Jasper Jones

Although a lot of people think working at a warehouse must be boring, that’s not true where I’m working. You put a lot of guys together that don’t know each other and come from all different kinds of backgrounds and you expect them to work hard all day and be a team and get along. Well it doesn’t usually work out that way. There’s guys with tempers, there’s guys who show up late or get drunk one night and don’t show up the next day and all kinds of things going on.

Today was very unusual in that two of the loaders got into a scuffle. Not really a fight but a lot of shoving and cussing and the supervisor ran over and broke it up. But with all the pushing and stupid stuff, some of the computer equipment got broken and both guys ended up getting fired.

The barcode scanner handpiece for tracking inventory was one of the things that got dropped on the concrete floor and busted. I was wondering how much those things cost - they must be expensive. So I looked it up on the internet and found a website that sells them called, BarCode Giant. I don’t know if this is the same place where the company bought ours, but it is the same brand and the website gave me the information I was looking for and a ballpark on the damages. The intermec scanplus-1800 scanner seems to retail for around $400-$500 so that guy just pushed his way into forfeiting his paycheck over a stupid fight.

I don’t know if we have any extra scanners laying around the warehouse, but if they need another one this website has free shipping and toll free tech support, so they can get another one quick. and BarCode Giant prices everything below retail, so they can save some money, too.

Dinner was at Olive Garden. I figured there would surely be non-meat dishes on an Italian menu. Plus I like the huge bowl of salad and basket of breadsticks that they bring to the table to help beat down the hunger pains while you wait for your dinner to be cooked and brought out.

She was easy to please - ordered a pasta with cheese sauce and she didn’t mind that I ordered a dinner with meat and ate it in front of her. At least she said she didn’t mind. But I have to wonder if she is so committed to be a Vegen why she can in good conscience watch others eat meat. I’m not sure how that works, but I didn’t want to ruin a nice dinner attacked her values and questioning her Vegen reasons.

But eventually I think this huge difference between us will interfere with our relationship. So I don’t know if I’m going to call her for a second date or not. She’s nice and all, but this Vegen thing bothers me. I’ll have to think about it.

One of my personal heroes is Mark Twain. I remember reading all his books as a kid and really enjoying both his storytelling and his writing style. It inspired me to even read his biography in a book that I checked out of the school library. That shocked both my teacher and my parents! A library book? Me? LOL

So I learned a little about Mark Twain. For the times he lived in he was a very different character. He had some eccentric views about politics, race and all kinds of things that were just too forward thinking for most people who lived in his era. Strangely enough, when I was at the drug store tonight I noticed that on the cover of TIME Magazine they are featuring Mark Twain and the cover story is about his forward thinking. I might go back and buy that magazine tomorrow just to read what they have to say about my hero. Too bad I didn’t know they wee interested in a story about Mark Twain - I could have written that myself and it would have been sweet to get paid for my writing.

Probably two of the most powerful and underappreciated words today are “internet Marketing.” Most people just don’t understand what that means. Ask any 4 or 5 people on the street what SEO means and they won’t be able to answer. They’ll think you mean CEO, which has nothing to do with search engines unless that CEO happens to be in an internet company.

Because I’m newly into this blogging thing, I have a much bigger appreciation for other bloggers and anyone who has been able to learn HTML coding, SEO technicques, and other internet tech words like reciprocal consulting.

So I found a blog that talks about all these buzzwords that I’ve mentioned and they talk about it in plain English, so just about anyone can understand their point. If you have a need for internet marketing advice and want to get a jump start on the topic, you can read the blog posts on this site, reciprocalconsultingblog.com, and learn quite a bit.

I particularly liked the post about protecting your company’s reputation. In my experience, we do share the good things among our close family members, friends, and in many cases our co-workers. But when something bad happens we do tend to spread the word on that more vocally and to more people. And the power of blogging is not to be underestimated. Companies that care about their reputation - which is also measured as good will in a business sale or merger - need to be alert to what bloggers and others on the internet say about their company - both good and bad.

One of my buddies at work was talking about his girlfriend’s cats and how they really like the new house they’ve rented because their is a huge backyard with trees, lots of birds, squirrels and rabbits. They moved here with 2 cats and just recently adopted a new kitten from the shelter.

This time of year there are always a lot of kittens and puppies at the shelter from the spring birthings, but there are also a lot of adult cats and dogs being surrendered by owners and many are abandoned or dropped off because of the economy. People are being evicted and having their homes foreclosed and have no way to take care of the pets any more.

This really bothers me - I just don’t see how anyone in good conscience can abandon a pet. What kind of person leaves an animal locked in an empty house and drives off? What kind of person can drive down a road and just toss kittens out of the window into  a stranger’s driveway? People who do that and people who beat their dogs or otherwise abuse their animals should be arrested and put into jail.

If you have a shelter in your community, next time you have the urge to take on a pet, I hope you will go to the shelter and adopt an animal from the shelter. And if you have anything you can donate to the shelter, here’s a list of desired items that can be dropped off and will be put into good use:

• Clean, old newspapers to be used for litter and lining cages
• Toilet seat covers (cats love to lie on them in their cages)
• Any type of cat or dog toy (plastic or washable)
• Old bath towels and blankets
• Canned cat food, any brand
• Bagged, dry dog food (particularly desired is Science Diet but other brands accepted)
• Laundry soap
• Bleach
• Heavy ceramic food and water bowls
• Antibacterial hand soap
• Candles - citrus or spice
• Paper towels

Shelters also need volunteers to come and walk dogs and play with the animals for short periods to give them exercise and socialization skills. If you have a good heart, please help the animals in your local shelter.