Archive for the Personal news Category

Name: JIM
Date: 1/4/2008
Colorgenics Number: 21356407


You are a very sensitive person and you try hard (perhaps a little too hard) to make favourable impressions and to be recognized by your peers. But you have that inherent need to feel appreciated and admired and you are easily hurt if all of your endeavors go by unappreciated or not acknowledged. Stop trying so hard.

You enjoy taking part in anything that may constitute fun and excitement. You need to be stimulated and need to feel that ‘Life is worth living’ and you are awaiting that stimulation and you don’t particularly care where it comes from!

You are a perfectionist in everything that you put your hand to. You are demanding and very exacting in the standards you apply to your choice of colleagues and friends -perhaps you demand too much from people. That perfection you seek in a particular person is illusive - perhaps it does not even exist.

You are being unduly influenced by the situation that is all around you. You do not like the feeling of loneliness and whatever it is that seems to separate you from others. You know that life can be wonderful and you are anxious to experience life in all its aspects, to live it to the full. You therefore resent any restriction or limitations that are being imposed on you and you insist on going it alone.

You are trying to build up your own position and you resist all external influences. You insist that you are your own person and you will not tolerate any outside interference. Decisive and proud, you are true managerial material.

It is also worth noting that you are the Bomb Digity and everyone around you should just recognise that.

Ok I added that last line in myself… :) 

Having a job with a desk and an email address is mostly norm these days. So it should come as no supprise that durring the corse of a day I (like you) receve a slew of random emails from people I know (and dont) about nothing in particular.

Emails like these were initiallly designed by hackers to bounce around coorporate servers like superballs in a piant can shaker. In turn slowing down or bogging the server itself. Unfortunately, the billions of people that have email, didnt see these emails for what they were and decided to play along thinking they were cute. Creating their own digital chain letters congesting the internet highway with their crap. thats right, I said it…. CRAP!!! its always my stuff and their crap… thats just the way it works.

With that said, I have created a Seinfeld folder in my email, Like the television show, it contains time occupying entertainment, about nothing in particular. Over the past year, I have narrowed down the best of the best….

and they are

An amazing elephant story…

Sometimes I like these heartwarming stories, but this one is truly interesting.

elephant

In 1986, Dan Harrison (see picture above)
was on holiday in Kenya after graduating
from Northwestern University.

On a hike through the bush, he came across
a young bull elephant standing with one leg
raised in the air. The elephant seemed distressed,
so Dan approached it very carefully.

He got down on one knee and inspected the
elephant’s foot and found a large piece of wood
deeply embedded in it.

As carefully and as gently as he could, Dan worked
the wood out with his hunting knife, after which the
elephant gingerly put down its foot.

The elephant turned to face the man, and with a rather
curious look on its face, stared at him for several tense moments.

Dan stood frozen, thinking of nothing else but being trampled.
Eventually the elephant trumpeted loudly, turned, and walked away.

Dan never forgot that elephant or the events of that day.

Twenty years later, Dan was walking through the Chicago Zoo
with his teenaged son.

As they approached the elephant enclosure, one of the creatures
turned and walked over to near where Dan and his son Dan Jr.
were standing.

The large bull elephant stared at Dan, lifted its front foot
off the ground, then put it down. The elephant did that several
times then trumpeted loudly, all the while staring at the man.

Remembering the encounter in 1986, Dan couldn’t help
wondering if this was the same elephant.

Dan summoned up his courage, climbed over the railing and
made his way into the enclosure. He walked right up to the
elephant and stared back in wonder. The elephant trumpeted
again, wrapped its trunk around one of Dan’s legs and slammed
him against the railing, killing him instantly .

Probably wasn’t the same elephant.

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Teachers & Cops ….. New York City Report Cards ….

These are actual comments made on students’ report cards by teachers in the New York City public school system. All teachers were reprimanded but, boy, are these funny!!!

1. Since my last report, your child has reached rock bottom and has started to dig.

2. I would not allow this student to breed.

3. Your child has delusions of adequacy.

4. Your son is depriving a village somewhere of an idiot.

5. Your son sets low personal standards and then consistently fails to achieve them.

6. The student has a ‘full six-pack’ but lacks the plastic thing to hold it all together.

7. This child has been working with glue too much.

8. When your daughter’s IQ reaches 50, she should sell.

9. The gates are down, the lights are flashing, but t he train isn’t coming.

10. If this student were any more stupid , he’d have to be watered twice a week.

11. It’s impossible to believe the sperm that created this child beat out 1,000,000 others.

12. The wheel is turning but the hamster is definitely dead

NOW FROM OUR BOYS IN BLUE:

These 16 Police Comments were taken off actual police car videos around the country:

#16. ‘You know, stop lights don’t come any redder than the one you just went through.’

