It was not my fault!

Earlier today a beautiful young woman came up to the window and started with a simple statement. " I have a long list" followed by a look of possibly doubting whether I could handle her complex order which would soon be given to me. Immediately I felt challenged. Do I do the smart thing by listening to her order, stop her and get what I can handle, and then come back and finish with the rest of her order, or do I be a man and challenge her to possibly create an order in which I can not handle. I chose the second option figuring one of two things will happen.
I'll either impress her with my willingness and ability to take care of her in a very efficient matter or I'll come close and we can both laugh at my ineptitude. After she told me her order I hurried off on my mission. Remembering everything, I darted back with the same expression my cat used to give me every time he caught a mouse. One by one I gave her all eight items feeling pretty damn proud of myself. All of a sudden I looked in my hand and I was holding the wrong gum. NO WAY!!! I swore I picked up the right one, I knew the flavor, looked at the pack, and somehow picked up the wrong one. I sat in temporary disbelief. What happened. After thinking about it for way too long I came up with only two possible solutions. First of all, I got caught up in the smile, personality, and charm of the girl woman giving the order. Perhaps I let my mind take over for one half second just long enough to take my eyes off the package as I picked it up. As my brain drifted back to her, my hand must of shifted three inches, just enough to pick up the wrong gum. The other possibility is similar yet probably not the case. I might have subconsciously been enticed to pick up the prettier pink package associating it with the female customer I was helping. I know corporations pay millions of dollars to study this exact instance, and would probably give someone a real nice raise for "mentally brainwashing" me into choosing their new package. None the less I had to go back and retrieve the correct(less Exciting) pack of gum so as to appease her. All in all I failed to properly carry out my mission
(typical sign of the average male), while hopefully providing her with a momentary sense of happiness. However, I will end this with one last prolific male trait and that would be to deny responsibility for my actions. Had this been some middle school teenager or male construction worker, I would have gotten the order correct and quickly moved on to the next customer. Even though I'm sure you will never read this, I hope you receieve satisfaction knowing you caused me to psychoanalyze my actions all over a damn pack of gum!!!!!!

Not so quick thoughts!!!

In no particular order, I just wanted to share a few thoughts about what I am thankful for and what I am not thankful for. First of all, more than anything in this world I am thankful that I have parents who cared about me from day one. They both in their own ways taught me so much about life and what it is about. My parents are exactly opposite in every way. Whatever area was one's weakness the other made up for it. Everyday I am thankful for that. I am thankful I have a beautiful daughter to whom I can try my hardest to teach as much about this world as possible. I am thankful that I can remain friends with my ex-wife and most important the mother of my child. I am thankful that while my body is slowing down I am able to still stay in pretty good shape. I am thankful that the world is filled with good people, and I have enough energy to search them out.
I am not thankful for the following. On any given day one person can truly mess up the lives of many others, and not receive any punishment at all. I am not thankful for the public school systems lack of money, resources, and ability to create a good learning environment for all who attend. I am not thankful for lack of respect shown by a lot of todays youth. I am not thankful for the fact that the world revolves around money. I am not thankful for the fact that I only type about 15 words a minute making this a lot slower than it should be.
One last thought I am truly thankful that it is much easier to create a list of what I am thankful for than to create a list of what I am not thankful for.

Practice what you Preach!!!

