For our generation, when we look back on veterans, the men and women that served in Vietnam, Korea and World War II are what we think of…nothing against Gulf War Veterans, but it is the time period that I served in both the Army and the Navy Reserves…and I don’t think of myself as a veteran…maybe when I am older.

The image of old men in VFW hats making their way down streets in small town America immediately pops into my head when Veterans Day is mention and rolls around every year.

This day was originally set aside in 1919 to celebrate the ending of World War I, which officially ended on the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month.

I’d like to take this time to thank a group of veterans that has long been forgotten about…those that fought the American War of Independence.

Wars were fought differently then…and for different reasons.

In 1775 a group of colonists rejected to premise that they could be governed without representation and fought to end the tyranny and allegance to a “foreign” government.  They fought and, tens of thousands died for our freedom and the creation of the country we live in today.

As a nation, we have struggled with the changing times and have been slow to correct some mistakes we have made in the 200+ years of existence, but we have done a fairly good job and I can’t think of a better country to call home. 

War is something that each generation has had to endure.  

During that Revoutionary period, one man had to look in the eyes of another before he pulled the trigger.   Today technology has changed the way this happens and maybe a bit of the humanity behind the decisions that are made.

Today, a person can sit in a building in Washington, control a drone that can drop an explosive and end the lives of countless people without looking in their eyes.

This is not to disparage todays soldier, sailor or airmen…today is just different.

I think we all long for the day that wars will not have to fought and the need for soldiers will not exist, but surely not a the cost of anyone having to live under the tyranny of a government that doesn’t represent the people.

We all know that day will not exist.

On this day, we honor those that have died, have served and survived and even those serving today.

I am proud to be a part of that middle group and even more proud of the freedom that each and every soldier, sailor and airman has fought to support, defend and even establish this great nation.

Thank you.

Tomorrow morning I will drop my wife and youngest son off at the airport.  She is off to assist her mother after a very serious health issue she will be recovering from for at least a week.

This leaves me at home with the two oldest children…right in the middle of starting a new job.

We have been able to draw on some very friendly fellow homeschoolers to come and assist when I need to be away from home for work and that is really an added bonus of having some support in town…there  is no family around.

This wasn’t going to be possible with a twenty month old child in the house, so my wife will be taking him for the second time in about a year to Arkansas.   The last time was only four days.  

It is going to be for eight days this time.

The homeschool stuff is already planned out, but I have a “Get out of Jail Free” card that allows me to get dome whatever I can instead of the mountain she has laid out for us to complete…but I will do what I can.

My work is still at a point where I don’t report to anyone…I am kind of out on my own.   A part of what I will do is prepare a brief over each weekend of what I did the week before and what I have going on for the next week…along with my short and long-term plans for the areas.

Hopefully, I can get my hands on some of our consumption data and start crunching some numbers, research some environmental grants and possible tax credits…stuff that requires little human interaction.   I can also put together much of my resident and staff educational programs to get ready to go before the Christmas break.

Running will have to be stopped completely.

I went to the grocery store today and did some meal planning, but I am surely going to haev to come up with some stuff to do outside of the house or the kids will get stir crazy.  There is a minor league hockey game tomorrow night…and I know the kids would love it…but the thought of having to take my daughter to the bathroom might stop that one from happening.

She has her own bathroom issues after the Friendly’s Incident of 2008.

This ought to be a bumpy ride!

I think that it is going to be best for me not to write about work directly on these pages, but this is sure going to be a challenge.

Complaining would be the easy thing to accomplish, but the challenge is going to be changing the atmosphere of failure that the other side of the house has grown accustomed to feeding every day.

The frustration (and the realization) at the situation was immediately evident at the lack of cooperation I received from the simplest of tasks.  Putting off to tomorrow, what could actually be finished today, is a contagious way of thinking…and acting.

A question that could be easily researched and answered in three minutes is passed off to someone, then to someone else…only to have it not answered at all by 80 % of the people at the bottom of the rope.

It was amazing to watch the whole process unfold over one simple item.

No one will answer a question directly…I guess to avoid being cornered  on the accuracy of the answer given.    The question gets passed to the lowest possible level…until it reaches the person who cannot pass it down to anyone else.

Wow.

There is a poison here…and a whole new problem to fix.

This might be the biggest one yet.

 

Despite being rather busy this week, these two sport stories caught my eye.   It was funny to hear how the two were treated a little differently.  Most of the press and analysts did say that both were wrong, but that the football player was just doing what was done in every football pile.

