New Year

2011 is going to be a big year

I saw this photo online today and it reminded me of the first time I went to NYC. I was 18 and the World Trade Center still stood. New York felt like a real live Gotham City. I didn't know if I was inside or outside, above or below ground. My first experience in the City was coming out of the Holland tunnel in the pouring rain. It was dark and all I could see was steam rising off the streets. I love visiting New York City. Maybe I'll try living there.

Swimmer

Until a year ago I had lived by the ocean for my entire life. When I say near the ocean I mean within two miles of the ocean. I miss it.

I didn't go swimming all the time but I liked seeing the water and the smell of the salt air. This photo is of the Gulf of Mexico. September and October are the best months for swimming down in Florida. The water is still warm enough to be enjoyable but the temperatures aren't so extreme that you can't enjoy the beach outside of the water.

Driver.

I have what I consider to be a brand new car. Its a 2009 Honda Fit. When I got it there were 4 miles on it. The Fit was my first new car and the nicest thing I had ever purchased. One day it will be passed by a home but for right now its the most money I have ever committed to one thing.

Last week I was sitting at a stop light when I was rear-ended. Some teenager who cannot even tell me what happened hit the car behind me who then hit me. So far the insurance is taking car of everything and we have a rental car for the low price of two dollars a day (damn taxes). But I have no idea when the car is going to be finished and I really hope that everything is fixed to my liking. The insurance company is guaranteeing the work of the shop we took it too because its one of their authorized locations. So, if it is not fixed to my satisfaction I can take it back to that shop for the life of the car. But, that simple fact that should make me feel better doesn't. I simply wish that it hadn't happened or that the guy who caused the wreck had a believable excuse for why it happened. I'd be willing to bet that he was screwing around with his phone. But, I'll never really know.

Roof Riding.

Living with Gabe immediately after high school was an extremely drunken time in my life. I had no job and nothing to do except hangout at the skatepark or tattoo shop. I would hustle money in various ways. Mostly giving the squids rides to the base from the tattoo shop, making needles or selling whatever I had at the time. Considering my priorities at the time I am lucky not to have been involved in anything illicit.

I was having a wake-up beer before going to job interviews and completely wasting those peoples time. I don't think I would have taken a job if they asked me, but the way I behaved nobody was going to ask me. I had no direction and no one to steer me in any specific direction. I was living in the moment. Which means sitting on the porch until drinking until sunrise and then trying to scrape together enough gas money to get across town.

One of these nights, while almost through our first case of Yuengling, me, Gabe, and Billie decided to go to the mecca of Southern late night cuisine: Waffle House. If there is a Waffle House in the town you currently live you are truly blessed. Might I suggest scattered, smothered, covered, topped and capped.

Anyway, Gabe got behind the wheel, he was the that special kind of drunk when you are a better driver. Billie got in the front passenger seat, she's a girl and they always seem to get that privilege. While I decided that I would ride the 8-10 blocks on the roof of Gabe's early 90's Corolla. I was holding on to the sides where the windows would have been and facing the oncoming traffic like a spear flying in an ancient battle. The ride went off without a hitch. I don't even remember being scared.

However, when we pulled into the parking lot, with me still on the roof of course, there were two police cars parked next to each other. Immediately, we all thought that we were busted and were going to jail. But, the cops didn't even seem to notice us go by. They were embroiled in an intense conversation about whatever the hell cops talk about and they wouldn't have noticed if I was on fire riding on the roof of the car.

Lump Sums

My sister in-law is going through some bullshit with her baby's daddy. Right now I really feel bad for my mother in-law. She is probably suffering the most right now because of the situation. I never thought I would find myself feeling bad for my mother in-law, but no one deserves this situation dropped on their front door.

Found Money.

Most people whether they want to admit it or not have experience working in a retail store of some kind. I personally have over eight years of experience working in these various torture chambers of customer satisfaction. This is the story of the day I came into direct contact with more money than I would make in an entire year in one man's wallet.

I worked for Sam's Club around the turn of the millennium. Sam's is one of those pay to shop, membership required, big box stores where you can only buy 100 packs of paper towels and #10 cans of beans. For those of you not aquatinted with the #10 can, its the one that you imagine a cook on a navy vessel emptying into a huge vat of indescribable mush. I was almost twenty years old and going to college severely part-time and trying to figure out what I should do with my life so a job where I didn't have to try all that hard worked perfectly for me.

This day was the same as all the other I had worked previously until I walked outside for my lunch break. I didn't usually take my lunch outside of the store but it was a particularly beautiful day. Autumn in Northern Florida is a beautiful time. The rest of the year you'll die of heat stroke between your car and the stores front door. The store should have employed EMT's around the clock to keep the older customers from dying on their way inside.

While I was walking over to my car I noticed a wallet someone had left inside a cart. This wasn't a rarity at all people left wallets, purses and checkbooks all the time. So I picked up the wallet with the intention of putting it in the lost and found on my way back in from lunch. From this point forward I had the longest lunch break of my retail career.

I tossed the wallet carelessly onto my passenger seat and began eating my sandwich. After a few minutes of listening to "Car Talk" I noticed the wallet lying open on my passenger seat and I could see a very large collection of green. I immediately picked up the wallet and looked inside. There was almost $10,000 cash in this wallet. My thoughts went instantly to my last W-2 which had read "gross income: $8,324." This guy was carrying around more money that I made in a year. All one hundred dollar bills and all crisp and new. To say I was tempted to keep the money would be a gross understatement. I knew that no one saw me pick up this wallet and I new that no one would ever know that I had taken this money. I sat in the car staring at the money constantly thinking that I should keep it. The minutes dragged on and I assured myself that I would use the money for school or some other expense that was for the greater good. Like one day I'll cure cancer and taking that money will be forgiven.

I never looked at the ID. When it was time for me to return to work I simply went into our mangers office and turned in the wallet. Later, I heard that the man was a cardiologist down in our little beach side community on vacation and he had called the store several times to make sure that his money was safe and he would be back directly to pick it up. I never met the man. Not that I wanted a reward, but I think I would want to shake the hand of the person who turned in my $10,000 dollars instead of using it to fund his trip to medical school where he would have cured cancer. Later still, I had to suffer the embarrassment of being featured in the quarterly news magazine that the company put out so now not only did all the people who worked in my store know what a sap I was but everyone company wide knew.

To this day I don't know if I made the right decision. But, I'm not a thief. In a world of gray morals I guess this was my stand. Who knows what will happen next time I find $10,000 laying on the street.