The Workweek is Finished, But Not the Laundry

Come on. Everyone who has done the laundry knows that you empty your basket, finish the day, and begin to refill it. I suppose if you did the laundry naked, you could postpone the refill by 24 hrs.

I had just begun to get used to having grandchildren around a bunch and they get their A/C fixed and stop coming around. That's disappointing. I'll probably see them this weekend, though.

Crazy busy at work right now. I'd rather be crazy busy working than crazy busy looking for work. And the pay is better that way, too.

Anything planned for the weekend? I cannot think of anything special for us, but that does not mean nothing is planned. It could just mean that these things are planned without my involvement and I am just tossed to and fro, like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed. No, I am not upset. I'll just be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath.

OK, the craziness I hear in the background is now waiting at my cubicle walls. I'll jump in now.

Thanks for Noticing

Sorry for my absence yesterday. I can tell from the overload of comments and calls and emails that you all noticed I did not post a new Clarity of Vision yesterday. Same outpouring of concern from work, too. However, I am back today and so is CoV.
I have tried on all black before, but it feels weird. So I decided to wear all black except for white shoes and belt. Luckily, it was before Labor Day, so the fashion police let it slide.

Do they even sell white belts anymore?

I wore a black suit with a black shirt and white tie once, but when my coat was buttoned, you could still see the bottom of the tie, so I looked like a walking exclamation point. And in Jr High, I wore all white once, but everyone said I looked like a milkman. Since then, I never go monochromatic. I did have mononucleosis once, too, but that is another post.

Why was I out, you may ask? (Then again, you may not). The doc confirmed it was a virus and not swine flu (he said they peaked in April and are slowing down now) and not strep (he is seeing that on the rise right now). He suggested I wait to fill my prescription for one day and predicted I would not need it. OK, I waited, but then could not sleep last night due to severe coughiness. I may get the prescription filled tonight, just in case.

It has been pointed out to me, and it may be scientifically provable, that 4-day workweeks are 23.2% longer-feeling than regular 5-day workweeks. I agree. Although, since I was sick yesterday, it is only 0.03% longer-feeling for me.

The pressure is on, at least for me. I am down to three weeks of CoV in my queue, and I have not written one in almost a week. Maybe I took it to the well once too often? Yes, as I mentioned above, I know each of you is on the edge of their seats worrying that each strip could be the last. You know what? If it is, it is. That may be debatable if we cannot determine what the definition of is is.

A Wiener on Memorial Day

Memorial Day. A day set aside to remember those in the armed services who protect our way of life. Thanks to all who have served.

It is also a day of family gathering and, often, cooking out. Hamburgers, chicken, wieners.
I think it may also be a day when my long-suffering wife thinks back to what might have been if she had married a normal guy.

We had a bit of a scare Saturday night when Dad headed back to the emergency room. You know he is there too much when they say, "Hello, Mr. Walker. Your usual room?" Luckily, he was released after an IV and was able to party yesterday at our cook-out. But Dad, stay away from the pool.

We had the girls an extra night when their A/C went out. It is supposed to be fixed this morning at 11. I hope so. Of course, as it always works out, whatever is broken is not the part that is still under warranty.

Well, back to work. At least it is a nice, 4-day workweek.

Partaaay

It's Memorial Day weekend. Time to get my party on. Well, we are going over to the granddaughter's place on Sunday (I think). Then we'll get down with my folks on Monday. Whew! I bet you are glad you do not have such a hectic non-stop weekend. But speaking of party.


We are going to try and slip a quick trip to Colorado in this summer between Dad's chemo sessions. We headed out for a trip last summer, but had to come back prematurely. Hopefully, this one will work out. If not, there's always next summer.

Alison sent in her job acceptance letter, so it looks like a done deal. Praise the Lord for that.

My college roommate had some additional examples of misunderstood lyrics that he shared in a comment to yesterday's post. Totally inappropriate, but totally funny, so go check them out. The real words are "six string", "pop top" and "hungry." I do remember a Beatles lyrics, "The girl with colitis goes by." You can find your own favorites at kissthisguy.com.

Why Should the Original Words Be the Only Option?

Speaking of adding your own words to songs, Kathie has done that for years. I cannot remember any examples to share, but I'll try to keep my ears open and let you know.

