Catching Up....

Its 5:46 am

    The birds are chirping the sun up...its muggy outside as we had several big t-storms roll across SE Michigan last night. Paladin just put a paw on my arm....I will have to continue this later...


Its 3:26 am

   Been a while since I posted...sort of curled up and hid for a week. Last week I took three days off at work to observe Lori's passing. I really didn't have any real plans other then trying not to be overwhelmed by my emotions. I have been working overnights at work and while it keeps me very busy,I often find myself in a quiet section where I have a sad moment and cry...its a big store and we only have maybe 4 people working during the middle of the night.

   I decided to bake cookies for the co-workers at Lori's store. I don't know where I got the urge to do that but I did so I baked. Now I am no baker so I had help from Chef Meijer and was glad I did as the sugar cookies I baked turned out very well and not a SINGLE one was burned!
  I made 54 cookies and put them into two containers and drove to the store. I felt both deep sadness and pride both inside. This store only made it because of Lori's drive and vision. She carefully molded and shaped her staff into becoming a very strong team. Her compassion and sharp eye for business made her store one of the best in the region.  I have blogged before about the holiday parties we hosted for her team,how she rallied her team to help a young lady who working two jobs while going to school yet didn't really have enough money left over to eat. But her team came to this young lady's aid and made sure she had food. This included us sharing from our pantry and even making a shopping run or three to help out.

   The store looked nice as I walked in and while there weren't any guests on the selling floor,there was one being helped at the register. I walked up and saw Jomana behind the sales counter handling a phone call.
 While I had intended to spend the three days by myself,when Lori's best friend Deb called and wanted to visit,I took her up on the offer. So she was with me as I made my delivery of cookies.
   The next thing we did was head up to St. John's conference center in Northville. I wanted to film the room where we had our wedding reception at. Whenever Lori and I drove by the center,she would always comment on her most special day. It always brought a big smile to the both of us.

  Deb and I pulled into the parking lot and went inside,we started looking for the room. It was pretty busy with different groups and businesses holding meetings. We stumbled across a Oracle presentation and when we were asked if we attending the seminar,I asked if Larry Ellison was speaking. The rep asked me "Who is Larry Ellison"? Needless to say,we moved on....we found our reception room but it was being used so I had to postpone my video project as I had planned on videotaping both the reception room and Our Lady of Victory where we were married. Next week my schedule loosens up a bit so I am going to make another run at it then...

  We had lunch and went to the Barnes and Noble in Northville. I wanted to pick up the latest Fangoria because the mighty Debbie Rochon had a new column running. We went on a Wednesday but my friend Paul,said that new releases had been pushed back from the traditional Tuesday to Thursdays now. What this means is Tuesdays are generally when new releases hit the market,be it music,movie or print. This means I was a day too early....basically just like my life has been as late,I was a step behind...still had a nice relaxing time with Deb and it was sweet that she drove out for the day.
  The Motor City Comic Con was in town about two weeks ago. I would have liked to have attended but when you need to take out a small loan....well,you know that its time to move on. The days of a 20 dollar ticket to get in plus a 5.00-15.00 ticket to get a signed picture has given away to a 35.00 ticket and a 40.00(!!!) fee for a picture. I must have missed it when the convention morphed from Novi to San Diego...wow! The friends who went did take some very cute pictures with John Barrowman of "Arrow" which I had to admit were worth the money....
  But I miss the days of old when my buddy Farm and I went...he had quite the eye for finding the old comics he was hunting but those days are history as well...

    A  update to a blog entry I posted about helping my friend Dominic save his ill pug Vincent. Sadly,Vincent got progressively more ill and he crossed the Rainbow Bridge about three weeks ago. He was a real gentle soul and his wrasslin' buddy Jerome told me he cried at the news. I really am blessed to have such good friends who have such large hearts...but I think Vincent knew his job as Dom's sidekick was done as he and his lady are expecting their first child. I am going to lobby HARD to name the baby Stringfellow if its a boy and Caitlin if its a girl....those of you in the know will get the story behind my picks....

   Had a lovely chat with a most creative writer from California named Ivy. Ivy lives in SoCal and is in the middle of writing her epic story. What I truly respect about Ivy is the courage to postpone her "professional" life to chase her creative one. That is not always a easy thing to do,especially in California but she is doing it. The other thing that was pretty cool....she said she has quit pretty much watching or reading anything as she doesn't want the clutter in her writing process...but she still reads me.....pretty amazing to me actually...but i am thankful to you all for reading both my words but my guest bloggers and getting to know some wonderful people in "8 Questions with...." series. Thank you for your many comments as well.

 One learns a lot of things when one becomes a widower..besides the empty house you come to and the deafening silence,things you used to do together as a married couple that you took for granted suddenly become heavy emotional projects. For me,the one thing I used to love to do but now dread is grocery shopping. And as bad as it was during the day,since I now am working at nights and once in awhile need to make a run,I drag myself into the store between 2:30 am and 3:15 am.

  Our local Meijer store is about a half-mile away so its pretty easy to shop but the hollowness and emptiness of the store compared to the hustle and bustle of the day is something to see. The employees are hard at work restocking the shelves and depending on the sale,some sections are harder hit then others.
All I hear and feel is how busy it was,what we shopped for,planning a menu,trying something new perhaps.
Trying to get her to eat some fresh fruit like a banana and her wrinkling up her nose at the idea...
Seeing women shopping alone or with the kids,the couples that shopped together...the young men hating to be there,the older ones happy to shop with their wives,they understood how precious time was and is.
I always have known that but it is now more of a cruel mockery...
  It is a merely one place I venture out to now without Lori...and a reason I don't go out very often at all now...

   So I finished Michael J. Fox's second book, "Always Looking Up" which details what he decided to do after he was told he had Parkinson's disease. He decided to retire from acting and start a foundation to advance PD research. Michael explains how PD works in no small detail and how completely helpless he was at times,especially when waiting for his meds to kick in.
  He campaigned for stem cell research which would help advances on all known diseases,not just Parkinson's and the bitterness of George W. Bush vetoing it down. (ordering our troops to death in two wars founded on lies was okay but potential life saving research on "religious grounds" is bad....good ol teapublican logic again).
  His various adventures while suffering from PD always have Michael crediting his wife Tracy for standing with him no matter what how important family really is to him.  What I really liked about Fox's book is while yes,he has fame and wealth,he never uses it as a show-off device and he is very grateful for the life he has and he has no bitterness in his heart,even after he was made fun of and mocked by low life scum Rush Limbaugh who accused Michael of playing his condition on purpose to milk sympathy during the stem cell campaign. He stayed above the filth and stayed true to himself.
  My only complaint about this book was the fact it was 26.00 in hardback which is a lot of cash for a thin (253 pages) book of this level. I was lucky,I found mine at the Dollar Tree and I recommend picking this up if you see it on the shelf.

Heard from my fellow Vega$ friend Derik that Phyllis Davis passed last November. Phyllis played Dan Tanna's (Robert Urich) Girl Friday on the show. After Vega$ ended she slowly withdrew from the public eye and cared for Dean Martin as his health slowly faded.


Well that is it for now....thanks for reading and if you are on Twitter,feel free to follow me @Jinzo_2400


 
shout outs

Ivy - thanks for hanging out with me,when the time right,I would love a guest blog
Lisa Adams - thank you for your beauty today and every day
Dom and Jerome - Ant Man equals disaster
Deb - thank you for last week,it helped quite a bit
Texas - guess we have to continue to stay grounded
Sue E. - thank you for the wonderful dinner last week!
Elissa - sending it out on Monday,promise.
Mike White - thanks for talking movies with me,its time we finally meet.