Earlier today while at work, a customer accidentally knocked over my lighter display cases. ALL THREE OF THEM. This left me with a huge pile of completely mixed up lighters, two of the three cases were broken, numerous lighters were ruined and I had to work around this mess until I got a chance to clean this up. I know it was an accident but it was the prelude to this that really made matters worse. As I am helping a lady in the drive-thru window he is telling me a dirty joke out loud. I am trying to help the lady, not sure if she can hear him or not. " If a woman with big boobs works at Hooters, where does a man with a big @#$% work?... I HOP" he yells loudly while hitting my display with his uncontrolled reactions to his gut busting joke. He apologizes repeatedly while the lady outside asks me if I'm okay. "Physically I'm okay" I tell her."however mentally I just felt another chink in my cranial armor." She doesn't realize what happened and probably left confused by my comment. I turn around finish my transaction with him and try to convince him all is good, just let me clean up the mess and get on with my work. He insists on offering to help. I tell him it's too crowded back here and would be easier just to do it myself. He starts in on another joke, I'm not paying attention and he asks me if that one was funny. I politely beg him to leave as I really just want to clean up this mess and get on with everything. He finally leaves me alone to take care of his mess. As I sit on the floor all alone, I finally start to laugh. I'm thinking I'm 36 years old sitting on a floor cleaning up after grown men in a goddamn convenience store. Now this is funny. Three years of college and an incredible set of genes I've been given and this is my life. I often look in the mirror and ask myself why and it's almost always the same answer. It's better to experience all walks of life than to waste away in a cubicle designing the latest and greatest making someone lots of money at my own expense. Anyway I digress. The main reason I wrote about this is because when I got home my daughter was in a horrible mood. The more I dug into it, the more foul she became. I had to understand what was bothering her as I would never be able to help if I didn't know what the problem was. Then it clicked. Just leave her alone and let her take care of her own problem. Ten minutes later we were playing boggle and yahtzee and all was good. It sure is amazing how things work out this way. Sometimes it's best just to leave someone alone and let them take care of themselves....

Thank you Clear Creek Choir!!!

Last night I went to my daughters Choir performance. I don't understand why I get so emotional inside while watching such a simplistic performance. The array of styles and talent was all over the board. Some kids were dressed as if they were hanging out at the mall, while the child right next to them looked as if they were going to a wedding or some major event. I understand generally its how the parent wish for them to be dressed, but I don't grasp why they would allow it considering how everyone else was dressed. I hoped one of the more ragged kids would just stand out with an amazing voice and leave all us parents in total bewilderment.
Unfortunately the correlation between appearance and peformance are usually hand in hand at this age. By high school identitys start forming while the study habits and desire to perform well are already etched into the childs heart. I appreciate all levels of talent as long as I know the child tried their hardest. It's the kids that don't try or care who really upset me. To be given the resources to succeed in life and just throw them away is so sad. It's only later in life that these kids will understand this concept. Watching sixty kids in the same age group at the same time really shows the difference in upbringing and society as a whole. Some care some don't, but most people seem to still go through the motions. I just wanted to say as a whole the Clear Creek Choir performed very well and had a lot of talent representing them.

Mixed Emotions!

Sometimes we have events in life in which we have no idea how to take them. Sometimes your emotions stray from the original feelings after you analyze them for a little bit. Last night my 12 year old daughter was reading my blog titled dumb and dumber. I usually write these late at night and don't spend much time proofreading them. As we read this together, I laughed at how I accidentally spelled different wrong(diiferent). This was caused only because I wasn't paying attention while I typed. As I told her why I was laughing she pointed out two other grammatical
errors I had previously made. At first I was proud that she caught mistakes that I had missed twice. As I thought a little more I realized she would not of pointed them out unless I had made that comment. Was she afraid of correcting her father(God I hope not), there is nothing more important than being able to communicate and help each other whenever we can. The other thought that bothered me was the fact that she is growing up way too fast. I still remember helping teach her to read, now she is correcting my mistakes. Just in case anyone hasn't heard this a thousand times, please spend more time with your children, it is absolutely amazing how fast things change. I love watching her grow, but I hate seeing her childhood slowly vanish. Certain things in life you can never get back.

It's easier not to care!

One of the few things I truly hate about owning my store, is allowing myself to care so much about people and take these feelings so seriously. I'm sure I'm about to sound like a whining little girl, but fortunately I gave up caring what others think about me. I know I'm different. I always have been and I always will be. Back to the point. I often become close with people who come in for a pack of smokes and usually nothing else. In my mind I often feel they would not come in and share there life with me if that was all they truly wanted. I'll always hear them out, offer advice, and try to do whatever I can to hopefully make their life a little better. What kills me is when they "disappear on me, leaving me to wonder what happened. Did they find a cheaper store? Did I offend them with something I said? Did I cross the proverbial line? Perhaps something happened to them and I'll never know until I read it in the paper. In this business I understand that people come and people go. My problem is in my mind I feel like perhaps I am making their life better and for that reason they should want to be in my life. I know this sound selfish and probably downright naive but it's a thought I hang on to for the sake of my sanity. I've already accepted the fact that life isn't always going to be rosy, I just have to learn that many a times when you think you are making a difference in others life, they may not see it or may not care either way. I'll never stop trying because the feeling received when someone acknowledges this is worth more than anything else you can imagine. I just wanted to thank two people who did a great job this week of making me feel like what I do really matters.
THANK YOU LARRY AND THANK YOU MELANIE. While I know neither of you read this, in my own little fantasy world you are hearing this one way or another.