I went to an ex-Motorolans Happy Hour last night and renewed some acquaintances I have not seen in several years. Since I had a new audience, I took along a hardcopy of some of my COVs. I did have questions about how they can follow it going forward. I need to make a decision about how to publicize and maybe publish it. I looked into syndication, but you have to sign away many of your rights and your first-born. Hmm. Maybe I shouldn't decide no too quickly on that last part.

Alison has news. I'll let her add it to her site.

This is the last school day with students for Kathie. I think they have some type of annual field trip on this day. Tomorrow is a work day, and then nothing until mid-July.

Shh. They Can Hear Everything

Well, maybe management cannot hear everything, but God can. He hears when we cry out in pain. He hears when we minister to others. He hears when we use language we should not. He even hears when we think inappropriate thoughts. In spite of all this, He loves us. Our debt for all this has already been paid. Amen.

Alison is working hard on her job search. Continue to pray for her to find the right job and not become discouraged.

Kathie only has two more days of students and three more days at school for this year. She did get a letter, so she will be back at her school again in July.

Dad said he is feeling very well this week. This bodes well for upcoming chemo sessions. Well, I think so. Still, keep praying. You might check his blog for updates. Oh, that's right. There aren't any.

There is a Happy Hour get-together today of ex-Motorolans. I plan to inflict (I mean share) my comic strip on them. Think I will be invited to the next one?

This Post is 90% Funny

I estimate that 90% of the material in today's CoV is 90% accurate. And I am having another dry spell in ideas. I am down to 17 unpublished strips. Come on, brain.

Chillaxing After the Weekend

Yes, this CoV does have some overlapping text. Yes, I meant to do it that way to imply the myriad of words spoken during conference calls that we don't always listen to. Those are supposed to represent headphones on their heads. Yes, it's funny, so stop whining and just read it.
Plenty of activities over the weekend. Some of them are covered in yesterday's post. Take a look. I'll wait.

Back to work now. Yes, me too.

Grad Photos

I decided to share some of the photos from Alison's graduation with her Master's in Elementary Education.This is what she's been working for? Doesn't look like something worth thousands of dollars, does it?
She first shook hands with the Dean of the college and received the diploma folder. I luckily caught the right moment.
Here, I caught Ali getting her official photo taken during the graduation ceremony, which happened on her offstage after shaking hands with the Dean.
As you can see, the ceremony did not keep Bella's attention the whole time.
Kendall wanted to say hi to Aunt Ali.
After finding each other outside of Wells Fargo Arena, we posed for a quick pic before heading home to change.
Kendall chose to sit out the last photo so she could catch a quick drink with Aunt Ali to celebrate the day.
In case we forgot, Ali got a shirt reminding us that she graduated in 2009.
Wait, before we changed, Ali and Bella posed in the backyard.
And so did Ali and her Daddy.
At Red Lobster, Kendall decided that she really liked their cheesy biscuits.
Granddad and Bella, both with their hair all fixed up.
We ended the day at Dave and Buster's playing games and winning tickets. Ali did a wheel spinning game and won 500 tickets.

Congraduations

My title today is a mashup of congratulations and graduation. So congraduations to Alison for finishing her Master's and teaching certification in one year.

Guess what? I finally called Dad about his chemo and he chided me for writing blogs about needing to talk to him but never calling. He said, "Well, those that really cared called or sent me an email and I responded." Oh yeah, now I remember why I hadn't called. (Ha. Take that, Dad!)

So, Alison's graduation ceremony is this afternoon. The thing Wednesday with Obama was just the commencement. And this takes place inside of a closed arena (the same place Kyle and Lyndsay graduated). Then, tonight's activities include Red Lobster for dinner and Dave and Buster's for games.

Please pray that she can find a teaching position.

Maybe this weekend, I can get some photos of the grandgirls up to the blog for your perusal. I said maybe.

The Only Constant is Change

Apollo Group, the parent company of University of Phoenix and Western International University, has decided to change the tool we use to manage projects. So, while we no longer use Clarity at work, my strip will remain Clarity of Vision and will continue to have the high caliber of humorosity that it has always provided. I hope that eases your mind.

I heard that Obama shook each of the 9,000 graduates (or however many were there) hands last night. So, if Ali had attended, she could have shaken the president's hand. That would have been cool. Cool enough to have attended in the heat? I couldn't say. Less than 100 people had to be treated for heat exhaustion yesterday. Some of the water stations ran out of water. I had expected worse, so it sounds like a success.

I need to check on Dad and see how he is feeling. With these changes at work, I forgot to call him yesterday after his IV.

