RIP Xavier

We seem to be having a string of bad luck lately at Kmart - really bad luck.

A few weeks ago on Monday, Nando's mom died of Pancreatic Cancer.

Just before that, my friend Nick cut off the tip of his finger at work, and thankfully they were able to sow it back on.

And heck, even though Judy 98 can be mean sometimes (okay, a lot), I felt bad for her on Wednesday when her husband (I think, at least someone close to her) went into diabetic shock and she had to call the paramedics.

But yesterday may just be the saddest point in all of our lives.

I'm sure that I've talked about Latonya on here before. She's the manager of the supervisors at Kmart and without her the whole store would go under. After school, her two big kids always walk to Kmart and wait for her to get off so they can all walk home together. We've all gotten to know and love those sweet little boys, some of us even taking our breaks to go spend time with them and talk about Spiderman :)

Yesterday morning, however, all of our lives were radically changed forever.

Latonya called in sick so that she could take Xavier to the hospital because he wasn't feeling well at all. Between that and when they reached the hospital, Xavier's asthma attack caused his bronchial tubes to close up, forcing him to go through cyanosis and he stopped breathing all together. Despite all the doctors did, they were unable to revive him.

As devastated as we all are, it's hard to imagine our Mama Latonya going through all of this. Just last week she was so concerned about Nando and how he was handling his mom's death, so worried that he would be okay after losing someone so close to him. I will not pretend to know what she is going through right now, but I'm sure it's worse than death itself.

If any of you know Latonya, there is a condolences card set up at Kmart for people to sign, along with sign-up sheets with things to help out their family. I think the biggest thing right now is helping out with meals and snacks for her remaining three kids.

She's done so much for all of us, both at work and in our personal lives. I just hope that we are all able to show our love and support for her, and that will help her cope with this terrible tragedy.

It's so hard to think that I won't be able to see his cute little shining face again, that I won't get to see more of his drawings or his coat and backpack left at the service desk.

RIP Xavier

The Brewers

The game last night was amazing. Theron put me in charge of taking pictures, and needless to say there are a ton compared to last time. We also sat in a better spot (you know, one where we could actually see the field?). We did more touristy things this time then we did before - pictures of the stadium, the statues, all the home boys. Although, I'm sure Theron was a little irked to see how many of those pictures were of Ryan Braun stretching...

Oh, and I guess winning helped too.

Two of the guys from Brew Crew Ball came out - Steve and Jeff, who actually runs the blog. It was fun to feel a little more connected to the guys as my baseball knowledge is getting better.

And I felt like Theron's dad and I got along without as much awkwardness as there usually seems to be when we're together. I'm sure it'll get better the more that we spend time together, and the more I know about sports. I swear, sometimes it's like their speaking a completely different language, where I only know the important phrases, like "Where is the bathroom?"

But it really was a pleasant evening, and I can't wait to do it again sometime.

Theron gave me his high school class ring yesterday. I don't know why, but for some reason it made me really happy. Even while I was scrubbing the service desk perfectly clean all morning, I was happy. It is really pretty and fits perfectly.

Oh, and a note to Phenylketuronics - the new and "improved" version of Big Red has Phenylalanine in it, so try and buy up the last real packs while you can.

Memorial Day

I missed blogging about the day that we use to help remember people who have served our country! To my defense, my parents were out of town and Theron was over all weekend, and I had to work like all day Sunday, and all night yesterday.

I just want to take the time out to say that I am so proud of the people who serve(d) our country, and I hope that each and every one of them is safe, happy, and healthy. I have two uncles who served in Iraq, and an aunt who was also in the army. I don't know words to express how very proud of them I am, and how very lucky we all are (and grateful too) that they are all safe and sound. I don't know what I would have done had any of them gotten hurt or worse.

So Theron and I went to Chocolate Fest in Burlington on Friday night.It was a lot of fun. I went to my first real concert there. If you guys haven't heard of The Bucket Boys, you should look them up. They're like a two man version of stomp, with silly banter added. They were fun, but I really liked the other group that we went to go see. Todd and Emma Greene are a father/daughter musical duo. He has his own music studio, and a band aside from the stuff that he performs with Emma. They performed with acoustic guitars and an acoustic bass. The songs they performed were really fun songs, and they always added their own spin to it. It really made me want to start working more on my music career...

Theron's dad is covering the Brewers game again tonight. He invited Theron to go, so I get to go too! I'm excited, and it'll be fun to see his dad again.

My parents' car broke down on their way back from Missouri... they're still not home yet, but I know they were taking the car to a mechanic, so hopefully everything is fine.

I hope everyone had a nice, peaceful, and fun weekend.

Genetic manipulation?

Basically, there is a deaf couple who is using invitro fertilization and wants the right to screen and/or genetically alter their child so that s/he turns out to be deaf like them. They do not see deafness as a disability, and think that choosing a hearing child over a deaf one is absurd and a huge discrimination.

I could see where they don't see deafness as a disability. Here's what I don't get though - don't they remember all the hard things that they've had to go through because of being deaf? The discriminations and misunderstandings and awkward dating? No doubt they, as parents, would handle their children better than their parents might have. But why not adopt? Why cause an otherwise normal child to miss out on things like music and hearing the words "I love you" from their future spouse? Don't they know that they child will end up resenting them for that?