Take a look for yourself.

Here is some footage from a women’s college soccer game…

And here is another from a Florida college football game…

Obviously, neither of them are good, but I am not sure that just “being a part of the game” is a good enough excuse for for me.   The football player was initially suspended for a half by the team, but HE voluntarily said he would sit out an entire game.   The soccer player was immediately suspended by the college for a yet to be determined period of time.

This doesn’t mean all sports are bad, but that some of the individuals that play these sports can be bad.

Maybe, in a period where it is very easy to lump all people from certain groups together regardless of race, political party, ideology, race and religion, it might be a good idea to realize that there are GOOD and BAD people everywhere.

It wouldn’t be wise to judge an entire group of people on the actions of a select few.

A recent (like now) event after a morning run and a trip to the gym made my brain head in this direction after a healthy from a friend and the author of Laments and Observations…

So, I bring you, sung to the tune of  “Free Fallin’” by Tom Petty…

VERSE 1

It’s a weird day, thinkin’ bout baseball

Cause I left my boxers in the living room

Gotta be sure not to get excited

And to wipe well in case I gotta poo

VERSE 2

It’s a weird feelin’ rubbin’ on my inseam

There’s a callus formin’ on my ball

It really hurt when it got stuck in my zipper

Almost as much as gettin’ it back out

And I’m free…free ballin’

Yeah I’m free…free ballin’

VERSE 3

There’s a stain where I accidently dribbled

Spilled a water to cover up the mess

Everyone is staring for all the wrong reasons

But it kinda feels nice when I shake my leg

CHORUS

And I’m free…free ballin’

Yeah I’m free…free ballin’

Free ballin’, now

I’m a, free ballin’, now

I’m a Free ballin’, now

I’m a, free ballin’, now

I’m a free ballin’

VERSE 4

I got arrested for walkin’ near a bus stop

They thought I was lookin’ for a date

Gonna free ball for the next six months

Cuttin’ grass with the weekend crew…

And I’m free…free ballin’

Yeah I’m free…free ballin’

This is the program that I have written for me to run.   I am proposing that the my job will be to put this program in place.   The outline formatting got messed up in the “copy and paste” from Word to here… the “A-B-Cs” got changed to “1-2-3s” and some 1-2-3s got added…where they weren’t even supposed to be.   Regardless…no time for fixing WordPress/Word formatting issues for the blog…I have real work to do.

1. I. SHORT TERM
   1. Develop immediate smart practices to lower utility usage by maintenance staff through Regional Maintenance Directors
      1. i.      HVAC maintenance schedule
      2. ii.      Water heater settings
      3. iii.      Reduce utility usage during Turn, Carve Out and Down status
      4. iv.      Smarter office lighting and utility consumption
   2. Organize, track and ensure completion of current and future service tickets pending Utility provider action
      1. i.      Street lighting under utility provider control
      2. ii.      Water leaks
      3. iii.      Drainage issues
      4. iv.      Sewer system
   3. Establish unit and building specific footprint styles of every community (size, style, etc.) for long term analysis
   4. Obtain steady flow of unit read data for immediate excess usage and possible leak or hazard
   5. Manage all utility contracts (preventative maintenance and emergency)
   6. Begin a Company staff utility education program
   7. Research Government/Utility Provider assistance for Multi-family green programs and possible tax credits
   8. Provide a single point of contact for all Company/Public Works/Utility Provider issues for project outages
   9. Investigate and report Billing discrepancies
      1. i.      Estimated billing neighborhoods
      2. ii.      Possible infrastructure billed to company using agreed to Points of Demarcation
   10. Manage metering maintenance contractors with each individual districts
   11. Establish a group of core utility contractors that will be placed on the vendor list with the ability to provide emergency 24 hour service to restore utilities.

