June 16 - Massachusetts

Integrity: Doing It Right

Yesterday's blog was a bit of a "downer", and I do not want to leave it over the weekend without posting something a lot more uplifting for my followers!

I mention my brother frequently in my posts; he does quite a bit for me. The 'above & beyond' sort of thing. I do not mention my sister nearly enough.

As posted a few months back, our relationship shifted over the winter. We have always been close and had a good relationship, but there was something about her support and "You go girl!" over the winter that changed things a bit. Spending weekends talking, or her doing puzzles as I read. It brought us closer together. She is one of my strongest supporters!

As I am hers. Several years ago my sister took on the daunting task to get her Master's Degree in Accounting. It was rough, to put it mildly! She took time off from work to concentrate on her studies full-time. And her who-knows-where it came from love of numbers :)

We are almost polar opposites. She loves and embraces numbers and all they entail. I do not have an accounting bone in my body. I love and embrace painting and writing. She does not have an artistic bone in her body. That is OK; we make up for each other :)

We mesh. When she needed PowerPoint presentations for her exams, we collaborated. She gave me the info, and I made it look really good. I also garnered more information about accounting & numbers than I thought possible during the process!

I was so very proud watching her the day she graduated with her Master's! It was a goal she had wanted her whole life, and she achieved it!! With very high grades, of course!

I still do not know where the love for numbers came from, but she totally embraces it. No need to mention she is really, really good at it :)

I must put a huge shout-out for her here.

In a previous job she was hired as an assistant to the head accountant. Long story short, that person took a lot of time off. My sister ended up having to run payroll one day, and discovered numerous discrepancies in the accounting. Previous person had shorted the staff of bonuses several years in a row, keeping the money for themself. Upon deeper investigation, my sister also discovered the person had given themself unauthorized raises and paid time off. My sister documented all of it and brought it to Management's attention immediately.

The previous accountant is now facing jail time as well as having to pay back what they embezzled.

My sister did that! Now THAT is integrity; living and doing things the right way. Faith in humanity :)

I am so, so proud of her. You go sis!!

June 15 - Massachusetts

Integrity: Lacking

Apologies in advance, no pix tonight. I have been pretty busy unpacking and cleaning off books this week. My brother put my bookshelves together for me last weekend, and I am very quickly chipping away at "the wall of books". Of course they all need to be cleaned, but it is nice to see them going in place!

Originally my post was going to be about something else, but I found out some extremely disturbing information that changed that. I am writing about integrity and doing the right thing.

The night of the fire. As my followers recall I woke from a short nap to discover thick black plumes of smoke coming up through the living room floor. I yelled to my neighbors, etc. My neighbor across the hall (with whom I am close) took her dog and ran downstairs to notify the first-floor family of the fire while her significant other tried to help quell the fire.

I found out recently, much after the fact, THE 1st FLOOR NEIGHBORS KNEW THE BUILDING WAS ON FIRE. They did not bother to alarm any of the other tenants, knowing we were all home and had pets. They had already called someone to pick up their kids and had loaded all their pets into the car. They were taking out their most prized possessions.

Without. Telling. Anyone. The. Building. Was. On. Fire.

They did not even call "911". All I can think is, how evil. There is no other word for it. EVIL. Knowing the building is on fire, you are the people responsible for it and not bother to raise the alarm to the neighbors in the building? How do you NOT do the right thing??

I do not know how they can sleep at night knowing what they failed to do. They are not fresh out of school; both of them are in their late 30s.

I am so disgusted by their lack of integrity. I wish I could bleach this out of my brain.

As soon as I realized what was happening I opened both apartment doors & screamed for my neighbors across and upstairs to get out. Yes - one of my worst nightmares is my cats getting outside. But a fire & smoke? I figured my kitties would have a better chance of surviving if they did escape.

I am trying to remain calm about this. Bad things happen when I am angry, and knowing this makes me angrier than I have ever been in my life.

Integrity: Being honest and having strong moral and ethical principles. Neither of these two people possess it.

I am glad my life is filled with people of integrity - the one anomaly gone. Perhaps we take it for granted, or having been brought up that way we miss the signs of those who are not. I tend to believe in the inherent goodness of things (with a healthy dose of trepidation).

I will not allow this to overshadow my newfound happiness in life here in my yellow house!

Although I will apologize for the next statement, I mean it with feeling.

Karma's a bitch, guys.

June 6 - Massachusetts

Small Appliances

It is a running joke in my family, and also when I was working, that small electrical appliances and I do not co-exist well. My siblings chalk it up to excess electricity I generate. I am not thoroughly convinced that is scientifically possible.

Whatever it is, I do seem to burn through small appliances faster than socks. Moreso than most people on the planet. They explode, fry, fizzle, or simply stop working. I could not even begin to count the number of coffee makers I have had to replace over the years. I gave up on trying to keep an electric can opener years ago! I do not own a toaster oven for the same reason. Toasters are iffy as well.

Can opener envy!

 Microwave ovens especially do not get along well with me. Three have quit on me in the past 4 1/2 years (nice ones). Not a good track record! You do not want to hear the story about the one that fried on me once at my place of work. It was not pretty, to put it mildly.

It is not for lack of purchasing top-rated brands. Black & Decker, Frigidaire, GE, LG, etc. It does not seem to matter.

Small kitchen appliances also suffer in my possession. Blenders, mixers - you name it. I have toasted at least several dozen various smaller appliances. Not my fault! I am fastidious about reading the User Manuals, and have never once attempted to use an appliance for anything other than its intended purpose.

Vacuum cleaners. They hate me! So many vacuum cleaners have fizzled out on me, and it is not for lack of care. I clean them and ensure the rollers are free. Still - 5 have died on me in the past 3 1/2 years. No, not a good track record. I was a little worried about The Hoover when I was in Maine this past Winter. Yeah that thing weighed a ton, and it took me awhile to vacuum, but I did worry in the back of my mind about it fizzling out while I was there! Perhaps it was more stubborn than most :) Thankfully!!

I have had my most recent coffee pot about 10 months now, and am keeping my fingers crossed. It is a most awesome coffee maker my brother gave me. My previous one (a replacement for one that simply quit halfway through brewing a pot) exploded all over my kitchen less than a week after purchase. Sigh.

When I was working it was computer parts that fried. Keyboards, interior boards, etc. Mostly computer mice. I arrived at work one day to discover a co-worker had adorned an entire wall of my office with my dead computer mice. The IT guy had saved them for some reason, and they found it humorous I had burned through so many.

Yes there were a lot, but I still think they were all defective :)

Fortunately the bad electric ju-ju does not extend to large appliances! Whatever it is with the small appliances is aggravating and expensive enough.

Perhaps it is possible for one to have an abundance of "electric" current that will fry small appliances and such. I am not 100% convinced, but given my track record I suppose I cannot entirely dismiss that! That - and given the fact I have perfectly good socks that pre-date all of the above appliances...