I had to work a four hour shift today.  Definitely one of the items at the top of my “things I don’t like to do on Saturday” list.  I deal with a lot of people who have come to Los Angeles from all over the world.  I mean, if you want to visit a place where you could hear every language and the many different dialects, LA is your town.  In fact, I think I only had three customers today who spoke English as their primary language.  I didn’t get upset, or impatient, or aggravated, quite the opposite.  I think it is really amazing that some people are able to learn more than one language.  My amazement stems from my own difficulty in trying to learn a second language, Spanish.  I have heard it said that Spanish is one of the easier languages to learn, unfortunately not for me.  I met a customer from Ukraine, one from Thailand, a few from Mexico, a couple from Brazil and a guy from El Salvador.  How crazy to meet all these people in one four hour shift.  I read a statement somewhere that said “Never make fun of someone speaking broken English because that means they know another language.”  I don’t know who said it but it really makes sense to me.  Especially here in LA where, as I’ve described already, there is a lot of people here that know several languages.  I think I am going to push myself a little harder this year to learn Spanish.  Hell, it can’t hurt.  

Working on Saturday is tough!

Today a customer walked in at the worst possible time.  I was all hung up with internal BS. A bunch of stuff that has nothing to do with conducting actual business, but all the menuticha you must comply with to legally do business, at least in CA.  I looked up from my counter holding three empty, unused and un-manned computers and said”Hey, what can I do for you?” My signature greeting if I don’t know you.  This customer said “Yeah, My name is Ken.”  He stuck his hand out and I shook it.  We talked for a bit about his house and a few other things.  By the time he and I had figured out what he was happy with we had cemented a relationship. The business he hired for the job didn’t happen to do a whole lot of business with us.  It happens.  I told him they ran a good, solid business.  All I could do.  The rub is this…The handshake sealed the deal. He said he would tell his contractor that he wanted them to purchase from my location.  It made me think… Phisical contact these days is like hugging a lepper in the sixties.  Why? What happened?  When did people become so weird about contact with other people?  We really need to scratch this fear of contact. As long as we’re washing our hands…I mean, ya never know… Wink..wink.

A good friend flew to Arizona today to attend a big classic car auction.  He has worked really hard and put in the hours earning him this time off.  Am I jealous. Yes! Thankfully, he is rubbing it in by sending pictures and texting me cool things he is seeing.  I am really excited to hear all about his trip and glad he is taking a little time to decompress.  I’ve been talking all week about how important taking time to decompress is especially when you routinely put in twelve plus hour days.  I am thankful for my job and thankful for my life.  I think we all could use a little balance and would all be better for it.  Friday is here.  Let’s all have a safe weekend.

(Disclaimer: The following is for the truly deserving that have earned the time to take for whatever their little heart desired.  Professional, do not attempt without consulting significant other or your employer.)

So today I woke up knowing I had some things to deal with at work left over from yesterday and even the day before.  Not the best way to start the day.  I thought about it for a second and decided that today would be a good day to exercise a little entitlement.  Don’t worry, I’ve earned it.  I got to work and notified my boss that I would be leaving a bit early today.  All he had to say was that he was home sick so “whatever.”  I left after a half day like I was late for an appointment at the White House.  I was off to the beach again, only this time for some much needed time in the water.  I scooped up my amazing girlfriend, partner, sunrise and sunset and we headed to El Porto where the report said the surf was good.  The report was right.  I had a few good rides and the last one was the best.  I headed in with a smile from ear to ear and promised myself outloud to make this as regular a thing as feasible.  A stop at a Manhattan Beach local taco joint for a quick dinner and then home, two smiling faces, happy.  Hooky, if you can, without hurting yourself or anyone else I highly recommend it.

Well, as I promised yesterday, I brought some clothes and right after work I headed strait to the beach.  Did I try to talk myself out of it? Yes.  Did I have really good reasons why today is just not the right day?  Yes.  Was the traffic excruciating even by LA standards?  Yes.  But, through all that, I went anyway.  I forced myself to drive to the beach even though it seemed my work day was ending with every possible thing against me.  All forces seemed to join together just to keep me from achieving my moment of peace.  Well, to hell with all you negative forces.  The walk on the beach was everything I hoped it would be.  It was down right medicinal.  The salty air mixing with the sound of the waves and don’t even get me started on the sunset.  So many things were so very right that to say it was worth it is an understatement.  Had I decided to forego the trip to the beach to exercise and not been stuck in an impossible amount of traffic, I would have missed a number of wonderful things like hearing a special song.  Oh, and yes, I sang along, in the car, in traffic and could care less if anyone was watching.  I mean, it is LA after all so here nobody finds that too unusual.  I also hit my 10k steps on the ol’ FitBit which makes me feel even better.  Is this the beginning of something regular?  YES!