1. II. MID-TERM
   1. Gather and organize utility system data from multiple sources per house and building style for Long Term analysis
      1. i.      Electrical distribution
      2. ii.      Water supply
      3. iii.      Sanitary sewer
      4. iv.      Natural Gas
   2. Establish defined Point of Demarcation for each utility at each neighborhood for Company review
   3. Begin a resident education program on utility usage
   4. Research relationships with established and new vendors for more efficient products
   5. Run pilot projects on specific units and buildings for utility usage data for comparison to like units and buildings
      1. i.      Lighting
      2. ii.      HVAC
      3. iii.      Water heater replacements and insulating blankets
      4. iv.      Building Insulation
      5. v.      Ventilation
   6. Apply for assistance/tax credits  with government programs for Company
   7. Establish a program for communication contractors (Cox, Comcast, Verizon and satellite installers) working in Company communities to ensure compliance with Company policies and keep common areas free of above ground communication cabling
   8. Educate local Company district staff on specific Point of Demarcation
   9. Install a utility marking program for Company owned utilities
2. III. LONG-TERM
   1. Propose specific small, medium and large scale projects with specific immediate investment compared  with  long term cost benefit analysis calculated for each home, building and community
   2. Track utility usage by District (and community) and institute a program to reward  Districts with the largest utility usage savings by percentage each quarter for both Company employees and residents
   3. Establish a resident utility usage tracking program regardless of feasibility of “billing program” to assist in actual resident participation
   4. Help develop, propose and track all Utility provider infrastructure upgrades
   5. Develop, write scopes of work for contracts and manage all utility work in region
   6. Research possibility of separation from Government owned utilities
   7. Obtain, maintain and track all company, Government and specific utility provider data in a central location
   8. Incorporate utility savings into all Company office upgrades with timers and motion sensors in individual offices and restrooms along with on-demand water heaters in office buildings instead of wasteful large capacity water tanks.
   9. Provide data for future developments using data obtained during research and implementation  of Regional utility saving programs
   10. Provide a complete utility program that can be plugged into any Company community regardless of size and geographical location

Leaving loose ends is not something I like to do, but as a four and a half year job come to an end there are always a few things left in a drawer that you know that you should get done.

For me, it is a set of reports that no one has looked at in four years.

I had them completed for 36 of the 50 months that we have been in operation and no one has even asked about them…not even once.

For that reason, I may have gotten a little relaxed in getting them completed.

Week by week, they have been piling up…and I haven’t been taking care of them like I should have…

2520 pages…

…and I was 800 pages short.

That monster in my drawer was the first thing I thought about when the new position was offered to me last week.   There is a 98% chance that no one will EVER ask about them, but I have spent the last 72 hours straight completing them…with minimal sleep.

And…now that it is done…and as my body lies lifeless on the couch trying to stay awake for tonight’s baseball game, I am glad to have that behind me.

Next on my list is to create the program that will define my next job.   I would like to get it done by tomorrow so I can hit the ground running.

Except…I still don’t know who my boss it going to be.

I can’t believe I accepted a job that has no description on a project that doesn’t exist.   The only direction I have is to cut utility costs and keep the utilities in working condition.

Seems easy enough.

I don’t generally do a lot of planning when it comes to blog posts, but today’s was set to be another in the series of  “Five Thoughts” since for some reason “funny” came back to me this morning.

“Funny” got sucked out of me at 11 am when an email from my boss requesting my presence at a meeting at 1pm came through on my Blackberry.

The meeting was going to be with someone else in the Property Management side of the house…and it was going to be about something that we wouldn’t meet about.   I would just take care of it without a meeting.

This meant something was about to happen.

Work has been getting lighter and lighter for the past year and three people are already gone and January was going to be another point when someone was going to have to go…unless something else came up.

Well…

A new position has been created for me.   A job that never existed before…with this company.

I am going to be charged with saving money for the company.

This seems simple, huh?

One of my construction projects involved installing meters on approximately 9,000 homes and buildings in this portfolio.   Now that it is finished, I am going to collect the data, track usage and find ways to cut utility costs.

Essentially, I am going to reduce the companies utility costs via usage.

I will also be maintaining and repairing these same utility systems along with working with the utility providers and the government to be able to provide tax credits for upgrading of our homes to meet a more “green” requirement.  I will be providing a cost analysis for projects and the impact it will have on our utility usage (and cost.)

A part of this position is to have a single point of attack for all of these things.

Training both maintenance staff and residents on conservation is important…along with installing Energy-Star compliant appliances, heating and cooling systems, lights, toilets and just about everything else under the sun.

This is an incredible position.   And something I have almost no experience with other than my specific knowledge of these homes and the industry standards that are in place.

My ultimate task will be simple.  Save more money than it costs to have me doing the job.

Our company will be able to have me in a very public role, which will provide them with good PR, save money on utility usage and create less of an impact on the community utility systems.

It should be a win/win for everyone.

