LewPort71

The next raise was a good one. No hot assistant.. Hell, no assistant at all. Beer fridge...hummm. The satisfaction that the buffoon got waxed was enough of a payment. Three years later the plant was bought by a competitor. The President came to the lab and asked me what I would like to see done in the lab. My main response was to remove the "contract worker" status from the 4 lab techs and make them full-time employees. He liked that I stood up for my staff and did that immediately. Alas, he has retired and now we are ruled by a 'nano' manager President.

In my 28th year of working for the company and a week before Christmas 2003, the H R Manager calls to me his office and tells me I am to be laid off January 1. I was the Chief Chemist. The other 4 lab techs were to continue work as 'contract workers" Salary only, no benefits. My first question was , "Who is going to be the Chief Chemist and do all the analysis I do? " When he told me the name of the incompetent buffoon, I LOLed. My 'replacement' had a chemistry background but had ZERO work ethic. I offered to train him and re-fresh his analytical knowledge. As we were training, the first question was not, "How are the balances calibrated? or Where are the chemicals stored?" The first question was , "Who else can do this testing?" The lazy butts idea was to delegate the testing to the lab techs. Yeah right, have the guys who just got 'de-benefitted' get more work dumped on them. And this work was beyond their skill set. So I continued the training until 12.31. The training was not strong as the trainee was dis-interested. I went to a varety of job search companies and offered my services as a contract worker. On Jan 6, I received a phone call from the H R Manager. The essence of the call was "Please come back. We made a mistake." So I came back and have been here since. Side note. The weekend before the layoff we bought my youngest daughter a very nice comforter for Christmas. She picked it out and was concerned that it was somewhat pricey. When I announced the layoff issue at dinner, she offered to take the new one back and she would use the olde one. That was a sweet gesture by her. Side note two. The incompetent buffoon was let go later in January. HA

I saw Frank Caliendo doing his stage show last Sunday here in Charleston WV. Funny as all get out. I can highly recommend the show.

Season finale tonight .. set the DVR. (past my bed time. LOL )

I have yet to see a "30 for 30" that I did not like. IMHO, they are all really good. To quote Mrs. Lew, "Haven't you seen that 45 times before?" Yes, and this viewing will make 46.

The field was terrible. When will FIFA ever approve Field Turf ? I really enjoy refereeing on FieldTurf. Soft on the knees

Dos A Cero 2--0 for the USA 64,000 in the AlamoDome in San Antonio.

Simcoe puts the "V" in villian. Great 2 hour opener

A++ list well done GBiD !!

So far, 3 against soccer and 1 for.

... because the USMNT is playing a 'friendly' match against Mexico. Televised by FoxSports 1. Lots of young guys will play in this match. The matches against Mexico are always interesting.

New episode at 9:00 on AMC network. Monday 4.13 A mini-marathon will be on before the new episode so you can catch up.

Great episode. Only 2 more left. Must see TV IMHO

30... I'll try the angled thing later. too much Masters on TV right now

All I know is that as the confetti is streaming over the victorious Bills players, Mrs. Lew and I will be packing the car and heading to Buffalo for the greatest victory parade ever.

solid...well done

WotAguy...she is married...and living in Morgantown WV. She indicated the training for this was very rigorous and with her real estate career, her time is diminishing for the training

My youngest daughter finished her first full marathon today. She ran in the Washington DC marathon that was marred by cold and rainy weather. This is the first , and possibly last full marathon, she has attempted. To say that I am proud she finished, goes without saying. This is the same daughter that hiked the Appalachian Trail in 2013. That is all from one proud papa. Time 4:56:12

Turn >> Sons of Liberty

Whose snow was left on the grass ? Dan's or Gary's The plow FINALLY came to our neighborhood this morning after I got stuck (and finally unstuck) from the snow. Then The power steering in my car went bad. Fortunately, the Chevy dealership replaced it for no charge. This was a power steering pump I got in January. It was like the good ole days of driving without power steering

Here in S WV we have enjoyed the following. Valentines Day. 4 inches and 40 MPH winds... Presidents Day. 12 inches of the light fluffy stuff but no wind. Tues-Thurs, just cold Friday Feb 20. It was a balmy -17* while Mrs. Lew and I car pooled to work in the AM. Sat 21. Still cold and 4---8 inches projected. The temps warmed up and the snow became the heavy wet snow, perfect for snowballs. Hard as hell to shovel though. At 7 PM I began the task of using the snow blower to remove the 18 inches we received. This pales by comparison to Mass. but the terrain of WV makes snow a nightmare with the mountains, curved roads and the lack of snow removal equipment. our neighborhood has not yet been cleared and the neighbor across the street is in her 38th week of pregnancy according to hubby. He borrowed my snow blower.

This "30 for 30" was very, very good. I'll still never understand how Tretiak was pulled after the first period.

Already have the DVR set.

The winter has been mild in Southern WV until Monday 16. A foot of snow made driving a challenge. More road clearing equipment is needed, but that is probably true anywhere. Temps in the -10*F range are projected for Wed through Sat. I used the snow-blower this morning for the first time all winter.

I was at home here in WV watching on TV. At half time my daughter asked if we could play the new computer game we got for Christmas. It was Monopoly. The computer was a Tandy Radio Shack computer . We left the TV on but muted the sound. The computer version of Monopoly has some interesting sounds. As the Bills mounted the comeback, we had to find the "Save Game" function so we could play later. One of my neighbors called to ask if we were OK, due to all the shouting, screaming and yelling that occurred. It was that game that my daughter learned the idea of NEVER leaving a game as anything could happen. The following March the local HS hoops team came back from a 20 point third quarter deficit in the WV state hoops semi-final game. We won in OT At the end of the game my daughter and I said "its just like the Bills game." The HS won the state championship the following night..