Look back to 2010

Happy New Year!

As we wake up this morning to face the challenges of what is hopefully an exciting New Year filled with happiness for all of us , I thought I would take a look back at the things that shaped my life in 2010, then I will look forward in a separate entry. Here we go in no particular order:

• Leaving Denny's , Joining Sodexo: After 22 years at Denny's I decided to make a change, it was hard to leave Denny's because of the people I worked with,however the people at Sodexo have treated me very well and I am excited about what the future may bring!
• Turning 40: I didn't think that would have effected me the way it did, but it is an adjustment ...to quote my sister after my birthday weekend..."Your a mess...you just turned 40. This decline is rapid. You better help Sheri clean up that heated cabin.". This after a very long weekend. Those of you who were there will understand
• Running:  I ran 5 races in 2010, including a marathon and half marathon. 4 out of the 5 races  I beat my personal best.Worked very hard this past year, hope it will carry over to a great 2011.

•  Top 5 Songs in my ITunes Library for 2010

1. Make Me- Janet Jackson
2. Sic Em on a Chicken- Zac Brown Band
3. American Ride-Toby Keith
4. The Ballad of Billy the Kid- Billy Joel
5. Smoke a Little Smoke-Eric Church

• Family and Friends: Last but certainly not least  I feel I have made a commitment and carried through with that commitment to my family and friends. I have also committed to myself that I would be a better person as well. Changing jobs,Running, cutting back on drinking and taking better care of myself has allowed me to do this. I look forward to the future because of the changes I have made and as my wife will tell you...it is nice to have the old me back!

Essay My Son Riley Wrote

I am so proud of my son for writing the following essay about Veterans. he won second place in an essay writing contest for this:

My Family Tree Of  Veterans
By Riley Wilson

My family is full of veterans. My great grampa Angelo Zanghi  fought in World War ||. He was one of the soldiers that landed on Normandy Beach. He even spent a whole day in a foxhole.

My grampa Pete Parker fought in the Vietnam War. He was in the Central Highlands with the 4th Infintry Division. He was in many battles.

My grampa Omie Wilson was in the Air Force for 20 yrs. He was a Military policemen .

They are all important to me. I feel happy and proud all at once . They risked  their lives to give us freedom. I see history in my family tree . It’s great to have such grand veterans.
 

Congratulations GOP....but....

Last night Republicans took control of the House and made major gains in the Senate. As a Conservative I am very thrilled by this , but I also remain very guarded in my optimism for our country . We as the people who voted these people in need to not let them off the hook just because we voted them in, we need to hold them accountable just as we did the people we just voted out or we will not fix the issues that we need to fix to get our country back on track.

We didn't put into office to blame the democrats either, we want to move forward and see improvement in our country, we don't want to hear that the previous administration left us with too many issues that we can't expect change over night. None of us expect that , we do expect things to continually get better . I am sick of hearing from our current leaders that the Bush Administration left us with such a mess that it is going to take some time to fix . The fact of the matter is that the those same leaders also contributed to the issues because the democrats had control of the House for the last two years of the Bush Administration and along with Bush contributed to the issues. We now have control of the house and we need to put forth our ideas to help improve our country . Yes the President will stand in our way and will do what he can to prevent us from furthering our agenda, but history will show that if the country is not doing well , he will not get re-elected. Bill Clinton learned to meet us half way and got re-elected, if Obama is smart he will do the same. 

We do not have enough power yet to undo everything that has been done , so do what we can right now within our power to make our country better. This means that  health care  needs to be put on the back burner for the moment and we need to create legislation that will get our economy moving again and in turn create jobs . We need to get people back to work and grow our country again.

Congratulations to the GOP,we are counting on you to come through on your campaign promises! Good luck!

Oh the Phone Calls!!!!

For the past week the phone has been ringing off the hook!!!

Our home phone almost never rings, most people contact us now via our cell phones. However the politicians have our number and they are using it. What my biggest issue with this is why when I talk back to them ... they just keep on talking. I find this rude, even Thurman Thomas (Hall of Fame Buffalo Bills Running Back) called. I thought this is cool I get to talk to Thurman....but he just kept on about  Carl Paladino.

Speaking of Paladino , I thought when he called  , we were hitting it off  . He was asking me questions about how sick I was of the direction that New York State is going in and stuff like that. I was answering , then I started asking him some questions of my own and he just kept on going about his opponent. I just wanted to know what he had for dinner and what color socks he had on. I was shunned.


The phone calls keep coming and no one wants to have a conversation . My wife tells me that she talked to a live person today, but she only told me that after i left the toilet seat up...so I can't really believe it.