I know that I've debated several times whether or not I should even have kids because of the pain and discrimination that I've gone through with my arthritis. More than likely, if I have a daughter she will have it too. I don't particularly see the arthritis as a disability per se, because I now have a handle on it. But I can't morally ask the doctor to make sure that my child has the same extra issues that I do. That is simply cruel and unusual punishment, especially for a little fetus who doesn't have a voice here. I know that when I do have children, I will know what they are going through and I will be able to help them and be there for them because I have gone through that. But I do sincerely hope that my children do not have this, that they can be at least closer to normal than I.

Aside from all of that though, isn't this bordering on Gattaca? Are we trying to genetically engineer our children into what we want them to be without even giving them a chance to choose? What if the doctor screws up and the child ends up being able to hear, but has a terrible life-altering disease as well? One that s/he will die early from? Suffer terribly? Do we really have the right to override that child's ability to have a great and wonderful, semi-normal life, just because we want a child to be like us?

I'm sure that the couple would see my ideas as thinking that deafness is a disability though.

Hate him back, it works for me

I had a terrible day at work. The schedule was so screwed up, and we had all the newbies who can't run registers yet on... I felt terrible leaving Sam there alone, but I know that Lucas helped him out quite a bit throughout the night.

To add to my horror, Pete Wentz married Ashlee Simpson this weekend... Oh god... *shudders*

I couldn't get the Brewers game on my radio, because apparently the am part doesn't work or something. It wasn't televised and every site I went to for play by play action was blacked out. So I heard everything second hand until about the 7th inning. Bored out of my mind and needing to see someone else cynical about life, I was glad to see that there was a House marathon on.

The episode was pretty interesting and one that I hadn't seen yet. There was a sick nun who was sure that she was being tested by God. At one point House came to talk to her about all nuns being liars, trying to get everyone to believe in some unseen, supposedly all-powerful being, and that it's not the idea of God that he doesn't like but more the idea in "forcing" other people to "believe" in things with you. Mostly, he hates the believing part... Seems to be because that means you have to open up and trust something/one you can't even see. She then made the comment back to him (of course, I'm paraphrasing a bit) that you can't hate something that you don't believe in, even a little bit. That got me to thinking...

Most people assume that I'm upset with God, that everything I've been through in my life has made me bitter and closed my heart, or whatever. But that's not the case.

Having been around and helped raise a lot of kids, I know that when s/he is lonely, a child will make up people so that they feel connected, important. I don't want to compare the majority of the world to children, but it seems to me more likely that our ancestors were a product of evolution and wanted a way to explain the things around them, wanted to feel connected to and a part of something bigger than themselves.

Q. So, the questions are going to start flying in... Why be a religious studies major if you don't believe in God? If you think the rest of us are delusional?

A. First off, I don't think you're delusional or crazy. You're just the product of thousands of years of believing in something that your families passed on to you, that you accepted as truth. Or, you felt alone in your own way and found a theism that matched what your core beliefs were and are.

Anyways, to answer the question, it's a form of sociology that is more personal than most sociologists are able to get in their studies. There is just so much to study when we look at the world around us, the only way to do it is to break it down into smaller chunks. Religion just happens to be fascinating to me, considering my ideas expressed above. It's fun, for me, to see and learn about the different ways that people interpreted events. That would also be part of why I'm majoring in history as well.

Q. So why do you buy into Buddhism?

A. Short answer? Because it doesn't deal with God at all. It just doesn't feel the need to address something that further back was seen as a philosophical idea, not a religious one. Plus, it's about bettering oneself, not getting redemption through appeasing someone that controls everything.

If anyone has any other questions, feel free to ask and I'll post my answers in the next entry.

I just need to vent

So work has been a total mess lately. It has nothing to do with carts or my employees being dumb or anything, but our HR person apparently isn't being able to keep a schedule straight.

She got this brilliant idea to print off a copy of the weekly schedule and have it up at the service desk. However, that one has been wrong pretty much all weekend... and so has the one in the back. But the daily one supposedly has who needs to be there right on. Today, for example, I'm on the schedule for the week (well, both of them) for the garden shop from 12-7. I've never worked back there, but okay, fine, I'll struggle through it I guess. Terry will be there to show me for a bit at the least. BUT on the daily schedule, I was supposed to be at the service desk from 8-230, with Nando there from 2-10. Originally though, Nando was working 8-4, with Latanya working 4-10.

I'm so confused right now, it's not even funny. Bob's pissed off majorly too. Like really, we can't call people once we change their schedules? Or we can't keep the schedule the same? What the fuck?

If they can't figure out how to take care of a schedule right, I'm just gonna find another job. I am so tired of this.

Ryan Braun

He's played great in the past few days, hitting four home runs in just two games. (I missed last night's game, so I'm sure he probably hit a run or two, but alas I missed it and am a little lazy today).He even woke up in time to do his stint on the radio this morning, after sleeping in for two weeks in a row. Supposedly his stats are better after being on the show, which makes me wonder how well he'll do today.

This morning, Doug Melvin announced that the club has signed Braun for an eight year deal (starting late May of this year, per his initial appearance last May) for $45 million. It's the most expensive deal in MLB history (for a player that has been in the majors for fewer than three years - thank you Theron :-P ) and that the club's had since signing Suppan for $42 million. But he's not gonna be selfish and keep all that money for himself. He's got the club donating a couple thousand out of his contract each year to charity, and he'll be helping out the Boy and Girls club as well.

Braun has talked about how much he loves Milwaukee, and sees great potential in the team.

For the year, he already has nine home runs, tying Hall for first place in the club. His batting average is .287, with a jump to something like .417 when he's made a radio appearance that day. He's got an on-base percentage of .318 and a slugging percentage of .549 and total bases at 90 for the season. For more on his stats, go here.

Go Brewers!