Chapter 25
Jeffee Has a Pretty Good Day
I must give credit where credit is due. Yesterday, March 24, 2011 was a pretty good day for me. It started off well because our daughter Jinty took our granddaughter Malia with her to Houston, Texas because her friend Tiffany was getting married. That's the first day off we've had from our wonderful lovely little 19-month-old granddaughter. Now I guarantee my wife and I love our granddaughter but that love grows even stronger when she's not around us 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Believe it or not, a little 19-month-old can get on your nerves every now and then and they're curious and can tear tissues into 1 million pieces, take your books from the bookshelf and throw them all over the floor etc. And right now as I dictate and try and edit, Malia is screaming bloody murder in the house and the two dogs are barking up a storm around the swimming pool because we have company swimming
My wife was off from her job at Starbucks, so she finally got a nice day off that she deserved because she works very hard with Malia. So my wife was able to get a lot of errands done, buy food we needed, go places without having to go to all the trouble of getting Malia into her in car seat, parking, taking her out of the car, shopping, putting her back in the car. I believe you get the general idea so that made my wife happy.
My day at work went really great so everything was going good. Finally got all of my boxes unpacked in our new location which is right across the street from our old location. And actually I have a pretty nice set up in the new office. I thought I was going to have to keep company with my boss. He's been in my room for a couple of days and I am not used to that.
I had my own private office for a long time and I wanted to have a private office again. Even that worked out. Workers came in and said that they were going to move this big huge desk that was in My boss's office and moved it right into the other big room next to My boss's new office, where they were going to set it up to be Carol, our secretary's, desk.
So we got that all hooked up and everything went fine and I used my brilliance to show them exactly how the desk should be set up for Carol which was different from what they were originally going to do. My plan was better and made larger walkways and put small credenza right behind Carroll's desk. That would be much easier for her to get stuff from than if they put it in front of her desk as then she would have to get up walk around the desk and get the stuff. So I made it a lot easier for Carol and for anybody else walking in that room.
And then we had the famous issue of how much time do we get for lunch? We work a compressed work schedule which means we work one week Monday through Friday nine hours a day or 45 hours and then the next week we work Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday nine hours and then on Thursday we only work eight hours and get Friday off. It's always been the tradition in our office that we get an hour for lunch even though technically were only supposed to get 45 min. I came here in 1994, that's always been the case. Earlier My boss had some trouble with of a Filipina lady that worked in our office. She started causing him a lot of trouble. My boss worried that if he showed favoritism and let us take a longer lunch hour she was going to report him so he asked us to be nice while she's working here (My boss was in the process of finding our Filipina lady a new job in a new office.) So he wanted us to just take the 45 minute lunch hour we were supposed to take. He said once she leaves he didn't care how much time it takes for lunch great, that sounds good to me.
Our Filipina lady did leave. She went sobbing into the deputy commander and he worked out a deal to get her another job at Resource Management which made all of us happy because she could get on your nerves at times.
Our Filipina did leave but it turned out to be my boss that got on our nerves. Suddenly even though he was the nicest guy, one of the gang all during the time before she left; suddenly he just got a little bit bookish by the rules and was ordering us to only take 45 minutes of lunch.
Basically it's impossible to get in your car, leave Fort Sam Houston, go to a decent restaurant even close by, wait for the food, get back in your car, go through the gate guard check, get into the parking lot, and then get back into the office, within 45 min.
We made a couple of bad decisions that pissed my boss off. Like one day we took this friend of ours who used to work here by the name of Guy March and I agreed to pick him up at his place which is maybe 10 minutes away from our place on the other side of Fort Sam Houston.
Unfortunately I get over there and he isn't there; we had a wait like 10 minutes for him. Then stupidly we picked this really nice restaurant called the Barn Door which is pretty far away maybe eight or nine miles away. And then there was some kind of construction on the road we normally take. We had to find another way to get there and I missed the turn the first time coming from another angle so we got there very late to begin with. I think the service took a while and the time we got back we were probably gone two hours and the my boss wasn't too happy.
