Thanksgiving...the day after report

This time of year (At least in the United States) people generally get together with friends and family and cook up more food than they can possibly eat and have enough left overs that people will never eat turkey again for about a year. That is Thanksgiving.
I won't bore you with the origins of Thanksgiving but I will try to remember the meaning of it.
We generally have so many blessings and good things that we tend to not even think about (Unless one of them is gone.) Thanksgiving is a single day out of 365 other days that we spend with our family and share a meal and hopefully remember all those good things.
So I feel like writing this sappy post and sharing with you somethings I am thankful for.

1. My God (and my relationship with him.) I don't know how I would have survived many of the things the last few years without him. He comforts, provides, cares, and shows his love for me even when I don't see it right away.

2. My wife, Bella. She helps complete me, and she is frequently strong when I feel weak and vice versa. She gives me a reason to come home at a decent hour, listens to me whine all the time, and does more than I can fit on this post really...save it for Valentines day.

3. My Friends and Family A few years ago I didn't think I had so many of you, but now when I look at my email and phone list I realize I just was not paying attention. People have been wonderful to us and have helped keep us strong through the trials. A special mention to Rob who will drive through snow to join me for a talk and a beer at 9:30 at night. He reads this but doesn't say much...so say hi to Rob guys.

4. A roof over my head I would have said a warm home, but I am glad my house isn't a burnt pile of cinders. Having a fire, even a little fire, is great for realizing what you have.

5. My work. I complain and joke about it here, but I am grateful for my job and my other work. It gives me a bit more meaning and purpose throughout my day, and yes getting paid is good as well.

I could make this list more complete or longer, but this is a post not a novel. Thanks for all these things and thanks for you for reading Return of the Janus.

Scary stuff to think about....

I missed the Halloween boat by about a month due to the other stuff going on, and now it is approaching Thanksgiving. So in true Janus fashion I am going to talk about something completely irrelevant today.
This list could be much longer but I am just going to give you a top 5 things that scares me list. We can't do 10, the writer's strike won't allow it.
1. For every bad tv show or movies out there, at least 10 other ideas were considered and rejected. I don't know if you have been watching a lot of TV, but that scares me to death. Knowing I am watching "The best"makes me really appreciate reading much more. This isn't just ABC and CBS either, people reject shows for Court TV, Bravo, and Animal Planet. Got goosebumps yet?

2. Those creepy geese. I look out my window or drive by a giant field and I just see tons of geese sitting around looking like they are planning something. What if they don't go south, what if they decide to invade instead? You can't even shoot them because of the law against harming migrating birds...that means we are defenseless!

3. We still have people that think reality TV and professional wrestling is real. This week on Hulk Simmons, the Hulkster's son says funny things about his dad and his daughter wants to date someone and hilarity ensues as Hulk and his entire camera crew dress up as giant gorillas and spies on them at their date at the zoo. Get this, Hulk gets caught! I can't believe I just said "Hilarity ensues", blame Bramlett for that.

4. People still watch home videos shows and laugh at spitting up babies and guys that get hit in the crotch with tools. Perhaps if they used the tools a few years ago we could have avoided some of the baby videos.

5. I am in the top 20% of the wealthiest people in the world. I am talking about my job here, not my wife and my combined income here. My job is just skirting minimum wage. Considering that some people in the world make less in a year than I do in an hour is just scary to me.

Janus wants a raise really bad

Ok the waiting was bad enough, and not getting a full night of sleep is slowing me down pretty bad, and the stress is killing me at the moment. All this I can live with.
However, Dancing With The Stars is about where I draw the line. At the risk at offending some of my readers (maybe one or two?) and incurring the wrath of the most powerful person in this country (Oprah), I will state it here.
I despise Dancing With The Stars
I am not that fond of dancing without the stars either, but make it a contest and I want to drink at work.
Yes, I have it on at work. When you take care of the elderly that happens, you watch what they watch. If they want to watch Court TV because they can't get enough of OJ and missing people, thats what you watch. If they want to watch Maury and his lie detector and paternity tests every day that is what you watch. Dancing with the Stars though...ughh.
You may wonder why I don't just tune it out, that is because my client feels the need to talk to me about what he is watching. Did you see that Janus? They are going to get a "10" I know it! That fast paced stuff...that isn't really dancing..dancing is when a man and a woman are in love and....
Yeah you get the idea.
Baseball season is over so I can stop hearing about how no one can throw a curveball anymore, and we have moved on to the "That isn't really dancing rant..." Unlike baseball I don't give a crap about dancing at all so I can't even pretend to care. But alas my job requires me to do my best.
I really need to go to college again and become a doctor or something. Then I can avoid watching television and if I have to watch it with a patient I am at least making more to do it.

The waiting game.

It seems like when I want things to hurry up, things slam on the breaks and when I need more time that things tend to floor it like a Nascar race.
I am a patient person for the most part, but not that patient.
Things seem a bit hypocritical when I caution others to be patient and I am just as restless as they are. Perhaps even more so. Fortunately cooler heads are running the show for me for the most part so while I can't totally relax...I can know things are under control.
All I can do is wait and I hate that.
All I can do is trust God to make sure things are under control, and while I don't hate the fact that he has it under control I wish he would send me a letter and tell me what's going on.
I wish I felt like everything would be ok as much as I tell everyone else it will be.
Hurry up and wait....hurry up and wait....ack.

At Home but not settled.

It took 9 days of being in the hotel before I could go home. That is a lot of fast food, that is a lot of channel surfing out of boredom. It is good to be home.
Tuesday of last week an urgent letter was sent to me. Friday, the day before I went home it was followed up by some phone calls. Things are amiss from my past again.
I have been on an emotional roller coaster since Tuesday and I have been talking to people that I have not heard from in five years and healing some old wounds.
We have had many laughs and we have had some tears. The past few years have had some pain for me, but I heard some news that broke my heart and fired my temper up to the point that I couldn't even talk.
I can't exactly fill in the details here (If you can't tell.) Though it looks like I might have to depart again soon and prepare for a gruelling battle in which the past must be dealt with once and for all.
I wish I could say that I was more assured with myself, though things are already so amazingly different. Keep them prayers and good thoughts coming, I am going to need it.

That's one way to get the clothes really dry.

Well, I had an interesting trick or treat. My dryer caught on fire. Not that "oh look birthday candles I am going to make a wish" fire but a "call 911" fire.
So much for being at home.
I want to be the first to tell you that smoke detectors are very important. Putting batterys in them are important too. We did this and it probably saved me from inhaling more smoke. Smoke alarms are annoying and really make it hard to cook a crappy pizza in the oven or sneak a cigarette, but they can save your life and your house.
Homeowners insurance is also a great thing and made this disaster a bit bearable.
Once again I am not at home, but thanks to my insurance I am in a hotel. It has internet access but I don't have a laptop and my telepathic powers are a bit rusty. So again I am on vacation against my will. All things considered though everything is ok.
My wife is safe, my pets are safe, I am safe and most of the house is pretty damn safe.
The fire was kind enough to start in a room that we did not remodel. Insurance is having our place cleaned out from smoke and soot. The washer, dryer, floor, sink and anything else damaged by the fire is replaced or fixed good as new. So I am hanging out in the hotel when I am not working or running errands and grateful to be alive.
For those that would be worried, yes I did go to the doctor. I have an enhaler and antibiotics and will be just fine.
So bad news is I am stuck away from home again, I can't read all your blogs...281 and counting from last week or check my email, and I don't think I will want to smoke anytime soon, I just got 20 years worth of smoking a few nights ago in about 7 minutes.

So just hold on out there, I will be back soon I hope.