Giving Thanks

I am thankful to have made it through one of those tougher holidays. Thanksgiving is a time to be around family and friends. Yesterday I was among friends and I must say I have met some very wonderful people all through this journey. I have been very fortunate to share a Thanksgiving with friends and the CDC certainly did a great job with the holiday meal. There were giveaways of microwave popcorn for answering various trivia questions along with tournaments for basketball, ping pong, chess, horseshoes, and cribbage. I didn’t participate in the trivia games or the tournaments because in my opinion these activities fall into the GA definition of gambling. This doesn’t mean I was against any of this, in fact, I thought it was a great idea to boost morale which it did. I just chose not to participate. It was a very positive day.

After dinner I headed back to my room where I would read and talk with my roommate until it was time to go to sleep. My poor roommate has gotten a cold and was feeling miserable. Being the trooper that he is he with all his duties and getting up at 5:00 am every day, he is a soldier! As he got up, I purposely waited in bed so we could have a conversation and we did. As we spoke, I realized I have become my mother. I must relate a story about the time my mother, younger sister, wife and I were vacationing in Florida. We were staying in Daytona Beach and my mother wanted us to see the sunrise. She seemed more awake than anyone as the sun was rising. However, none of us were not at all interested and just rolled over. My mother was so upset that by the third day we finally acknowledged the sunrise – then rolled over to back to sleep – and I remember my mother wanting to have a conversation. Here it is some twenty years later and now I am wide awake before the sunrise and wanting to have a conversation. Yes, I have become my mother which really isn’t so bad. I found out later that my roommate was not exactly into the conversation but he did humor me.

The rest of the camp was off for the day but I had the bathrooms to clean. I didn’t want a write-up of Columbus Day when I failed to clean the bathrooms. I most certainly cleaned and it is a little more difficult when everyone is here in camp especially now that I am by myself. As I cleaned people were in and out. Sometimes I do wonder about consideration to others. I clean one at a time and I don’t put “Bathrooms Closed” signs up. I am of the belief that when others see me cleaning away that they will be considerate enough to use the other bathroom. This may have been a bad assumption on my part because so many people came in to use the bathrooms. The part I couldn’t understand was when a few people even used the toilets when they weren’t rinsed of the cleaning chemicals. The majority of guys do ask if they can use the bathroom, but those few guys who don’t – I just wonder what they are thinking about. I went faster than usual because I couldn’t linger in the bathrooms any longer than I needed. It still took me over 2 hours to clean. I guess at the very least I am thorough.

As I was exercising, my name was called over the loudspeaker. I went to the office to receive the Las Vegas newspaper. Incidentally this was the third Sunday newspaper I received and it has taken longer to get here each time. The first one I received in a week, the second in a week and two days, and the third in one week and four days. I guess it’s still better than the two weeks my mother was quoted.

I am learning more about the city I departed six years ago. Yes, the housing market seems depressed but the commercial growth astonishing. The city is opening shopping areas all over the place. This should be great news for my wife who certainly enjoys shopping. One center is called “Town Square” and I remember hearing about the preliminary plans six years ago. Now it is scheduled for opening this month. Yes, time continues to move by. Also, one of the biggest complaints I had with Las Vegas was the traffic. It does seem it is still a problem but some of the highway projects that were started in the past six years are completed. This should help alleviate some of the congestion but they still have a long way to go. I am very interested to see all of the growth when I arrive there in a little more than 3 months.