How Not To Live Angry

Yes, it was good to relax.

So, midweek was as stressful as it gets. Granted, we weren't tracking North Korea's "satellite" program. But we were watching Conficker.C. Unlike my Apple brethren, we actually had to track it. The big kaboom never came even though the threat is no where near over. To exacerbate the stress level, April Fool's Day featured probably the worst timed joke in recent history.

To illustrate how bad this joke was, I am going to state it in the form of a CompTIA exam question:
You are a floor manager of a funeral home. One of the five viewing rooms has been shut down due to a threat of formaldehyde contamination. All the rooms were checked with the same threat when someone at one of the viewing rooms was complaining of the status of a corpse. Under further inspection, the body was moving DURING THE VIEWING. When finding out the night undertakers were responsible for the "gag", who should the floor manager kill first?

White hot rage could describe my reaction. As a matter of fact, I needed the rest of the day for mental wellness. God bless that distinction. So, bad timing quickly dissolved to good timing. I had Friday off for a travel day. Nothing to get your mind off of work than crossing state lines. The Lovely and I scheduled a trip to Shreveport. I'm not really sure how this all worked out, but it was a brilliant stroke of serendipity.

Why Shreveport, you ask? To make a long story short, we have family friends that were entrenched in our wedding and embedded in The Lovely's history and future. Also, we needed an update on "the three step process" and we wanted to see how the two kiddos were doing as well. The cherry on top was that I have never been to Shreveport and Ark-LA-Tex just sounds like an interesting place to drink Abita.

After defrosting in a different zip code 466 miles away, all the stress and rage and bullshit just withered away. Granted, watching a four year old and a two year old build forts from couch cushions can change anyone's focus...or can it? Sure, Wednesday sucked. If I was any younger or more stubborn, the anger would have bled into the rest of my consciousness. Ultimately, the "job satisfaction" tag would have to be removed. But, I learned something huge this weekend: I have to step back. If I don't step back, I am as good as my former horrible self and as entrapped as some closed-minded old dude with zero flexibility. In other words, I'm bad or I do not grow...which is the whole point of this maturity mission.

So, I took a breath, stepped back, and feel encouraged for the next week. I feel like I grew a little. Not so much "grow up", but discovered some new information that will make my life fuller and more complete. And just like computer worms, employment and intra-personal communications, knowledge is power.

Lessons Learned (in addition to the big one), my three things:
1) With local and major daily newspapers fighting to stay above water and maintain functionality and production, you wouldn't think a periodical's website would pimp exclusive stories while leaving the print version sparse with content and thoughtful editorial and news copy. That's like bragging about your amputated foot as a diabetic. Not a good move, Crawler.com.
2) Abita only made 1000 cases of Strawberry Lager. What a tease.
3) When driving out of Texas, you absolutely know when the state line changes. I don't know if it's the atmosphere, the altitude, the twang or the proliferation of the Stars and Bars, you just know. It's just a feeling, like humidity or accidentally crapping your pants.
BONUS ROUND: When parents of children (that you will be hanging out with) warn you that the kids "are sick", watch your ass. Prevention is key, but you will probably get sick. Pathogens happen, kids happen. Have fun with this kiddos, remind them to wash their hands and be ready to slug Emergen-C and green tea. Love to Aussie and P.

Speaking of "knowledge is power", looks like the Body of Christ has taken a turn for the...interesting? I don't want to say worse, because it's pretty lame to start off with, but local elections were held and I don't feel the same confidence as I do in my inner knowledge. Oh yeah, we are posting about that so only 2 people will be interested in the post. Always looking out for my readers. Talk later.