Dumb and Dumber

I'll start with a customer who bought a can of Grizzly chew, which had just gone up 20 cents a can the day earlier. He asked me why the can went up and I explained the manufacturer raised the price 20 cents a can to me, so I raised the can 20 cents to the customer. His response, " I don't get it." Cut and dry to me however he was very concerned that this was not right. I often wonder if there was anything I could of told him to explain the price increase that he would of accepted. However if he can't grasp that concept I'm sure anything I said would of generated the same response. I wanted to explain economics to him, or perhaps enlighten him to the fact that occasionally prices go up in life, but I just froze in amazement to his answer. All I could think of was how he managed to correctly answer enough questions to get a drivers license. I'm constantly wondering how certain people make it so far in life while not being able to grasp these concepts. However My next thought which is rarely correct is perhaps his brain doesn't function the way most peoples do. Maybe he he can look at a jar of marbles and quickly compute how many are in there based on the size of the marble and the depth of the jar. Perhaps he can throw a baseball 98 miles per hour with dead on accuracy, and never had to learn anything else.
All I know for sure is somehow these people seem to find me wherever I go. I truly enjoy these moments in life, because they remind me how different we all are. I'm sure there is someone in this world writing about how they came across someone who has been working at convenience stores his whole adult life and actually enjoys going to work each day. We all know this world is full of idiots. We only realize it when we understand that deep down inside we are one of them.

What a RIP OFF!!!!

I was just thinking today about how far my money used to go. When I was a kid I would go down to the 7-11 and buy a big wheel ice cream sandwich, a pack of baseball cards, one pack of donuts, and play a game of Charlie's Angels pinball, all for one dollar. Later on I worked delivering pizzas and waiting tables and always had enough to keep my gas tank on full, and have plenty left over for running around money. This was just from my tips. In college I was able to buy cases of Jacque Scotts wine coolers for $6 each or 25cents a bottle. For that kind of money you almost have to get drunk. I remember buying a dozen donut holes for a dollar before class started. You never realize what a great deal something is until you lose it and are forced to pay something else. Sometimes you just cross a threshold where the pleasure is worth up to a certain amount but not any more. To me I had the pleasure of growing up reading the Los Angeles Times every day. I never realized what I was missing until I had only the Oregonian to read. No offense, but this is the most pathetic attempt at a newspaper I have ever seen. I actually get excited going to the airport on the odd chance someone might have left a paper from any other city lying around. Anyway I digress from the main point. I have suffered with the Oregonian for over 13 years. At 35 cents a paper I don't have a true right to complain. However at the new rate of 50 cents I have to tell you this paper absolutely SUCKS in every way, shape, and form......

Nice Job Gophers!!!

Often I write these blogs never knowing if they will be read by the person intended for or not. While I don't want to tell anyone to read my blogs, I, at the same time hope they do for sake of achieving the desired effect. Todays little story will be told regardless of the fact that I know she won't read it. Often it is so hard to formulate an opinion about someone when you only see them in a controlled environment. There is this one customer who is extremely beautiful, drives a very nice car, appears very well taken care of, and is always very nice. The other evening I took my daughter to see the Gresham High School Choir perform. The event was huge with tons of family supporting their kids and siblings. This girl looked absolutely miserable that she had to watch a younger family member perform. She played with her phone, and did everything possible to weasel out of the night well before it was over. She left early saying she was very tired. All I wanted to say to her was the opportunity in life to be apart of these events will diminish greatly as you get older. Please slow down and be a part of their life. Besides I think everyone will agree that the choir did a great job. While I know absolutely nothing about music, I thoroughly enjoyed it. My personal highlight was listening to my daughter whistle real loud after a few songs.. You never know what you might experience at these kind of events, but you should definitely keep your eyes and ears and heart open.

