WIXY's Gone Bananas

I was a skinny kid until I was 10 years old. Not being very athletic and exercising my imagination more than my body, I started gaining weight. I got my feelings hurt often as I would be the target of quite a bit of meanness and the butt of many jokes. This continued until I turned 21. At the time I weighed 260 pounds. I had some coworkers who took an interest in me and were able to communicate in a way that sounded more helpful than hurtful. A change of eating habits and an increase in exercise, mainly walking, was instrumental in my losing of 60 pounds within a space of a year. Shortly after that was when I met Kathy. I guess you could say that I lost 60 pounds chasing women but once I caught one I started putting it back on. Three years later Kathy was pregnant with our oldest child. At this time I decided to quit smoking. I was also around 240 pounds. Usually when people give up smoking, they usually pick up weight. I didn't, but rather lost over 50 pounds and when that was do...

Another follow up at the doctor's office today. Leg is healed, although there is some swelling due to water retention. My blood glucose is down and I've lost 10 pounds in the past month. The doc wasn't happy with my blood pressure and has prescribed a now BP med, which also serves as a diuretic. All in all I'm happy with the visit. Maybe I can be happier at my next appointment in four weeks.

I was at Evil Big Box Store #1812(tm) this evening talking to a customer service manager, whom I worked with when I was employed there part time from 1996-1998. She was telling me that they don't hire people to work the hours I worked at that time. She also told me that they don't want people making announcements on the public address the way I used to. Funny how businesses are all getting away from the personal touch. It seems the cashiers are getting away from the "thank you for shopping at..." more and more. Perhaps some of these businesses would quit losing customers to the internet if they would try personalized service a bit more often. I also saw recently a situation which could have been avoided when I was cashiering. At another department store this man paid for about 4 dollars worth of merchandise with a fifty. The cashier handed him his change and the man claimed she shorted him 20 dollars. I suspect this was a scam by the customer. This could have been av...

This post is dedicated to my 7th grade English teacher, Mrs. Leiberman, who made us write a stupid journal, making entries in it every day. I hated it then, but I blog now. Go figure... When I was reintroduced to Beth a few weeks ago, I was also reintroduced to some pleasant memories of my junior high and high school years. You see, Beth was everybody's friend and I was one of probably several boys who had a crush on her. I admitted that when we were reintroduced. Yesterday I was there getting my paper and pop on my way to work. The cashier had a problem getting the money out of my hand. I made a comment about it being rare that a woman has trouble getting money from a man. Beth then held her hand out, saying that she heard that. I told her that she missed her chance 40 years ago. She told me she never knew until I told her a few weeks ago. I learned the spring before, going to another school district, when you were the fat kid from the other side of the tracks, that you had to be ...

September 12 saw the Rittman Indians Marching Band at the Fighting Irish Band Show, hosted by the St.Vincent-St. Mary High School marching band. The emcee for the show was Tim Daugherty from WONE/WAKR. Appearing in the show were bands representing the following schools: Central Catholic High School, from Canton, Cuyahoga Valley Christian Academy, Rootstown High School, Springfield High School from Akron, Woodridge High School in Peninsula, and of course Rittman and host St.V-St.M. The WIXYcam was there and following are some photos of the show. Enjoy!

This morning Beth and I had a conversation as I stopped for my morning paper. We both appreciate the fact that we were raised in small towns. I spent most of my formative years in Hinckley, Ohio and Beth spent her childhood in Sharon Center, Ohio. I have lived in Rittman for the past 26 years. Beth had mentioned about some of her siblings who moved to metropolitan areas, but she had always enjoyed life close to home. One thing I always enjoy about living in Rittman is that although the town is small, population about 7000, major shopping areas are no more than 20 minutes away. Even the ride to work is easier due to the freeway being close to my home. I lived in Cleveland for two years in the late seventies. There was quite a lot within walking distance, or accessable by public transportation, but there was also this thing about being lulled to sleep at night by police sirens. I decided it was not for me. It's also nice to be able to brag about being heard all over town on Friday ni...

It's been one of those weekends where I've been quite busy and cannot wait to get to work on Monday just to get some rest. And as of this morning, I'm about three "From the Pressboxes" behind. Hopefully I can get to my keyboard early enough today and start catching up. In the meantime enjoy some of my photos from the weekend!