Time to say Good-bye

Time progresses so rapidly that I am surprised that it has been two weeks since my last post. Thus for some this may be a surprise, but to others- not. What it is is the last three days of my employment with my current employer.
It is time for me to move on. The irony is that I had been employed in skilled nursing facility, a nursing home, and it was implied that I was perhaps making too much money and too old for my position. Now that is irony.
I realize that change is good and in the long run this change is a positive one. I am moving to a new job in marketing at a large pharmaceutical company close to my home. I will not have to be on call 24/7 nor will I have to work weekends, nights and holidays. These are all pluses. Meeting new people and learning new things is exciting and I look forward to this opportunity. I will miss the people I have worked with and the residents I have come to know over the years.
My bride has created a calendar that is hanging on our refrigerator with the number of days remaining. I have three left.....
A warning for readers- I am setting up my soap box so if you continue beyond this point you do so willingly.... As a society we are wasting a precious commodity, one that is not buried under ground and needs mining. It is a commodity that is untapped and ready to be used- it is just waiting for the opportunity. I am speaking of our elderly. The government has placed an arbitrary age of retirement and after that the expectation is that the old will just fade away. In fact we build facilities to place our elderly in so that families don't have to take care of them and they don't need to be seen.
I have been blessed in having the opportunity to have seen family members take in their elderly. Not only have I been blessed but the relationship that developed between my children and an elderly grandparent is priceless. Each summer over the past 20 some years my children have spent their summer months in the care of their mother's parents. In so doing they have developed a respect for those that are older than they. They also have learned different skills in the time that was spent there. All of them learned the theater art being able to perform on stage in front of hundreds of people. They also learned how to work and live with others of different backgrounds- religious, racial, age, and geographical. My children are better human beings because of the time that was spent with their grandparents- it is a blessing that is priceless.
To often family members are placed in nursing homes and than forgotten. As they are forgotten they fade away. What is in them sometimes dies before their body does. As a society we have lost priceless history in institutionalizing our elderly. As an old person dies so goes the memories and stories that are waiting to be told that are within them. It is a loss.... it is our loss.

I'm off my soapbox now...jsf

Pizza Wars

It finally had to happen. Back in the 70s and 80s at major intersections in cities across the country gas wars would occur as competition was hot and furious as Gas Vendors plied their trade in attracting customers to their front door. Prices would change daily and sometime hourly as each business owner would try to attract customers into their pumps. With gas at $4.00/gal. not much is heard about competition in gas vending these days.
My heart did do a pitter-patter as I drove through a major intersection in my home-town of Fishers today. Economics, supply and demand, and marketing were all playing at this intersection. As background- this particular corner has at least 6 different pizza vendors withing garlic distance of said corner- so much for background.
Over the past months the managers/owners of these franchises have sent out unfortunate employees with placards advertising their pizza wares. Using the phrase unfortunate may not be appropriate as the young people hoisting the placards seem to be enjoying themselves.
Those that I have observed normally have a music device (I will not name names) of some sort and they are performing some sort of dance. My concern is are they performing the appropriate Pizza Dance for their company? Who is observing them to make sure they make the right moves? Is it possible that one performer (can I call them performers?) is stealing a trademarked Pizza Step from one of the competition? Who would know?
As of today's date there has not seemed to be any aggression observed as I drive through this intersection. I believe it will be only a matter of time before placards will be thrown down and pizza cutters will be drawn at ten paces. Hopefully it will only be tomato sauce that is spilt....jsf

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Just as an FYI- Forbes.com had listed Hamilton County, Indiana as the number 1 county to live in here in the good old US of A. To browse through the article go here.