WIXY's Gone Bananas

Today marks three months since I was called into the outgoing big guy's office and given my walking papers. There have been some nibbles, but so far, all they have resulted in have been a couple of "we will keep you in mind if something comes up" notices. Nice thing is that I have been available to help with a family crisis. Would be nicer if said crisis wouldn't have happened, but as it is paraphrased, life happens. The way I could look at this time without a job is that I have had a 90 day weekend so far.

I am a graduate of Highland High School, class of 1974. In recent years, I hadn't had much contact with my former classmates. You know about Beth at the convenience store and most recently, Debby at the Giant Eagle pharmacy. This past weekend I made contact, via Facebook, with several other of my former classmates. And a few of you know about me and my popping up on your Facebook chat. I did that with about three Highland graduates. I got to look at some photos taken this past weekend at a get together of former classmates(Cliff note: I had no idea this was happening.). I have come to the conclusion that some of these folks have gotten old and ugly, while some of US have aged gracefully. Some of US have even gotten better looking. Regardless, I am looking forward to once again having contact with those I spent part of my youth with.

One thing I can count on with those who read my musings on a regular basis and that is that you are a very diverse group. And with that, I wish to introduce my newest friend. This one is local for me, one who participates on one of the radio boards that I do. She tries to bring it some class but that is trying to put lipstick on a pig. Jacqueline Gerber is morning show host on WCLV/104.9. The format at WCLV is classical music. Jacqueline uses her personality and sense of humor to bring all those dead composers alive, and I think they would all appreciate what she does for them. She has been called the Queen of the Morning, and shares her thoughts now in a blog called Queen of the Morn . Some of her blogging serves to bring us all to her level, whether it be highbrow or lowbrow. Once a week, she might share with all of us some word that might sound naughty but really isn't. If you have a taste for the classics, but live outside the WCLV listening area, click here to listen via wclv...

This morning we got up and decided that we would sit out from church since we had a very busy past week or so. So I left the house and drove my sister to her church. Next stop was a new thrift store in town where I bought a few items then had to gas up. I parked at the pump, was going to insert my debit card, and start to pump. Cliff note: Hooray for modern technology! Then my cell phone rang. Cliff Note: Boo to modern technology . It was my son. Adam needed a ride to his church. I gassed up then headed for Wooster and took him to his church, then did some other things for him. By the time I got to Rittman, it was time to pick up my sister. So my morning of leisure never happened. Now if the church comments have surprised my new Facebook friends who attended Highland with me and remember my foul mouth, be assured that I have changed greatly over the years. Final Cliff note: One of my next posts will introducing a new friend to the blogosphere.

So the job fair yesterday didn't pan out too well yesterday. All the plum jobs had very long lines of people waiting to talk to the reps. I did however, get some good information at a seminar sponsored by AARP, and was able to get a counseling session where my resume was critiqued. I may have some fun with the seminar part here in the future. Today I had a Facebook friend request from one who graduated high school a year behind me. His name is Ferris Brown, former Medina County treasurer. So I now have a politician as a friend on Facebook. Ferris' brother, Dwier Brown, played John Kinsella, who was the father of Kevin Kostner's character in the movie, "Field of Dreams." Ahh..connections. So I got ambitious and checked around Facebook and made several requests of people I went to high school with and got one answer back this evening. We shall see how this all pans out. You have to realize this: I haven't always been the sweetheart of a guy all of you, my onlin...

This afternoon my grandson and I were working on his bicycle, fixing a flat tire. We had to change the inner tube, after which we put the tire back together. When we inflated the tire, it didn't come back together as planned. So I had to deflate the tube and hold it together while Ben pumped. This time was a success. I asked Ben, who is a first grader, what happens when we don't get things right on the first try. He correctly answered that we learn from it. I then told him that Thomas Edison failed ten thousand times before he succeeded in inventing the incandescent light bulb. Ben was amazed that it took him so many times. I then asked him what would have happened if Edison had gave up before the 10,000th try. Ben told me he didn't know. I told him that we would have to watch television in the dark.

Today I went to get some resumes printed up, as tomorrow, I will be heading to the I-X Center in Cleveland for a job fair. This will be the first time I've been inside Cleveland city limits since I was laid off on December 31. Hopefully my job will be there. I also put in an application at a company right up the road from me in Wadsworth. If the job is there, that would be great since it would be only a ten minute commute. In my travels this morning, I bought me an Akron Beacon Journal. The headline stated that Smucker was going to eliminate 700 jobs, a good number of them in their plant in nearby Orrville. Now these jobs will be eliminated over the next three years and mainly through attrition. There will be retirements and buyouts. These cuts will be due to improvements made in the plants and automation will make these 700 positions unnecessary. Still this is not good news when you consider the facts that in January, Ohio had a 10.8% rate of unemployment. In Wayne County, where ...