#15. ‘Relax, the handcuffs are tight because they’re new. They’ll stretch after you wear them a while.’

#14. ‘If you take your hands off the car, I’ll make your birth certificate a worthless document.’

#13. ‘If you run, you’ll only go to jail tired.’

#12. ‘Can you run faster than 1200 feet per second? Because that’s the speed of the bullet th at’ll be chasing you.’

#11. ‘You don’t know how fast you were going? I guess that means I can write anything I want to on the ticket, huh?’

#10. ‘Yes, sir, you can talk to the shift supervisor, but I don’t think it will help. Oh, did I mention that I’m the shift supervisor?’

#9. ‘Warning! You want a warning? O.K., I’m warning you not to do that again or I’ll give you another ticket.’

#8. ‘The answer to this last question will determine whether you are drunk or not. Was Mickey Mouse a cat or a dog?’

#7. ‘Fair? You want me to be fair? Listen, fair is a place where you go to ride on rides, eat cotton candy and corn dogs and step in monkey poop.’

#6. ‘Yeah, we have a quota. Two more tickets and my wife gets a toaster oven.’

#5. ‘In God we trust, all ot hers we run through NCIC.’

#4. ‘How big were those ‘two beers’ you say you had?’

#3. ‘No sir, we don’t have quotas anymore. We used to, but now we’re allowed to write as many tickets as we can.’

#2. ‘I’m glad to hear that Chief (of Police) is a personal friend of yours. So you know someone who can post your bail.’

AND THE WINNER IS….

#1. ‘You didn’t think we give pretty women tickets? You’re right, we don’t. Sign here.’

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New words for 2008

NEW WORDS FOR 2008 :
Essential vocabulary additions for the workplace (and elsewhere)!!!

BLAMESTORMING
Sitting around in a group, discussing why a deadline was missed or a project failed, and who was responsible.

SEAGULL MANAGER: A manager, who flies in, makes a lot of noise, craps on everything, and then leaves.

ASSMOSIS: The process by which some people seem to absorb success and advancement by kissing up to the boss rather than working hard .

SALMON DAY: The experience of spending an entire day swimming upstream only to get screwed and die in the end.

CUBE FARM : An office filled with cubicles.
PRAIRIE DOGGING : When someone yells or drops something loudly in a cube farm, and people’s heads pop up over the walls to see what’s going on.

MOUSE POTATO : The on-line, wired generation’s answer to the couch potato.

SITCOMs: Single Income, Two Children, Oppressive Mortgage. What Yuppies get into when they have children and one of them stops working to stay home with the kids.

STRESS PUPPY: A person who seems to thrive on being stressed out and whiny.

SWIPEOUT: An ATM or credit card that has been rendered useless because magnetic strip is worn away from extensive use.

XEROX SUBSIDY: Euphemism for swiping free photocopies from one’s workplace.

IRRITAINMENT: Entertainment and media spectacles that are Annoying but you find yourself unable to stop watching them.

PERCUSSIVE MAINTENANCE: The fine art of whacking the crap out of an electronic device to get it to work again.

ADMINISPHERE : The rarefied organizational layers beginning just above the rank and file. Decisions that fall from the adminisphere are often profoundly inappropriate or irrelevant to the problems they were designed to solve.

404: Someone who’s clueless. From the World Wide Web error Message “404 Not Found,” meaning that the requested site could not be located.

GENERICA : Features of the American landscape that are exactly the same no matter where one is, such as fast food joints, strip malls, and subdivisions.

OHNOSECOND: That minuscule fraction of time in which you realize that you’ve just made a BIG mistake. (Like after hitting send on an email by mistake).

WOOFS: Well-Off Older Folks.

CROP DUSTING: Surreptitiously passing gas while passing through a Cube Farm.

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New Virus Going Around

There is a dangerous virus being passed around electronically, orally, and by hand. This virus is called Worm-Overload-Recreational-Killer (WORK).

If you receive WORK from any of your colleagues, your boss, or anyone else via any means DO NOT TOUCH IT. This virus will wipe out your private life completely.