Clara Peller

Clara Peller did the famous Wendy's commercial in 1984. I do not want to hear that you were not born when that was released.

Dad had his second round of chemo yesterday. He goes in for some follow-up treatment today. I hope he is feeling better than he did after the first chemo.

Obama is here tonight. I see Susan S is going. I'll see how she liked the wait and the het tomorrow. His arrival should not affect my drive home today, though, because I do not use any of those roads.

Speaking of Susan, she sent me a note today about funny names working for companies. Remember when I wrote about that a few months ago and mentioned Peter Pan and Pat Nixon working at Motorola in the 1980s? She found a familiar name working at Intel. Willy Wanca. Nice, huh?

Today's CoV is not what I had originally planned. When I got in today, I read my original strip and it was not even remotely funny. So I pulled tomorrow's strip for publishing. Now, what will I do for tomorrow. I hope to correct today's, but we will see. Oh, the suspense.

Sorry this is a bit later than normal. I had to reboot twice because I was getting horrendous response time, and Blogger would not even come up. As you can see, it is available now.

Working Hard or Hardly Working

How dare you assume that I wrote today's Clarity of Vision from experience. It's just a joke, people. Oops. I just blew myself up.

We have fully rejected our chance to hear Obama now. Alison's allocation was returned to ASU, so I couldn't attend if I wanted. The forecast for tomorrow is 102F at 4pm (and our tickets were for 2:30, so we would have been sitting in the sun for over an hour by then), and down to 95F by 7pm when the President speaks. It would have been really cool to hear him, but really hot to wait. Oh well.

Dad goes through his next chemo this morning. We should all pray that it goes well and he does not get too sick. The doc has already scheduled him to come in tomorrow for an anti-nausea treatment, though. Still, nothing is impossible when you put your trust in God (well, that's what the song said).

The drought is over. That's right, I said the drought is over. I have been over a week without ideas for new CoV strips. Today, though, I wrote three new ones. And I think at least one of them is almost funny.

The drought is in full swing. That's right. I said the drought is in full swing. It has been two weeks since we did our aerobic exercise at home. That is not good. And on top of that, Justin is being all blah, blah, blah about running long distances and getting in shape and some kind of a state bake-off. We've got to get back into a groove. Maybe we'll start again tonight.

You may be sorry to note that there is no drought in unclerwalker blogs. And, whether you see this as a threat or an exciting preview, I will tell you that I have CoV strips written up through June 12. So hang on to your hats, pardners, we got a long drive ahead of us.

Mother's Day and More

We spent Mother's Day over at Lyndsay's house yesterday. As always, she worked up a lovely and yet delicious spread that we all too much of. (Photos soon). Then, we dropped in on my folk's to wish Mom a Happy Mommy's Day. Of course, we celebrated Kathie's Mother's Day with a little Star Trek, I did laundry for her, and we watched the Amazing Race finale. Whew! Are you tired yet? Oh but hey, no Mommy's Day sermon or hymns at church yesterday. What's up with that? I thought this was a Baptist church? We even got up early and went to the traditional service for it. OK, fine, we were awake anyway, but still?!

Today, it is back to reality. There are no Mother's Day hymns today, either. Just looming deadlines.

No Jazz, But Jazzed

It turns out that there is only live Jazz at the Gilbert park on certain Thursdays. So, Kyle and family did see some Thursday night, but nothing last night. Still, we had a good time picnicking, feeding the ducks, and playing in the playground area. I took some shots, but I have not loaded them yet.

However, we are jazzed after seeing the new Star Trek flick today. It was excellent. A lot of fun, even given the differences between J.J. Abram's version and the original. Digital effects certainly look better on the big screen than on TVs.

We have a late lunch at the grandgirl's place tomorrow afternoon. Still, we will swing by the folks and wish Mom a Happy Mother's Day first.

I will not be running 5 miles today, nor even 1 mile. It is just too hot already. This is probably due to having a Democratic president. I should have voted a straight Republican ticket, like I usually do (take that, Justin) ;)

Sit Down, You're Rocking the Boat

Not to imply that I ever daydream, but...
On this morning's newscast, the team was talking about fishing somewhere her in the area. That led the weathercaster to remember fishing with his father in 1974, listening to the car radio when "Rock the Boat" by Hues Corporation played. So then the traffic person asked if they remembered "Sit Down, You're Rocking the Boat" from Guys and Dolls. The weather dude started singing it. I think I should have gone into meteorology. He has too much fun.