I am a person the prides himself on being active.  I can usually be heard saying things like “I work to live.  I don’t live to work.”  Lately, however, I have become roped into the day-to-day grind that so many people in my age range are.  Today I realized it and it made me feel incredibly sad and depressed. “Who are you?” I asked myself as I looked into my own eyes through the rear-view mirror.  Well, lucky for me I know who I am.  My inner child is not gone, nor forgotten.  He was just taking a nap it seems.  I’m not one to make resolutions or smoke a hope pipe thinking things will change.  I have a better plan.  In an earlier blog I mentioned that I was going to change my greeting toward others from “Hangin in there” to “Great, thanks for asking!” I have been doing this and it has made my day’s brighter.  So to this newly found challenge, I shall answer it thus… Tomorrow will be a beautiful day according to @abc7dallas so I will head to work prepared.  I am packing a bag after I write this with a change of clothes to play in after work.  I will take a right off the 405 on my way home and head strait out to the beach to get some much needed sun, sand and exercise.  I will plan my next days adventure while there and prep for it when I get home.  Stay tuned for the results tomorrow.  @NicoleInSocal

I don’t know about you, but I am so sick of the way time is used.  I mean, I get the whole idea of time and I certainly understand time from the business aspect.  I guess I just feel like time is the most abused substances of all the substances that could be abused.  Who is the fastest? Only time will tell.  Who sold the most?  Only time will tell. (You have to think about that one.)  Who is the hottest? Ah ha!  Only time will tell.  Who is the richest? In time, you will see it doesn’t matter.  Everyone wishes they had more time.  Some drink coffee or energy drinks to prolong time.  Some don’t care about time.  Many seem to exist thorough the the sunrise and sunset.  Hell, how many people do you know that even notice the sunrise and sunset, honestly?  I guess I am lucky because I have to go to work at sunrise and I generally don’t go home until the sun sets.  I read an old American Indian proverb that said “Only the Government would believe you could cut a foot off the top of a blanket, sew it to the bottom, and have a longer blanket.” (Ref Daylight Savings Time)

In Key West Florida, the setting sun is a reason for the entire key (cay) to gather on the westernmost side of the island to watch one of, if not the most amazing spectacles on the planet Earth.  How amazing that our entire existence is due to the precise distance we revolve around the sun and yet…the majority fail to appreciate this phenomena.

 Time…What are you doing with your’s? Isn’t it strange that time only seems to matter at the beginning and at the end.  Who do you know, who do you love?  Please, make the most of your time this week.

When you’re feeling low or facing a challenge people are quick to point out how “It’s the little things that matter”.  This is true but it’s the big things that drive us.  For instance, we worry more about the presidential election than we do about the congressional or senatorial races, and they are the most important.  We all strive for greatness but what is greatness?  Having a lot of money doesn’t make you a better human than some other human.  Hell, it won’t Evan make you a better driver which is a learned and (hopefully) practiced skill.  Kanye West showed off his new Rolls Royce on Twitter only to wreck it moments later causing who the heck knows how much in damage.  Whether little or big, everything we do matters.  Kids today hear how it doesn’t matter what other people think but I disagree.  It is very important to consider other people whether it be there thoughts or there feelings.  Holding the door for someone just might be a big thing for them although a small thing for you.  Maybe we should all do small things for someone else because you never know how big the little thing might be for them.

All day long I hear people say the strangest things at work.  Someone will ask another how they are doing or maybe how their day is going.  The answers sometimes astound me.  One of my coworkers likes to tell people she likes it when its busy because it makes the day go by faster.  Why on earth would you want your day, your finite amount of time to go by faster?  Sometimes people skip over answering the question completely.  Like they already know the person asking really doesn’t care so why answer.  My “go-to” response is usually “Hangin in there” when someone asks how I’m doing.  Starting tomorrow I am no longer going to say that.  Starting tomorrow I am going to smile and say “Great, and thank you for asking”.  I think it will help me with my mood which in turn may help someone else have a better day.  Let’s give er a try, shall we?