Sometimes I just Suck!!!!!!!!

I know it has been a while, but I didn't feel like writing. However, I do have something to get off my chest. For the first time ever I played in a tennis tournament and literally had no desire to play. I'm not sure of the psychological reasonings for this, but I do know it was a horrible feeling. My first round match was at 5:30pm out in Lake Oswego on Thursday. For starters I usually pick up my daughter after school at 4:00pm. With traffic I knew this was going to be extremely close. Then I found out she had a 4:30 pizza party to celebrate the end of her volleyball season.(11-2 record by the way) Knowing this there would be no way I would make it. She volunteered to walk home alone,(her first time) and did so without griping. However I felt horrible because this is happening so I can play tennis. Next I went home to get into my shorts and found out my cat peed on them. Strike two. Unfortunately I am extremely superstitious about what I wear to a tournament. I have probably 50 t-shirts, and I look at each one until I get the "right" feeling about which one I should wear. This is the first time I ever just picked a shirt and left. I just didn't care at this point. My other gripe, which is really stupid is why the tournament is even starting on Thursday. They have plenty of courts and
plenty of time to coordinate other events around this. The club only hosts two major tourneys a year, so I would think they would get preference. After arriving I was in a foul mood from the get go. I have never dropped out of a tournament or defaulted due to any reason, however I wanted to not play so bad. I finally went out and fell behind very quickly. I still didn't care.
I decided after my third game I was going to just go for everything instead of playing smart tennis. It's funner that way however the mistakes always lead to a loss. I lost very bad to an excellent player, and hope to never feel this way again. I've always lived for a tournament weekend and been pumped up all week. I've tried to think of reasons this happened and all I can think of is"sometimes I just plain suck." End of story!!!!!!!!

Thank You Fouad!

So often in life someone enters our lives for a short period of time. Sometimes they leave a lasting impression and sometimes we're actually glad to see them leave. While I only knew Fouad Kaady as a customer of my store for about two years, I've come to realize what an incredible person he must have been. I spent close to four hours today at the Clackamas County Courthouse in order to testify in front of a Grand Jury. Upon arriving I was immediately greeted by numerous family members. I talked to a few for a while and quickly realized how much they loved him. They handed me signs to help their protest, but I felt since I was testifying, it would be improper of me to do so. I can't believe how much my heart bled. I could not fathom anything of this magnitude happening to my brother or any other family member and not wanting to spend the rest of my life fighting for justice. I wanted to thank Fouad mostly for his kindness. While we never did anything outside of work, being offered a barbecue lunch by him was an incedible jesture on his part. He always appeared to be thinking about others before himself. The most important lesson he taught me would be to take the time to get to know those who I think are good people. I'm sick to my stomach for not having that lunch with him. Getting to experience so little of what he had to offer leaves me wondering how often this occurs in my life. Time spent doing absolutely nothing is really a shame when the alternative is getting to better know someone like Fouad. Please take the time to experience the things you would otherwise blow off. You never know when that might be taken away.

P.S. The painting on the left side was drawn by Fouad.

Bad loss made good!

Some days I sit down and think of what I should write about and come up with absolutely nothing. Other days it consumes my mind all day about getting home to write. Saturday afternoon I lost in the second round of a tennis tournament to a team that should never of beaten me and my partner. I was disgusted with the lost all day and had a hard time shaking it off. I never have been able to accept losing when it is me losing and not them beating me. If you dominate me and I never have a chance, then it's all good. If I feel I am a better player and didn't play up to my best, then a loss sits in my kitchen for quite a while. Upon arriving at home after the match, I spent the rest of the day with my daughter, which helps remind me there is so much more to life than tennis or whatever is the problem of the day. There will always be something that doesn't go my way, the trick is limiting the time you spend dwelling on it. I decided to take my daughter to see Wallace and Gromit, and was so thankful I did. One on One time with her is so much fun. She always reminds me how special life is, and how simple life can be. I am constantly reminded by her how we can have fun without having to search for excitement. She can entertain herself with anything. Listening to her recite the previous episode of Teen Titans, and laughing at each line is absolutely priceless. I really need to work on accepting lifes simple pleasures and not dwelling
on all the curve balls thrown at me. I thank my girl for that, however, I still hate losing!!!!!!!!!