So we tried to do better. It wasn't so bad for me, I can live with about anything you know me. I adjusted to the situation but really upset our secretary, Carol who is such a wonderful lady. And combined with the stress of the move, knowing were only a get 45 minutes for lunch really was upsetting her. She was so tired and probably depressed by the lunch hour situation that she took Thursday and Friday off.
I finally had some really good news to tell her on the Thursday she was off about lunch hour. Originally we were going to talk to our big boss Dale and see if he really cared if we took longer than the exact number of minutes but that situation didn't even arise. Yes the situation has arisen again because once again my boss got mad about us taking lunch I'll add to that in a minute. My boss on his own brought up the issue and he said you know I've been thinking about it and you guys can take an hour for lunch but please try and keep it right at the hour. I said great, that would be fine.
Now we could go to favorite restaurants nearby which is suits us fine and we will make it back within an hour so. I couldn't wait so I called Carol on my cell phone because they still haven't hooked up our regular phones at our new location. I gave her the good news that not only was her desk already set up, the setup looked really nice. And now my boss said we could take an hour for lunch and she just said she felt so great she said I love you and I love my boss. Carol is such a sweet lady so it really made my day to be able to give her the good news. Of course I'll enjoy it too because that way we won't feel stressed out when we go out for lunch, so really, really, good news.
But again you remember the title of my book is my only crime was being born? The lunch issue raised its ugly head again with my boss again in the most unbelievable of circumstances. My boss got the tragic news that his daughter had died, she was only 32. My boss flew to St. Louis, Missouri for the funeral. Carolyn I pitched in and found the name of the floor is associated with the funeral home and we sent a nice bouquet of flowers in sympathy to my boss. My boss was gonna be gone a week.
On the Thursday while he was in St. Louis and the day before the wake for his daughter again Jeffee with that Friday the 13th luck made a big mistake and got hit with something even I was my rotten luck couldn't even imagine was possible.
It was déjà vu all over again. Again I went over to pick up guy for the Thursday before he was going to retire and again he was like. But this time I started lunch around 1230, 12:45. I did this for two reasons: first Carol was at her speakers club at the credit union and that wouldn't get done till around 1230 or so and Guy I had an audit meeting and he wouldn't be done till around 1230 or so.
So I told Carol and Guy I can wait till 12:30 or so for lunch I'm not starving so will leave a little bit late. All I forgot to tell you, My boss also has this obsession that we should only eat lunch at 11:30 everyday not at a different hour God knows why.
But we thought no big deal, because my boss is in St. Louis Missouri today not in our office. Well again wrong weedhopper. Again we got a late start maybe we left the base around a 12:45, again made the mistake of driving to the excellent Barn Door, the restaurant you read about above and again the service was slow but the food was excellent.
As we were leaving the parking lot of the Barn Door around 1:55 o'clock my cell phone rang but I couldn't get out of my pocket and time so I didn't worry about it just ignored it. Then while we were driving back to Fort Sam Houston at two o'clock, my cell phone rang again and this time I answered it.
I couldn't believe my ears when I started talking on the cell phone – it was my boss!!, Calling us from St. Louis Missouri, the day before the wake of his daughter, and yelling at me why weren't we in the office? I started to try and tell my boss that we left late for lunch that I had worked in the office but mainly he just wanted to yell at us for not being in the office he didn't want to hear our side of the story.
Well my boss's sadness has continued and unfortunately last week his brother-in-law who was very sick and on dialysis, died. So my boss spent the last week in Houston, Texas for the funeral of his brother-in-law. Me and Carol were very good last week and only took short lunch 45 minutes or maximum an hour. So of course I never heard from my boss all week long because he couldn't catch us doing anything. We will have our conversation with Dale who is my boss’s boss and our big boss. After working for the government 30 years we will resolve this issue. We are not putting up with that kind of crap.
I even got some other good news. Originally I went down to pick up the latest exchange student who would live in my house and then I would earn the nice sum of $650 a month for housing him. The original meeting was one of my typical examples of the crap that happens to me that doesn't seem to happen to other people. He didn't have a car so I agreed to meet the students at Jim's, a local restaurant which is like half a block from incarnate Word University where the student was staying temporarily.
