials and contents that we will be using in our new building.  We will be using one of the local High Schools for our Sunday worship and classes until the new building is completed which is slated for sometime around March or April.  Tuesday night an opportunity was presented for us to buy a 35 foot enclosed trailer to use for storing the classroom materials we will be using at the High School.  My name and one other were suggested as the designated trailer puller and I volunteered to do this until we move into the permanent facility.  I will need to get a goose neck hook up for my truck and it will be fun to pull such a large trailer for a while.  My truck loves it when it gets to pull a heavy load and it will be cool to be pulling it during this transition period.

I played handyman last Saturday and went to the local Sears parts store for a timer for our dryer, a switch for the washer and a new ice maker.  I had to order the switch for the washer and the ice maker.  They said that the parts would be shipped within 10 days.  The part for the washer showed up yesterday and I was singing a happy tune when it fixed the problem.  The part that I ordered for the ice maker showed up today and was not what I was wanting.  Fortunately it is not an electrical part and can be returned.   I also changed the flapper in one of the toilets last night as well.  I will be making another trip to the store to return it and order the right part.

I made a road trip to our Dallas office today and delivered 14 flat screen monitors that the sales team needed so they could have two screens on their computers.  The monitors were decommissioned  when we closed down our dial up business and there were no boxes to ship them in and since I was making the trip, I decided to just load them up in the back seat of my truck to save the hassle of packing and shipping them.  I played delivery boy by bringing back some servers that we needed here in Houston so the trip was very productive not to mention the time I got to spend with my counterparts in Dallas at their holiday luncheon.  The drive gave me some downtime and allowed me to do some thinking.

We had a holiday party Monday night for supervisors and above at our new offices downtown.  They signed the lease on the space last week and we had a winter wonderland for around 100 people in the empty space.  The evening began with a gathering in a park like setting with that was first class.  Then we gathered in an area that was set up for a presentation by our CEO.  He gave an overview of the company and what we do so the spouses could get an idea of what we do.  Then we moved on to an area that was beautifully decorated for the meal that was served by a staff that you would find at a 5 star restaurant.  The meal was followed by a 30 minute concert by a renowned pianist.  They had to use a fork lift to get the grand piano into the space and then had to have it tuned.  The evening was awesome in spite of how the day played out.

Life is full of ups and downs.  I am so blessed to have the support of the better half during this period of growth.

Companies that use “customer service centers” on the other side of the globe have a level of complexity that frustrates English speaking customers.  Rumor has it that the reps are trained extensively in the English language before they start taking calls.  Inside sources have revealed the final exam that that is given before they are put on the phones.  Here is how the final exam goes:

Supervisor: Ok Jagibar, before you can start taking calls, you must pass the final exam.  Make a sentence using the words Pink, Yellow and Green.

Jagibar: (thinks for a second and says) Oh, that is easy, the telephone goes green, green and I pink it up and say yellow, this jagibar, how may I help you?