Irony sucks!!!

Earlier today I had the pleasure of helping an individual at the window I had never seen before.
As I open the window and asked "what can I get you"?, I'm greeted with the ever so pleasant, newly discovered, internationally known, just one minute sign. This is represented by the index finger being held up vertically with a cell phone attached to the ear. Somehow, he being in his own beautiful world doesn't care about the fact that there is a car waiting behind him or the fact that I'm sitting there staring at him in disbelief. He has a beautiful expensive car, very nicely dressed, very clean interior, and appears to have life completely under control. Unfortunately, he is incapable of handling a simple transaction without messing up other peoples lives in the meantime. As I stare at him for about a minute every thought in the world has now gone through my mind. If something this easy takes him so long what happens if he is forced to decide that best way to save a victim in a car accident if he is the first on the scene. I know I don't want my lives in his hands. After finally finishing with this guy the next car pulls up and tells me what they want before I can even open the window. Wow, talk about opposite ends of the spectrum in back to back cars. This time the car is a junker, messy inside, and the driver is needing all sorts of personal attention to detail. However she knows what she wants and took care of it in a very efficient manner. I think I definately want her first to the scene if my lifes at stake, then I realize, maybe she'd solve everything short term but leave me messed up because she made the incorrect decision, while the other guy took his time and made sure everything was done correct. For every decision in life there is an argument somehow for each method used to solve it. My mind went through countless arguments between which person I wanted to be on the scene and all I came up with in the end was I sure do hope a paramedic gets there before either one touches me.

Nice Rebounding!!!!!!!!!

Often I go down to my store more or less just to hang out for a while. I never know who I'll see, or what will happen, but I always enjoy a good conversation. Tonight one theme really took it's toll on me. I was down there for about two hours when I realized one sad coincidence for two separate conversations. The first one took place with a girl that I have always thought was someone who is very special. She has been through a tough marriage and rebounded very nicely. Unfortunately I have never tried to get to know her better because one of her best friends hates my guts with a severe passion. I don't wish to open a can of worms by trying to get to know her better, but at the same time, I hate depriving myself of something special because of that. The second conversation ran along the same path. While talking to her I quickly realized was a good person she is . I've always had that feeling, but never talked to her long enough to confirm it. I often talk to people and quickly discover that they have learned to master the "textbook responses" for what the other person wants to hear. These people really bother me and actually sicken me for their lack of individualism. I figured out rather quick that this girl is not that way at all. She is herself and nothing more than that, and like myself very comfortable with who I am regardless of what anyone else thinks. Once again this girl is tied through other people who would make me feel like a complete jerk for even thinking about futhering a conversation with her. Upon getting a divorce I immediately realized that my ex is no longer with me, but with whoever she feels would make her happy. I have no say nor would I feel any different if she chose a friend of mine. However in society that it considered very taboo. For some reason people seem to treat a wife or exwife as a piece of property and not an individual with their own freedom of choice. I've have already been burned at the stake for making that decision once(just ask Brandon) and am very gunshy about doing it again. If by chance either of you read this, I want you to both know that you are very special people who have done a good job of moving on after a tough relationship. The main thing is if you can't take care of yourself, how are you going to take care of the next person who enters your life.

The Ceiling of life

Few people will understand this, but I wanted to share it because it is VERY important to me. I pride myself on relishing the smaller things in life. Sometimes in doing so they become bigger. Those of you who have been in my store have seen my ceiling covered with empty cigarette packs. While this began by me as a sort of curiosity, it turned into something far greater than that. As I look up at the ceiling each day I'm reminded of so many wonderful things. I want to share a few with you hoping you'll understand and possibly help any way you can. First of all, possibly the most painful and most serene of them all is Fouad Kaady's packs. He gave me 3 or 4 packs to put up, which I ALWAYS do. He was recently shot and killed by two police officers who, in my opinion, made a very poor judgement call. Having those up there gives me both the neverending memory of Fouad, but a reminder of just how fast life can be taken from you. Other favorites include special packs brought back from France and Germany as well as a few other countries. It's really nice to know someone can be thousands of miles away and they still think about their corner store. I truly appreciate the small messages written on them, the signatures, and the great little pictures some like to draw. Each add character, but more important each add an extra memory of the person who brought them. While people come and go, any extra thing to help remember them goes a long way.