If you should come into contact with WORK put your jacket on and take two good friends to the nearest grocery store. Purchase the antidote known as Work-Isolating-Neutralizer-Extract (WINE) or Bothersome-Employer-Elimination-Rebooter (BEER). Take the antidote repeatedly until WORK has been completely eliminated from your system.

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Why I fired my Secretary.

Last week was my birthday and I didn’t feel very well waking up on that morning.
I went downstairs for breakfast hoping my wife would be pleasant and say, “Happy Birthday!”,
and possibly have a small present for me.

As it turned out, she barely said good morning, let alone “Happy Birthday.”

I thought…

Well, that’s marriage for you, but the kids… They will remember.

My kids came bounding down stairs to breakfast and didn’t say a word.
So when I left for the office, I felt pretty low and somewhat despondent.

As I walked into my office, my secretary Jane said, “Good Morning Boss, and by the way Happy Birthday !”
It felt a little better that at least someone had remembered.
I worked until one o’clock , when Jane knocked on my door and said, “You know, It’s such a beautiful day outside,
and it is your Birthday, what do you say we go out to lunch, just you and me.”
I said, “Thanks, Jane, that’s the greatest thing I’ve heard all day. Let’s go !”

We went to lunch. But we didn’t go where we normally would go.
She chose instead at a quiet bistro with a private table.
We had two martinis each and I enjoyed the meal tremendously.

On the way back to the office, Jane said, “You know, It’s such a beautiful day…
We don’t need to go straight back to the office, Do We ?”

I responded, “I guess not. What do you have in mind ?”
She said, “Let’s drop by my apartment, it’s just around the corner.”

After arriving at her apartment, Jane turned to me and said, ” Boss, if you don’t mind,
I’m going to step into the bedroom for just a moment. I’ll be right back.”
“Ok.” I nervously replied.

She went into the bedroom and, after a couple of minutes, she came out carrying a huge birthday cake …
Followed by my wife, my kids, and dozens of my friends and co-workers, all singing “Happy Birthday”.

And I just sat there…

On the couch…

Naked

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and my personal favorite

Letter to God

Some of you may know that our 14 year old dog, Abbey, died last month (8/23). The day after she died, my 4 year old daughter Meredith was crying and talking about how much she missed Abbey. She asked if we could write a letter to God so that when Abbey got to heaven, God would recognize her.

She dictated and I wrote:

Dear God,

Will you please take special care of our dog, Abbey? She died yesterday and is heaven. We miss her very much. We are happy that you let us have her as our dog even though she got sick. I hope that you will play with her. She likes to play with balls and swim before she got sick. I am sending some pictures of her so that when you see her in heaven you will know she is our special dog. But I really do miss her.

Love,

Meredith Claire

P.S.: Mommy wrote the words after Mer told them to her

We put that in an envelope with 2 pictures of Abbey, and addressed it to God/Heaven. We put our return address on it. Then Mer stuck some stamps on the front (because, as she said, it may take lots of stamps to get a letter all the way to heaven) and that afternoon I let her drop it into the letter box at the post office.

For a few days, she would ask if God had gotten the letter yet. I told her that I thought He had. Yesterday, for Labor Day, we took the kids to Austin to a natural history museum. When we got back, there was a package wrapped in gold paper on our front porch. Curious, I went to look at it. It had a gold star card on the front and said “To: Mer” in an unfamiliar hand.

Meredith took it in and opened it. Inside was a book by Mr. Rogers, When a Pet Dies. Taped to the inside front cover was the letter we had written to God, in its opened envelope (which was marked ‘Return to Sender: Insufficient address’). On the opposite page, one of the pictures of Abbey was taped under the words “For Meredith.” We turned to the back cover, and there was the other picture of Abbey, and this handwritten note on pink paper:

Dear Mer,

I know that you will be happy to know that Abbey arrived safely and soundly in Heaven! Having the pictures you sent to me was such a big help. I recognized Abbey right away.

You know, Meredith, she isn’t sick anymore. Her spirit is here with me — just like she stays in your heart — young and running and playing. Abbey loved being your dog, you know. Since we don’t need our bodies in heaven, I don’t have any pockets! — so I can’t keep your beautiful letter. I am sending it to you with the pictures so that you will have this book to keep and remember Abbey.

One of my angels is taking care of this for me. I hope the little book helps.

Thank you for the beautiful letter. Thank your mother for sending it. What a wonderful mother you have! I picked her especially for you.