I told them I'd be there no later than 9:15 p.m. That was a tough day for me because I get home from work, I have to watch Malia, my wife is closing at Starbucks, and so she didn't get home till quarter of nine. I told the students the earliest I can get there is 9:15 p.m. and they said that's fine. They said they know where Jim's is and we'll meet you at Jim's.
I get over to Jim's and I don't see anybody. So I parked my car and I walk in and I maybe I am 10 min. early because I'm somebody was always early. If I tell you I will be there at 9:15 then I'm there by 9:15. I try to arrive early so that I don't keep people waiting.
I'm always courteous to other people. I go in there and I am sitting for a few minutes. I order a cup of coffee and I find a nice place to sit at a bar/little table for one person. I have a good view of the TV which as the news on. So I'm fine and enjoying myself while I look at my watch and suddenly in 9:05 becomes 9:15 than 9: 15 becomes 9:30 and nothing is happening, no student has shown up. So I am thinking what the heck is going on here? I call my wife and I said I'm still waiting over at Jim's for student from Saudi Arabia who was interested in staying with us while he's attending the English as a Second Language Program. And my wife says he just called 5 min. ago and he says where is Jeff? The student and his friends are at Jim's and they can't find me.
I get this terrible feeling and I tell my wife I've got to go outside. I go outside I see one student sitting on a curb right next to the restaurant and I go over to him and I said are you the student I'm looking for? They tell me we been waiting out here in the parking lot about 20, 25 minutes for me. We didn't know where you were.
Then I told Abdullah that the custom in America is different in Saudi Arabia. In the United States the custom is when you tell somebody you are going to meet them at a restaurant you come into the restaurant. I was sitting inside rep by the front door waiting for you; I had no idea you were sitting outside in the parking lot it didn't even dawn on me.
I told them it's is very late and I have to get up very early tomorrow so let's get immediately get in my car. I'll drive the three of you, Abdul was there to translate for his friend that didn't speak English as well as Abdul and then their cousin came along. The three of them came to my house. We had a nice little visit and I showed them around. They seem interested in my house. I wanted you see exactly which are getting. I have two little dogs – I have a cat, I have a granddaughter, that is the bedroom you'll be living in and this is the bathroom you use and he seemed very happy with it.
I took them back to Incarnate Word University and I waited to see what would happen because the student was in a hurry to find a place to live he wanted to move in the next day literally. Which would've been hard for us to clean up the room and everything else in one day.
I get a call the next day from Pat, the very nice lady who runs the exchange student program and she says well the student told me he's afraid to live in your house because he scared of your dogs. And even Pat couldn't believe that. She met my dogs she knows they are little tiny loving dogs – they bark at you for 5 min. but once they get to know you, they jump up in your lap. Once you do know them, they will want you to rub their tummy.
She told the student she couldn't believe that he was saying he wouldn't live in a house with dogs because believe it or not, student from Saudi Arabia, close to 100% of all people that live in a house in the United States do have dogs so she said she was basically dropped him from the program of finding a place for him to live. He was making it too difficult so she will find me another student.
On this wonderful yesterday of March 24 the day that was going nicely for me, she called me back and said that this student has reconsidered and she would let me know by Friday evening if he really did want to move in. While this hasn't gotten as perfectly as I would hope because I still haven't heard anything, but maybe I'll hear something tomorrow on Saturday or something. But at least it was encouraging news that I had a chance to get a student in here. They pay for living in your house when they're at the English as Second Language Program and the extra money would really help me because my daughter and my granddaughter and other people spent a lot of my money. I was just thinking maybe I told the story elsewhere but it's a great story and worth reading again.
Finally I got to come home to a quiet house because my wife was still out shopping as she got home a little early. After she got back I helped her unpack all the stuff we needed. I compared what she brought home to my shopping list to see if everything that was on that list she bought. It was much easier for us to shop like we used to do in the good old days when we didn't have Malia living with us.
