The Hobbit Hole III - Journey to the Cross-roads!

[HairOfTheDog]

Welcome to The Hobbit Hole!

Journey to the Cross-roads
The Two Towers Edition

Come on! Come in! -if you would like to have some seedcakes and a pint and relax a while. (If it is a special occasion, we still have a few bottles of the old wineyards left!)

Our first thread ( New Zealander builds Hobbit hole ) reached 4,100 posts, and we thought that was big. Our second thread (The New Hobbit Hole ) held us for over 48,000 posts, and we loved it dearly. We talked about moving to a new thread for the last 38,000 posts, but we are really slow to muster! Finally, the time has come. Tomorrow (at 12:01 am, to be precise!) The Two Towers comes out, and we start a new chapter.

[Corin Stormhands]

Why are you pi$$ing off the parents of the lifeguards?

Apparently because I'm not agreeing to hire them just because they're members. At this point we've only hired a manager and swim team coaches.

So when she emailed me this morning to tell me her son turns 15 on June 15th, and that she wasn't sure she wanted to pay the certification fee, I just wrote back and said, if you decide to go for it, we can probably use him.

She got upset over the "probably." I certainly understand about not wanting to pay the fee (it's pricey). But as I wrote back and told her, no one is guaranteed a job yet and I will not make any offers until I sit down with the manager, who gets home from college this week.

Jr. wants to work in the snack bar. I've told him "probably."

[HairOfTheDog]

LOL! - Is this a lifeguard certification she isn't sure she wants to get?

[Corin Stormhands]

Yes. I have several who are getting their certification on May 15th and I have their applications. But this guy can't be certified until he's 15 (on June 15th).

Like I said, I understand her hesitation to pay the fee. (it's $175). But I'm just not going to guarantee anyone a job without some assurance that they'll be certified.

I've been pushing for a good while to run this place more like a business. Because it hasn't been is exactly why we have so many problems.

What they don't know, however, is that as of September 1, 2003 (Labor Day/Closing Day), I'm history. I started to quit over the winter, but decided I owed them at least two seasons...although I don't know why.

[2Jedismom]

Check this out!

[HairOfTheDog]

Good luck Bear!

[2Jedismom]

They should put his picture up on the website soon...I check now and then.

I'll post it when they do!

[HairOfTheDog]

It makes me teary to see it.

I know there is someone just as deserving and grateful as him waiting here in my town for me to do something..

[2Jedismom]

I'm so busy. I wanted to check in earlier and just never found the time. So Hi!

We have lots going on, preparing for the "End of the year" banquet with my homeschool group and trying to finish up 3rd grade. Matthew will be finished with third grade Math this week.

[HairOfTheDog]

Hi! I am trying to be busy.... gotta get some paperwork caught up....

[Corin Stormhands]

The thread is dead. Long live the thread.

[libarian]

The thread is dead....

you may be right...

[HairOfTheDog]

It was the best of threads, it was the worst of threads....

[Corin Stormhands]

Now is the thread of our discontent...

[Corin Stormhands]

So you'd probably get out the big stick if I spammed for about 600 posts, wouldn't ya?

[HairOfTheDog]

I saw a while ago an exchange on MSNBC that I am still chuckling about, regarding the president's flight out to the USS Lincoln tomorrow.

The anchor babe was interviewing a former high-ranking naval-type talking head about how President Bush would fly out there, and said several really dumb things that made me chuckle...

There were lots of questions along the lines of "So the president's plane is going to land on the carrier deck just like any other plane?"

[HOTD: Ummm.... where else on the ship should they land?]

But the exchange that really cracked me up was one that went like this:

"So the president's plane will do a carrier landing where they snag the arrestor cables and everything? - Isn't that really dangerous?"

f-h-r-n-t: (grin) "Well, It is more dangerous to land on a carrier *without* the cables."

ROTFL! A moment of clarity.

Prayers for the nerves of the pilots chosen to fly him out there. Can you *imagine*?

[HairOfTheDog]

So you'd probably get out the big stick...

Or worse....

[Corin Stormhands]

Michael Graham is ranting about that this afternoon too...

I think it's kinda cool.

[Corin Stormhands]

It's just a flesh wound...

[HairOfTheDog]

It is kinda cool.

I think Bush needs to stop pretending he is going out there in part to thank and reward those sailors for their service. My brother used to live in terror of VIP visits on ship, and he never had anything like *this*.

The fact that he is going to land and stay overnight on that ship tomorrow has made the life of every person on that ship a living hell! Right now they are cleaning and painting and cleaning and painting the entire ship from top to bottom. Guys in maintenance are awake and staring at an airplane hoping there is nothing they have missed. Pilots are sleepless. The admiral is eating his own stomach. - LOL! Thank you indeed!

All joking aside, I envy them. It will be an experience they will never forget.

[Corin Stormhands]

The fact that he is going to land and stay overnight on that ship tomorrow has made the life of every person on that ship a living hell!

Oh yeah. I did several events at the White House, but the worst ones were when they would come to you. We had Quayle come to a meeting in California and then Bush 41 come to a meeting in Colorado Springs. That was during the 1992 campaign.

Secret Service and Presidential advance are usually pretty cool to work with. But I also had to work with campaign staff.

Before it was over I told the campaign guy to blow it out his shorts...