I send my blessings every day and remember that I love you very much. By the way, I am in heaven and wherever there is love.

Love,

God, and the special angel who wrote this after God told her the words.

As a parent and a pet lover, this is one of the kindest things that I’ve ever experienced. I have no way to know who sent it, but there is some very kind soul working in the dead letter office. Just wanted to share this act of compassion :) dear friend — hope you enjoy it as much as I did

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well.

Time to ring in the new year…

Until Then

Me-

 

Oh yea… almost forgot…

best quote all year

” I was depressed last night so I called Lifeline. I got a call center in Pakistan. I told them I was suicidal ….They got all excited and asked if I could drive a truck.”

so while driving along the other day and listening to the radio I got a tear. Yup thats right, a tear. its not the first time. Maybe its my A.D.D. and my inherent lack of ability to focus, but I can be completely off in la la land driving along and have a single line of music snap me into a place I haven’t been in 10 years.

I’m not going to bother with the artists, or the entire set of lyrics, nut here are a few things that I have heard lately that have made me think enough to actually make me pull over and write down a note.

He said: “I was in my early forties,
“With a lot of life before me,
“An’ a moment came that stopped me on a dime.
“I spent most of the next days,
“Looking at the x-rays,
“An’ talking ’bout the options an’ talkin’ ‘bout sweet time.”
I asked him when it sank in,
That this might really be the real end?
How’s it hit you when you get that kind of news?
Man whatcha do?

“I went sky diving, I went rocky mountain climbing,
“I went two point seven seconds on a bull named Fu Man Chu.
“And I loved deeper and I spoke sweeter,
“And I gave forgiveness I’d been denying.”
An’ he said: “Some day, I hope you get the chance,
“To live like you were dyin’.”

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If you could only see the way she loves me
Then maybe you would understand
Why I feel this way about our love
And what I must do
If you could only see how blue her eyes can be when she says
When she says she loves me

Seems the road less traveled
Shows happiness unraveled
And you got to take a little dirt
To keep what you love
Thats what you gotta do

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I wasn’t there that morning
When my father passed away
I didn’t get to tell him
All the things I had to say

I think I called his spirit
Later that same year
I’m sure I heard his echo
In my baby’s new born tears
I just wish I could have told him in the living years.

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There were more but ill add them later.

Sometimes other people are better at putting into words what were thinking.

Sometimes they already have.

Just listen.

Another beautiful weekend in Tampa, So much so that I still have yet to put the roof on my Wrangler. Saturday was insanely busy. Jennifer and I were obligated to the Peoples Gas company picnic and had to be at Ft Desoto at 8:30 in the morning. its a 45 minute drive so you can imagine that Friday night was a blockbuster night. ;)

We hit the ground running on Sat and didnt slow down until 1 AM. Sun.

the company picnic was a blast… We were in charge of the children’s games and Bingo, so I was literally running the entire time. Sac races, football tosses, Frisbee tosses and lawn bowling. for every child under 15 that wanted to play. (about 60 kids total I think)

Were not sure but we think every kid went home with a prize :)

We had to leave there at 2:30 to go and get some last minute things for the evening event…

We got home, Jen flew through the shower while I ran Winston for some exercise. while Jen was putting on some finishing touches, she asked me to switch out the removable heels on her shoes with the new ones they came with. A task I quickly discovered was easier said then done. In then end, the shoes got ruined, and a new pair had to be bought on the way to the Ball…

As usual however, the ball was beautiful and we were fabulous. (or maybe I have that backward) Jen and I

It was nice to see people I work with at a formal event, even though I was not there with them. Senator Crist was there again and we had a few laughs. The evening ended with TJ on the baby grand tickling the ivories well into0 the wee hours of the morning.TJ and I

A few weeks ago some friends of mine and i went for a nice Sunday drive in the woods…

Contrary to the popular opinion of what a Sunday drive should be, below is a picture of what we consider fun.

(I was in the passenger seat when this happened) :)

flop

UPDATE!!!!!

Were all going to Skyline for celebratory chilidogs.

(That means USF lost) hehe 

Now I have never been one to jump on a band wagon. And while I never had attended the school I have always been an Ohio State Buckeye fan.