I have more questions than answers about this position, but I would have been upset if someone other than myself would have had it given to them.

My days will be spent around the same houses that I have been dealing with since 1994, but just in a different capacity…my time will be distributed differently and there will be a bit more travel.

The troubling part of this change is that I am going to be the guy that talks about energy usage , carbon footprints and probably annoy most of these managers when they see me coming.

Kind of like this guy…

If I sound like Al Gore…please SHOOT ME!!!!!

I finally caved in…

After years and years of running by myself, I have actually joined a local running group.

I have had my GPS watch (Garmin ForeRunner405) for a little over a year…

…and according to my calculations, I have run far enough to go from Virginia Beach, VA to Lexington, KY.   That is only about 1.5 miles a day, and that doesn’t seem like much to me…but running to Kentucky sounds more impressive.

So let’s go with the more impressive statistic.

All of that running…except for two 1/2 Marathons and a full Marathon, have been running alone…and now I am going to mix it up a bit.

I met last night with a group of people running the hills at a local landmark.  Hill running must be good for you, because I didn’t enjoy it.

Comparing running hills to eating brussel spouts would accurate.  

Just to add insult to injury, 12 hours later, I showed up at another event to run a fast paced five miles…with a 1/2 mile warm up and cool down.

The interesting portion of this was meeting new people…with no introduction.

There were eight individuals at my first gathering.  

The co-ordinator of the event introduced himself and they went around the circle.

One by one, each person bragged described their training and recent race results.  

I was seventh to go, and since the whole thing resembled some kind of sick “Runners Anonymous” meeting in a parking lot…

I said, “Hi.  My name is Steve Burgess and I am a runner.  I haven’t been running in 27 hours.”

(silence)

Joking about runners TO runners doesn’t go over well.

I have been putting off going up to the attic.

For those of you new around here…there have been  many posts about my trips up and down the attic.

October 2007

November 2007

October 2008

I swear that this attic is going to be the death of me.

For the past two weeks, she has been trying to get me to go up there to get the bin of Halloween costumes.  It is a big orange bin that has “HALLOWEEN” written on the top of it.

But this year, she added, “I also need you to get down the target bag of extra costume I bought on clearance at Target after Halloween.”

Me:   You didn’t give me another bag of stuff.

Wife:  Yes I did.

Me:  If you did.  I would have put it in the bin.

Wife:  Well.   It has to be up there.

Me:   Remember the Batman costume from 2007.   You must have put it somewhere else…but I will look.

This morning before work, I drag out the extension ladder (the family that converted this garage didn’t make the opening large enough for pull down stairs and put it in a location that pull down stairs wouldn’t even work if it did fit) and get the bin.

Leaving the ladder up, I make sure my wife goes through it looking for the costumes.  I go back up to look for a bag from Target.

Wife:  There aren’t in here, they are up in the attic.

Me:   There are three bags up here.   One bag of Rescue Heroes figures, one bag of Rescue Heroes vehicles and one bag of Christmas lights.

(I put the Christmas lights in one of the Christmas bins to avoid this same issue after Thanksgiving.)

Wife:  Well they have to be up there.

Me:   They are not.

Wife:  Where did you put them.

Me:  If you gave them to me, I would have put them in the Halloween bin to keep this exact same situation from happening.  The last time we did this, you found the costumes in the hall stand.

Wife:  I wouldn’t put them in the hall stand.

Me:  That is what you said in 2007.  Just check the hall stand, I am coming down.

Wife:   They won’t be there.   I’ll look in the kids’ closets.

I come down and go for the hall stand.

Wife:  You are wasting your time.

Me:   Alright.  I am going work.

(I take down the ladder and put it back in the shed.)

At 1pm, I get this message from my wife.

Wife:   Good News.   Found the costumes.

Me:   Cool.  You didn’t have to tear the closets apart to find them, did you?

Wife:  Nope.  They were downstairs.

I know what “downstairs” means…

It means the hall stand.   But I didn’t even want to get to an “I told you so…” moment.  So I left it there…

Me:  Cool.

I’ll find out from my oldest son if they were in there.

This happens every year.

We will go through this thing all over again on November 27th…when I drag the ladder out and bring down the Christmas decorations.   They are going to be some new decorations she purchased on clearance after Christmas that she “gave me” to stick in the attic…but never actually did.

But, I’ll be up there looking for it anyway…and maybe climb on the roof.