being normal

In years past, people wanted to "fit in" and would forego individuality to "be normal." In today's society, people often shun that, choosing to be known as being unique or unusual.

From a performance perspective, whether in academics, work, sports or other areas of involvement, "normal" means you neither excel nor fall below some acceptable level. It can be equated to mediocrity.

But there is one place where "being normal" should be desired.

I went in for the lab results from my physical today. I am "perfectly normal."

And that's a good thing ... :-)

a new year

As Monday quickly approaches, it starts more than just a work-week for me. As we move past Passover (today) and celebrate the great deliverance that God brought his people, Israel, so many years ago, it's a good time to stop and reflect on what He has brought us OUT of as well. The timing of this is interesting in my life this year, as I will be starting a new year tomorrow.

The last year has been a period of transition for me. As that is beginning to wind down (only a few details to wrap up to finish it off - like selling a house!), I am feeling the excitement of beginning to experience new things. Even in the past week, I can "feel" the change and shift in my spirit. I am looking forward to what this year has to bring. Development/deepening of relationships. New opportunities. New places -- in the natural and in the spirit.

It's going to be a VERY GOOD year!

union busting

One thing with which I have been involved the last month or so that I haven't mentioned is trying to get a union decertified.

Last June when I transferred positions at work, my first question about the newly formed positon was "what is the job code and is it represented?" (That means, "is it covered by some union contract?") The answer was that they were not changing our job codes from what they were "for now." Ok, I knew then that sooner or later "now" would become history! It made it until mid-February.

The "bargaining unit" is called the Wichita Technical & Professional Union (WTPU), but is represented by SPEEA (Society of Professional Engineering Employees in Aerospace). They also "represent" the engineers, but in a different "bargaining unit" -- which means under a separately negotiated contract.

Fortunately, Kansas is a "right to work" state. That means you do not have to join the union & pay dues to them just because you work in a position for which they negotiate the contract. But, I HATE unions. And I do not want them "representing" me -- because they certainly do NOT represent my thoughts, beliefs, or values.

There is a window of opportunity just before each new contract negotiation time to petition for a vote to "re-certify" (or de-certify) whether or not the people being represented want them to continue to do that. To do that, you have to have a petition with a minimum of 30% of those represented signing saying they want the new vote. If you get more than 50%, they are out without even having to have a vote.

I am one of eight people who have been spearheading (and funding) that effort. Per labor laws, once a union is in place, the company can not assist in the effort to decertify them in any way. So, we have an externally hosted website (http://www.vote-no-wtpu.net/DecertHome.aspx), have sent emails to everyone represented from an external email address, and have flyers up in our cubicles (there rules about where you can even put them), etc.

At this point, we have about 2/3 of the signatures we need for the vote. We have until around May 1 to collect them. The signatures (names) have to be certified (verified that they really are in the represented group) and turned in to the National Labor Relations Board by May 11.

So ... that's another one of the things I've been up to lately. This is the third attempt since they were voted in by a margin of (if I remember correctly) 42 votes in 2001 when we were still part of Boeing to try to get rid of them. Hopefully, 3rd time's the charm!

first HOA meeting & my new walkway

Well, I am now the secretary of the HOA (home owners association) for Country Club Courts. I think I also let myself get volunteered to help on the Finance Committee as I was leaving. After the "lively" discussion about this year's budget and the possible need to raise the HOA quarterly dues, I should probably have ducked quicker! :-) In fact, after much discussion about whether the grass in the courtyard should be mowed by push mower and whether or not to trim the wisteria, the Finance Committee took an action to go back and get additional bids on the trimming work and relook at the budget proposal and recommendation for raising the dues (or the amount by which they wanted to raise them). You do need to realize that the wisteria to be trimmed is along both sides of a 1400' x 7' concrete wall on the exterior of the subdivision. That's a LOT of wisteria!! And, apparently, it has not been trimmed in 4-5 years. (It is also in most of our yards, along the section of wooden fence that is on one side of each home. We are, of course, responsible for taking care of that.) The guy who still wanted the oversized riding mowers to eat up the grass in the 15' square courtyards got ignored! And we voted down the idea of putting in locking mailboxes throughout the complex because some people had mail stolen once. (Though they were given permission to put a locking insert in their current mailbox. All the mailboxes have to remain the same. We don't want to marr the aesthetics with dissimilar mailboxes! It was also suggested that they could get a P.O. Box, if they were really concerned.)

So, now you know what elderly, retired people care about. :-) And the half-dozen "youngsters" like myself who live here get to care about it with them.

None the less, I enjoyed my first HOA meeting. They have a covered dish dinner before it and about half of those who attended came for that. There were 35 voting members, including 9 proxies (so 9 less actually present). But there were probably about 35-40 there, since couples only get one vote but most do come together. Since there are only 42 homes, that's a pretty good turnout. At least we were well past quorum. It was a good way to begin to get to know some of my neighbors.

The other news is that they did pour my walkway on Monday. They got it poured and it was set up before the rain started that lasted most of the rest of the week. However, the owner had a cold even worse than mine the day he came to bid it for me. So, he "trusted" his workers to do my curved walkway while they were doing the other two straight ones and a driveway in the area. That was not a good idea. It's curved all right! But the idea was that it formed an S type curve of consistently 42" width. Well, it measures from 32" in places to nearly 40" in others. :-( They will be breaking that one up & hauling it off and he will be making sure it gets dug and the forms set correctly! In the end, that, too, may be a blessing. They also managed to puncture a line on my sprinkler system, which was turned on Saturday. Oops! So ... they are to come break up what they poured & put the new forms down and allow me time to get the sprinkler guy back to run the new line underneath before they pour the concrete.

Life is never dull!

making progress

With most of a day at home today, I made some visibile progress on unpacking. I unloaded the 27 boxes of books that have been stacked in my back hallway! Along with having finally unpacked some of the decorative items for the living room last weekend, it's starting to feel more "homey" here. :-) Still plenty to do, but it's taking shape.

I am getting a sidewalk poured on Monday. They dug it out today. It will go from my driveway to the walkway that runs from the street to the front door. I am surprised that more people have not done that. Four of us here got a bit of a "package deal" from a business to have them all done at the same time. That's the reason I am going ahead with it now. Other "improvements" will wait for the house on Stoneborough to sell.

The implication is that I am beginning to get to know some of my neighbors. Of course, I know the gal who lives beside me to the south. She was the one who told me about the house being available. Since she was on the "nominating committee" for the home owners association, I am "running" for secretary. :-) Elections are next Monday night (4/14) at the annual meeting. The current president called me yesterday to see if I could go ahead and take minutes at this meeting since the current secretary is having health issues and not able to serve. I decided to get involved just to meet some of the folks. Of course, I am one of the "young" ones here. (It's been quite a while since THAT'S been the case for me anywhere!)