That said, this weekend is the Homecoming for the University if Southern Florida Bulls…

Ranked # 5 the will be playing the University of Cincinnati Bearcats… and being Born and raised in Cincinnati… well Im just going to have to go against the grain on this one.
bulls logo VS bearcat logo

To make matters even more fun… My good friend TJ (A very proud USF Alum) has made arrangements for a spot in the USF homecoming parade anyone in our off road club that wants to  attend.  Most will be riding in their jeeps… some of us will be riding in the Duce as seen here…I have been told that if i wear UC attire I will not be protected if rotten fruit begins to fly…

Ill be good. ;)

Just think of it as a lifted limo that could tow  a 747.   duce

Yesterday afternoon, I got permission from the doctor to remove my back brace.   I had broken my back several months ago jumping from a boat to a dock and fractured my L1.  Here is a translation for the laymen…
I landed on my ass and one of the square bones that make up my back cracked and squished so its now triangular.   I had to wear one of these for 3 months to allow the crack to heal. Jewett back brace

Yea… no fun at all…. I usually wore it under an over shirt, so as to not creat too many questions.  Aside from not being able to tie my own shoes, and looking like I gained 50 pounds.  it was very uncomfortable.

Well yesterday they told me I could take it off. YAY!!!  this decision was quickly followed by the anouncement that I was not allowed to do anything differently than I was when it was on, for at least the next 3 months. BOO!!!

He did tell me that I would be well enough to go snowboarding in the spring… so i guess there is that.

To do:…

  • Move
  • Start new job
  • Create new budget
  • Get above water financially
  • Keep girlfriend happy
  • De-flea new home
  • Clean old home
  • Close utility accounts.
  • Fix jeep
  • Keep puppy happy
  • Work on blog
  • Laundry
  • Iron out holidays
  • Prepare for Jeeptoberfest
  • Start putting flatlander thoughts on paper.
  • Call all debtors and do change of address
  • Pull hair out.
    • Never mind. I don’t have any.

“One thing at a time”, I always say… Well it was something I heard alot growing up, and a philosophy I try to live my life by. 

Un-fortunately it never really works that way. 

If your reading this you are probably at least aware that there are other projects I am working on at the moment.  My intentions for this are that it become a photo-blog of my life.  There have been programing glitches and it is making progress slowly.

 Also in the works is CUBALLOON, it is a game that I invented to keep up morale in call centers, (Much to the dismay of management LOL).

 Rogue Ronin will be a media company mostly run by my close friend “Spitfire Jay”.  With my imagination and his talent, were going to take over the world!!! have a lot of fun with it.

 Jeep Patrol, is on the back burner while I try to focus on my other personal projects, and also help the Suncloast Flatlanders focus on their website re-design.

And finally Jim Kallaher.com will be a conduit for everything else for a while.

pictures coming soon… links comming soon…  Random miscellaneous bullshit coming soon.

Jim

Before you start reminiscing about Clash of the Titans. “The Kraken” would be my dog Winston, and releasing him would pretty much be leaving him unattended for more than 10 seconds.

When I first moved into my current domicile; because I was concerned about him barking in the crate and waking my roommates at 6 AM, I tried leaving him out in the living room to lay on the couch until one of my roommates woke up to keep him company.

It was a good idea… in theory… He wouldn’t bark and he pretty much just kept to himself. Until one day Winston discovered the discovered the scent of compressed rawhide on my roommates red velvet couch.

(cue the bug eyes)

Yup that means I have to replace one RED VELVET COUCH.

Ok so new rules:
1) no more compressed rawhide.
2) no more leaving the dog unattended in the AM after I leave for work.

and everything seems to be going well…

Well Sunday while unloading some things from the Jeep to the house, Winston (hence forth to be known only as the Kraken) decided that my VERY expensive GPS device looked a bit like a chew toy…

UGHHH!!!!!

well what can you do… he didnt know… its my fault.

but is it…

I thought I had left the Garmin in the living room, maybe on the coffee table. Wich would have easily left it as an open target as a potential chew toy looking item. Aparently I didn’t. In the few minutes I was outside Winston went into my bedroom, took the unit off my bed side table, went back out to the living room and began eating the Garmin on the couch.

Other people have told me they think he may have done it out of spite.
So in considering this I have to ask myself yet another question.
In an animal that entertains itself by chasing its own tail and eating dirt, capable of identifying that something is of value to me and destroying it for the sole purpose of spite?

is this way of telling me he is pissed for not being included in the “going out the front door to retreve things from the Jeep”?

Maybe… As much as I identify and accept that I (like many) have managed to choose a pet that is much like me.
Maybe we are more alike that I could even begin to imagine…