THE POWER LIES WITHIN

As corny as this is about to sound, I wanted to thank a cetain individual for something he said in his blog. After reading this he will understand completely and hopefully one time or another many of you will to. For those of you who don't know, Hilton's Haven is the name of my store. It is a convenience store of sorts. To me, however, I have fought very hard to create a place where I can make a difference in others peoples lives, create a career which allows me to spend time with my daughter, as well as have a life of my own. Trying to establish a business who truly cares more about the people of this world, than the income derived from it is extremely challenging. My main belief is it has to be about the people. I try to hire people who I feel care more about the human race than about having the material possessions this world has to offer. While I understand that I will never get rich here, at the same time I hope customers understand why I close for ten minutes in the morning to take my daughter to Choir before school starts. While this may not be a a good business move, I won't have this opportunity to drop off my child at school very much longer. Many people stop by each day, whether for a quick chat with the worker, maybe it's just habit, or maybe, and the one I hope for the most, they just wanted to go somewhere to make them feel a little more happy. I try my hardest to bring joy to everyone who shops here. Some understand and show their appreciation, while other leave just as miserable. I know I can't make a difference in everyone's life but I'll never give up. While the aforementioned blog contained a thought about my barstool, he may or may not realize that to me that is one of a thousand little pieces of joy that makes up my store. I thank you for understanding what my store is truly about and hope that others do to.

A Little About Me!!

I suppose it is only fair to let some people know a little about myself. If I was to only gripe about society and share my beliefs but not open up myself to criticism, than part of my messages about life would be lost. For beginners I'll share some of my favorite pasttimes in no particular order. I have been a Los Angeles(St. Louis ) Rams fan since 1977, a very loyal one at that. To me they will always be the L.A. Rams, but I guess you do have to accept change. Being from California I learned to like all the L.A. teams as a kid. I truly enjoy watching all their games, even though it is becoming more painful each season since they won the Super Bowl in 1999.
Another favorite of mine is watching my daughter play volleyball. She just finished playing club ball with Mt. Hood Volleyball Club's u-12 team. She had an incredibly tough yet awesome coach who truly helped advance her game. She now plays on the 7th grade varsity team for Clear Creek Middle School. While the team is nowhere near as good as the club team, it is still a great learning experience for her. I find this team a lot harder to watch because of the lack of teamwork and severe lack of discipline. I see it more as a stepping stone to the 8Th grade team, but I always believe winning should be the number one goal. To compete at high levels in sports, that has to be automatically instilled in your brain. While there are tons of things I enjoy I tried to just pick a few that came to my mind quickly. The last one for now would have to be playing tennis. I currently play in most tennis tournaments in a 50 mile radius. My favorite one being the "Nike Open" held at Tualatin Hills Raquet Center. Somehow it always has 90-100 degree weather and is one of the few played outside. I also play USTA men's league in the summer, and
USTA mixed doubles in the fall and winter, which coincidentally starts this Sunday. Were it not for responsibility, I could easily spend the rest of my life as a tennis bum. It has always been a very important part of my life and always will be. I have found that no matter what is going on in life I can walk onto a court and it is almost like entering another realm. I think the two things I enjoy most about it would have to be the fact that it is the ultimate sport for one on one competition. There are to many factors involved for one person to truly dominate. The only factor that makes a true difference is the level of training. The other reason you very rarely come across bad people in this sport. I get along great with most players, even though tennis players are probably the most cocky of any athletes. While I don't believe myself to be that way at all in life, the second tournament time comes about, I feel my personality change. I think it's just from being taught to never show any fear no matter how good or bad your opponent is. I could go on forever but I will spare you the boredom. I just wanted people to understand a little more about me.

It's not about you!!!!!

