Happy Great Pumpkin Day

Michael and Michelle at Mason Farms

Steph and Michelle (Pocahontas)

Michael as Optimus Prime

This kid is just too dang cute!

Pay off!  Remember kids, the house gets 15%! 

Bad Boy

Unemployed Carbon County (PA) man runs girlfriend off road for taking video game system, police say

October 12, 2010|By Pamela Lehman, OF THE MORNING CALL

Colleen Frable became so angry her unemployed boyfriend was spending the day playing video games, she decided to break his habit by taking the PlayStation with her to work Friday, she told Lehigh Township police.

Police said her live-in boyfriend, Darren Suchon, 42, became so enraged that he followed Frable's vehicle from their home near Palmerton on Route 248 to Lehigh Township, where he forced her vehicle off the road and rear-ended it while driving her 1996 gold Porsche sports car, all in an effort to get the video game system back.

Suchon, of 88 Hahns Dairy Road, Lower Towamensing Township, now faces a host of charges, including simple assault, reckless endangerment, harassment, disorderly conduct, reckless driving and driving with a suspended or revoked license. He was sent to Northampton County Prison under $25,000 bail.

In an interview with police after the chase, Suchon told officers he was mad his girlfriend took the PlayStation and "didn't know what the big deal was."

Uh...what's the big deal, Darren? 

I know people flip out sometimes but this is too much.  Let’s see – playing hooky from responsibility so you can play video games all day, throwing a fit when you don’t get your way, driving without a license, vandalism and destruction of other people's property.  You're in a regressed state of psychological development.  You're a mental pre-teen.  What you need is a good spanking (that's for wrecking the Porsche, mister!), grounded from your PlayStation and a ride to the job center from your mommy.

Grow up!

Are You a Good Witch or a Bad Witch?

Accomplishing the impossible means only that the boss will add it to your regular duties.  ~ Doug Larson

Today is Boss’s Day.  As a federal employee I am legally prohibited from giving my boss a gift. Considering all the jockeying and politicking that goes on in an office this is a good policy.  So as a group we are showing a token of appreciation and buying pizza for lunch.  That’s a safe way to celebrate. 

I was ready to blame Hallmark for creating another card ready occasion.  But it wasn’t Hallmark.  Patricia Bays Haroski got this thing rolling when she registered “National Boss’ Day” with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce back in 1958.  Her father was her boss so she chose his birthday.  The Chamber of Commerce has political clout, (Dems claim it is from all that foreign money pouring in) so in 1962, Illinois Governor Otto Kerner officially proclaimed Oct 16 as Bosses Day.

But not everybody works for daddy or even feels the need to celebrate.  You could have a bad boss.  I’ve had a few of these.  I have a pseudo-boss of a committee chair who is a “bad boss.”  But committees suck most of the time anyway, so this could just be a case of projection.  As Dave Barry wrote “If you had to identify, in one word, the reason why the human race has not achieved, and never will achieve, its full potential, that word would be "meetings" (Things That It Took Me 50 Years to Learn).  Second thought, nah, the chair is a bad boss.  But I’m allowed to say that today.  I’d love to submit a story.  But I don’t work for them so they’re not really my boss, they just think they are. 

Supposedly Bosses Day is the day when you determine if you have a good boss or a bad boss; like you wouldn’t already know.  This can be somewhat disconcerting if you work for yourself.  I’ve been self-employed.  I had to quit.  I was a slave driver.  I was never considerate of my personal time, had no expectation of advancement and was exempt from filing a grievance.  So I thought I would change all that and go work for the government.  Boy was I mistaken.  Just kidding.  I do have a good boss.  It is easy to get up and go to work; except when it comes committee time.  You have no idea how tempted I am to just block leave in for that day every month.  Again I digress.

Complaining aside, the guy I do work for is great, and so is his administrative staff.  I don’t know that I could write a bad boss story about any of them.    

According to the Professor Robert Sutton of Stanford University, and author of Good Boss, Bad Boss:

A Good Boss:
1. Serves as a human shield, protects employees from external intrusions, distractions, and idiocy of every stripe — and avoids imposing his/her own idiocy on them as well
2. Is aware of how his/her moods and actions affect employees and does not suffer from power poisoning or detachment
3. Has ambitious and well-defined goals, but focuses more on the small wins that enable their people to make a little progress every day.

A Bad Boss:
1. Passes the buck and takes all of the credit but none of the blame
2. Treats others as if they are idiots.
3. Focuses on their own needs and concerns and acts as if the rules don’t apply to them

You can read some good boss/bad boss stories here

http://www.employeesurveys.com/bosses/bossstories.htm

http://www.npr.org/programs/morning/features/2002/june/bosses/index.html

http://jobs.aol.com/articles/2009/08/13/worst-boss-stories-ever

I would suggest that these be mandatory reading for bosses everywhere.  If you see yourself in these anecdotes than maybe it is time for self-evaluation.  But experience has taught me that good bosses already know how to make changes to improve and the bad ones never will.

And I Can’t Even Score Free Food in McDonald’s Monopoly

 

  Ernest Pullen, shown here in an updated photo with his wife, Betsy,

  has won $1 million or more in a Scratcher lottery for the second time in four months.
   

By AP/Missouri Lottery

Ernest Pullen, 57, of Bonne Terre, Mo., won his first million in June then scored again this week by hitting the $2 million prize.

Since he opted for an immediate cash payout in both cases, he took home $700,000 for the first win and $1.3 million for the second, before taxes, KSDK reports.

Pullen says he considers himself to be a "lucky guy" but doesn't expect to strike gold for a third time.

"My wife said she's winning the next time," he says.