Then normally I have to watch Malia by myself on Thursday evenings because my wife goes to bowling at Randolph Air Force Base. So that usually takes around four hours. So for four hours I am on my own with Malia which I find stressful and I appreciate when I know I have my wife to help me with Malia, because she's much better with a little girl than I am. So this time my wife heads off to bowling with Malia which is very rare and I am on my own all alone in a nice quiet house with just two dogs and the cat and believe me three critters is enough. A fourth critter of very young female persuasion really is a lot more trouble than two–dogs and one cat.
So I went on my computer like I love to do and didn't have to worry about Malia coming in and throwing papers everywhere and grabbing stuff. She likes to glide to the sunroom and throw all my books on the floor and grabbed markers and write and all sorts of little things that destroy one's house. I couldn't concentrate on what I'm doing because like I tell you I suffer from Asperger’s Syndrome. People with Asperger's Syndrome are not exactly social butterflies and every now and then I feel much more comfortable when I'm by myself and just with the computer and not dealing with people.
So I did all my computer stuff and then I remembered in the mail I got my movie from Netflix and I checked it out it was: Star Trek Five: The Final Frontier. I've seen many Star Trek movies and I like them very much and this is the one with the the original cast: William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy, James Doohan (Scotty), Deforest Kelly, all the people that I've grown up with.
I first got to see Star Trek when I was in the Army in 1970 and 71. I would go downstairs to the Rec Room and watch the show. I really liked Star Trek and became a big fan. I had never seen it before when it originally came out in ‘65-66 timeframe. I'd seen earlier Star Trek movies and I liked them very much so I looked forward to this one.
I started watching Star Trek Five and I quickly figured out this is one I'd never seen before so that was good; I'll see if I'd like it or not. It turned out to be one of the best movies I have ever seen. It was incredibly good and I would highly recommend it. Was so good I think I will buy a copy of it. And getting to watch it in peace and quiet not having to get interrupted every 2 minutes by my little granddaughter was just the perfect experience for me, I get to enjoy the movie in a quiet house – it was Shangri-La.
Then at 8:30 my Alma Mater as you read elsewhere in this book, the University of Arizona was playing Duke in the NCAA basketball tournament. Since Duke is a perennial basketball power and their coach had just won his 900th basketball game leaving him two wins behind the all-time record held by Bobby Knight, I didn't have a real favorable attitude that Arizona was going to beat Duke. So the game starts at 8:30 p.m. and I start watching.
Arizona does good right out of the out of the gate as they say. In the opening couple minutes they built up a nice lead but by the end of the half Duke had asserted itself and Duke wound up leading Arizona at the half I believe it was 52 to 46. And Arizona had this wonderful guard, I am trying to think of his name, Derrick Williams, I believe is his name, who made this incredible three-point shot right at the buzzer from maybe 5 feet behind the three-point line with this Duke defender right in his face and cut the Duke lead from nine points to six points so I thought well that could be a good omen and hopefully that would inspire Arizona to play a better second half.
Not only did Arizona play a good second half, they played one of the most incredible second half I have ever seen. They literally ran Duke off the court and outscored Duke 55 to 33 in the second half or 22 points more than Duke. Duke actually started looking like they were circling the wagons and they couldn't do anything right and Arizona was getting all these fast breaks, getting all these layups when they wanted to; they were hitting the three-point shots; it was like there was nothing Duke could do.
Their coach Mike K called timeouts and tried everything but nothing worked so by the end of the game Arizona won by on 11 or 12 points, so it was just the perfect end to an evening. And here is now around 11 o'clock at night and my wife and Malia yet are still not home.
Our daughter Jinty had called and said I'm just getting ready to leave for Houston, would it be all right if we bring Malia by her apartment around one in the morning. And I said yeah that's fine. You just call and wake your mama when you get home from work. You will take care of Malia and we really appreciate having a day off so the whole entire day of Thursday, March 24 was one of the better days in my life. I mean I wouldn't mind winning the lottery or something that would make it a stupendous day but I'll settle out of court for what I got on Thursday, March 24.