Oh well .....

Coffee is Kicking Some Sense Into Me

I really don't know where my dislike of Halloween started , I used to dress up as a kid and loved it.My wife reminded me that I dressed up in the early days of our relationship as well. I do secretly enjoy watching the kids get ready for Halloween, but what bothers me is the adults dressing up. I really don't know why.

Whatever the reason , I was reminded by something I tell my kids all the time. Sometimes in life you you have to do things that you don't want to do. There is no sense complaining about it , because complaining about it only makes it worse for you and the people around you.So I will bundle up tonight and  take my kids trick or treating and I will most likely enjoy it .

This is not a Scrooge on Christmas morning moment, I am not waking up this morning after 3 ghosts visited me last night and now will keep the spirit of Halloween in my heart. I still don't like it. It is not about me though. I look into my kids eyes and see the excitement and it reminds me of the excitement that I felt long ago for this holiday .

Everyone please have a safe and Happy Halloween!

My Thoughts as I drink my first cup of Coffee

It is Saturday morning and I have the house to myself today. There is plenty of things to do to keep me occupied though. Before I start my chores it is very important that I drink my coffee , this is to loosen the cobwebs from last night as the cobwebs are disappearing these thoughts came out.

1. I find it interesting that people don't understand that the selfish decisions they make can really affect the people that they care about,their position in life and could really impact their future . I understand that people can be unhappy in their current situations and need to change that , but sometimes the need to change their situation can result in a snap decision that can make your situation worse. I obviously have a situation in mind , I pray that whatever damage has been done will be minimal and easily fixed.
2. I do like Carl Palidino, but not sold on him as Governor. Even though I share in many of his thoughts that doesn't mean that I believe that he will make a good leader. To me his character is in question, I can't get out of my mind the e-mails he sent using racial slurs ,whether it was a private e-mail or not it shows poor judgment. This does not mean I will be voting for Andrew Cuomo though, I may have to write someone in.
3. I wonder if the dropping ratings for Soap Operas can be blamed on Facebook. I think that Facebook and social sites like it is a wonderful place to connect and re-connect with friends and family. It is also a place where people air out their frustrations as well, which you have every right to do so. But the conflicts that are posted on the site can provide the same ,if not better drama than Days of Our Lives. It is your profile , do what you want with it.

That's it for today , got to clean my house ,mow the lawn . If I get that done , then I won't feel so bad about the nap I am going to take later!

I Can be DJ now

In early August I made a decision to leave a job that I had been with for 22 years .I was nervous about the switch , I was leaving something that I was extremely comfortable with and according to most people , I was pretty good at . I left for a job that I had no experience at and I love it. Sure it gets frustrating at times , but when I come home ... I am home. the job stays there. I can be DJ now.

My wife will tell you that I am more like the man that she married now. I feel more like myself and for that I am thankful. I feel alot more playful now and my outlook on life is exremely positive. I wish I would have made the move a year earlier, in February of 2009. That was when things started to turn for the worse for me .

I always wanted to succeed in work, wanted to achieve promotions . I wanted the company I worked for to be the best , I wanted to take care of my bosses and the people who worked for me. Life was pretty good at Denny's until February 5th of 2009. We ceased being owned by Denny's and were owned by another company. To this day I believe that the owners of Top Line Restaurants are good people who have good hearts. I only hope that some day they will see that a couple people that they have trusted to make decisions for them , are not making the right ones.

I have kept in contact with a few people since I left and find some of the stories of the decision making very interesting. One in particular is very very troubling to me , but this is how they want to run things and honestly I am no longer a part of it , so I am going to let it be.

I am not writing this to try to throw anyone under a bus, anyone who knows me will tell you that I am not that way. I honestly want to wish Top Line all the success in the world. I have many people for whom I care about that are with the organization and I want nothing but the best for them. I write this because it is part of the process of moving on . Truth be known, I have even thought about stopping in and visiting.

I started moving on last year. Early in the year my father became sick, that forced me to take a look at myself and make some changes in my life. Many of these changes I have documented so I won't repeat them here.The main one was how I handled stress. Before the first thing that came to mind when I was stressed was having a beer, now it is going for a run.

Now the next step is getting my relationship with God back. I am so grateful that God is forgiving and I realize that that I need to show Him that I am serious , I intend to do that.I think for that reason my brother in law seems to be contacting me more, which is a good thing.

I guess the lesson in this is that if you feel that you have lost your way, and are not yourself anymore, there is always time change . Sometimes you may not know how to do it , but not doing anything about it is not going to change anything.