That led my own easily-influenced brain to remember Korea. What? That's right. When I was there one time, I went over to a community-type theater production of Guys and Dolls. I rode the subway about 20 minutes to get there. Found the theater OK. There were a lot of kids there. While we waited, someone who spoke English asked me if I knew it was only in Korean. I said I knew that, but was familiar with the story and felt I would be able to follow the production. I understood few words, but did follow the story, and they kept the English names. So, they would be speaking unintelligibly (at least to me), then I would here Sky Masterson or another name. It was hilarious. Hey! Why am I telling you this? The song referenced above actually had a repeated word that I understood. It sounds like Ahn-juh, and it is the word for sit down. I thought of it because of the discussion on TV.

I think we are going to a park tonight to play with the girls and listen to live Jazz. I hope it cools down before then.

The Sounds of non-Silence

Let's go ahead with today's Clarity of Vision.
Last night, I woke up not hearing something. That's weird, huh? So, around 2am, I woke up thinking something did not sound right. Of course, in today's world, we can hardly get away from man-made noises. I heard that fan on the A/C. Sometimes, I can hear the pool pump from the bedroom, but it does not kick-off until around 5am. I heard the drip of the water in the humidifier. I heard a helicopter fly overhead, probably carrying a patient to a hospital 3 miles away. So, what woke me? I did not hear our bedroom sound machine running. I think that was it. Crazy that our minds can "hear" a missing noise.

God built us as amazing creatures, all our organs and mind working together as a whole. So, somehow, my mind knew the "normal" nighttime sounds I hear, and last night, it didn't sound right.

Hey, we saw Wolverine last Saturday. It was very good, although not necessarily great. Liev Schreiber was a good bad-guy, though. This weekend, Star Trek.

I did not talk to Dad, but I am sure they would have let us know if something had gone awry. Who created that word? It looks like someone just typed some letters together and then decided to make it mean something.

This is not to imply that being a project manager is like being a robot. We have to be more creative than that. Speaking of work stuff, I am coming to a crossroads of deciding whether I want more money (which means expanding responsibilities and some tasks I do not enjoy as much) or more job satisfaction (which means limiting my opportunity to get that money). Y'all can pray that I make the decision that places me where God wants me and not necessarily what I want. Come on, you've all been in this type of a situation, whether it is a job, where to go to church, who to date. It is sometimes such a challenge to take myself out of the equation, even though I want to. Strike that last sentence. I should say it is always a challenge to do that.

I think Alison has turned in her final paper now. Could she (we) all be finished with the program? Stay tuned and I'll let you know.

I didn't talk to Dad yesterday, but it sounds like he is returning to his jovial self.

No, Justin, I did not run 6.75 miles last night. How about you?

He's Baaack

Oh come on, people. Of course I don't really do that. I rarely make it past 4. Ha ha.

Finally, Dad came home from the hospital yesterday. The infection in his arm is cleared up, and he hopes to resume chemo on Friday. We all hope it happens and he can get back to getting better.

I think Ali finished her last paper yesterday for her Masters. Yeah! No more proofreading.

Craig, you could be right. Maybe if I ever syndicate this, I will replace yesterday's tag line with yours.

A Short Post

This is a short post for more than one reason. One, the comic strip is about short cubes. Two, I don't have time to write too much detail. I will take a moment for you, though.

Dad is still in the hospital. He plans to get out today, but I think they are giving him the chemo treatment before he leaves. Wow. I am glad he is not paying a daily charge for parking his car there. Yeah, as if he's not paying plenty the stay anyway.

Kendall spent the first part of Friday night with us. She was in a great mood and that made it even more fun. Then both girls came by yesterday and we visited for a spell. There's a word you don't hear much anymore.

OK, I've got a bunch of meetings today, with the first starting in 18 minutes at another building. Have a good day.

This Little Piggy Has the Flu

OK, the boss doesn't really have any kind of flu, but I had to pick a generic position so even non-corporate types can relate.

Hmm. Dad is still in the hospital. Staying longer than it takes to read one book is too long. Of course, any length of time in the hospital is too long. I'll leave it to Dad to talk about getting shoved into the MRI machine with a diameter slightly less than the breadth of his shoulders. He should also talk about being identified as an engineer by his clothes.

Kendall is coming over tonight for a while. Kathie is feeling puny, and Alison is going out with some friends, so it may fall to me to entertain her. I think all I have to do is give her some things to destroy or throw and she'll be happy.