While we all know this cartoon to be a spoof, it is so incredibly real it is sickening. Not a day goes by where I don't help some drugged out mother standing next to her child. As she buys a 12 pack of beer at 9 in the morning and buys her kid a 10 cent piece of laffy taffy, she somehow believes her kid has no clue to her condition. While this may be true for a while, there will always be a time when the kid puts all the pieces together and realizes what crappy parents he/she has. Of everything in this world, there is nothing I am more thankful than to have been raised by two parents who cared for me and my brother more than anything in this world. I never realized how blessed I was until I watch the flip side on a daily basis. Those of you who think your children are not picking up your habits have a nice shock ahead of you. I could not imagine the feeling of realizing that not only did I mess up my life, but I failed to give my children the tools necessary to have a good life. Thank you mom and dad, and thank you to the parents who understand that it's about their children and not about themselves!!!! For it is you people who continue to make this planet a decent place to live.

You just have to laugh!!

Well for all you customers who enjoyed purchasing single cigarettes for a quarter, I'm sorry to inform you that it has to come to an end. The Oregon Department of Revenue came in to my store and informed me that it is not legal in Oregon to sell a cigarette without a manufactured seal around it. He informed me this was to insure people weren't getting a product possibly contaminated with something, or if a customer was to get sick it could come back to me for having them "unprotected." While this seems sort of logical, I wandered who regulates the safety of some other possible situations around town. Not to compare odds, but in my eyes the possibility of one of the following happening is probably a lot larger. For instance, anyone can walk into a Natures, open up a bulk bin of protein powder and mix any chemical they wish into it. At Wendy's, generally unhappy teenagers, combine numerous ingrediants into a huge pot to make their chili. Why are they trusted to make sure nothing bad is to get into this pot. This same concept occurs at every restaurant. My guess is the possibility of foul play is a lot larger in a kitchen, than it is for a single cigarette. Anyway the whole point is to inform the public that the price is now fifty cents each. A quarter for the ciggy and a quarter for the plastic container. At least we know the public is now safe from the possibility of obtaining an unhealthy product. Even though it is not my fault, I wanted to apologize in advance for the increase. Somehow, many people seem to think it was my decision. Oh well at least everyone saved a little money for a short period of time.

Mutual feelings I assume!!!!!

Every day I can count on one certainty. The fact that someone out there is looking for help.
Whether it 's financial, emotional, or physical, I can guarantee you it will cross my path. Unfortunately, I have learned that most people cry for help, but very few actually listen. I carefully pick and choose whose problem I wish to help them deal with. I have enough problems of my own so my resources are limited as is my desire to waste my time. This message goes out to a friend who has been shopping at my store for quite a while. His problems mirror mine almost identically. Perhaps by offering my opinion, I might actually be helping myself. Anyway many of these thoughts are universal, so hopefully others don't consider it a complete waste of their time. First of all, everyone in this world has lost something or someone dear to them. Do not think you are alone. While half of my life was spent faithfully with the same woman before we decided to go our separate ways, I realize there are parts of me where she will always be. However, more important, is the realization that the point of being apart is for BOTH of our
lives to be better. I would never do anything to hinder her future happiness no matter how much it hurt me, and at the same time I have to work on being as good, well rounded person as possible, in order to make my life better as well as anyone who might be willing to spend time with me. I have always had outrageous expectations of any woman to whom I would want to be with, and for that reason, I drastically limit the possibilities of having a good relationship. While my ex-wife is about as good of a person as you will ever come across, I realize that I lost her and either have to choose to be alone or find someone who is also that good of a person. The worst thing, I feel, is to dwell on the past. Yes, it hurts, but dwelling on it will only drive you crazy, and probably lead you to make an even larger mistake. Time is the most painful element during your seperation. Find projects to keep your mind busy, but do not lose site of making your world a better place. You will probably be surprised what all is out in this world when you open your eyes and heart to it. For this reason you must take care of yourself. Imagine making the same mistake twice. Having a great person step into your life only to leave because it was obvious you weren't over your ex. Anyway take care of yourself, I will always make time if you need it, however I prefer a good coffee or beer over tea!!!!!!!!