C Note(s)

O Capitan! My Capitan! While a Walt Whitman title, it was something I was quoting (more hollering) in this tale of boating misadventure with my friend, John Stacy, one afternoon on Lake Sammamish located in Lake Sammamish State Park . In recent weeks, the sun has been making an appearance or two in the sky on my drive to my Clark Kent Job which reminded me of warmer months in Washington State. Then I remembered a boating misadventure with my friend. Several years ago, I was connected with John. One night while visiting, drinking beer and tossing around ideas, he suggested taking out his boat on Lake Sammamish to have some fun. We made a plan to boat the very next day. In the morning, I showed up bright-eyed and bushy-tailed. As an unwritten courtesy, I donated $20 to the gas for the boat. This is to help the cost of operating the vessel, and good faith that you'll assist the captain in any way, shape or form. Our plan was to troll around with no set agenda other than talk...

F ifty three years ago on August 28th, 1963, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his famous "I Have A Dream" speech . Well, I have a dream, too. That dream is similar to the end of his speech which was "all of God's children" be able to join hands. Equality for all, that's my dream. I've experienced racism in my lifetime which I'm sure or at least hope would shock and saddened Dr. King Jr. to learn about it. I learned about racism and bullying from bullies on the playground during recess at elementary school, and later from a Starbucks employee. In elementary school, racism was a daily occurrence, too. Or at least whenever the lead bully was attending school. I can imagine he was being abused at home. However, I'm only guessing. Who knows? Maybe he was born with asshole DNA, which I highly doubt that early in childhood because I'm thinking it was learned behavior? I digress . Please imagine the scene. Mountlake Terrace Elementary...

This week the management of Costco Woodinville, aka 747, announced whom they selected for the Front End Supervisors. Guess who has two thumbs, wears a red vest, and is on that short list? THIS GUY! To be perfectly honest, the announcement was a grip anti-climatic, and confusing to some of the crew, as they thought I was a supervisor already. I can see where some of the confusion lies, as it's been about late-summer since I had a cashier shift. One of the comments I received while receiving a high-five / fist bump / handshake was "You deserved it, Los". I paused at the comment before saying, "Well, I don't I deserve anything but a kick in the head every once in awhile. I do believe, however, I did EARN my way to the position. Or at the very least earned my way into the conversation." Deserving something has an instant repulsion reaction with me. Deserving to me means that I was entitled to that versus earning. I'm not entitled to anything but a...

Every time I'm introduced into a new group (or person) I know it'll take time for them to get to know me and vice versa. My Dad always told me, "that people will not talk with you if they don't like you. Time is a precious commodity that people won't wasted on unwanted activity or people." That really resonated with me since I'm a people person, per se. Especially regarding time being wasted as I've already posted my thoughts about that. They especially wouldn't haze you if you're not welcomed into the group as there's a difference between that and bullying. And that difference is based on intent. So when I joined the Costco Woodinville a year ago that reminded me of my hazy shade of winter... My story of hazing starts in the winter of 2002 at Costco Travel. I cleared the probationary 90 day challenge months ago, which I issued a challenge to the hiring manager. Costco Travel was experiencing a tremendous amount of growth, therefore...

With talk of snow in Seattle and the surrounding area, it reminds me of a one particular Snow Day above all. In 2013, the Boys and Girls Club of Seattle hosted Snow Day: The World's Largest Snowball Fight , which was an attempt at the Guinness Book of World Records . You see, I was still brokenhearted over the same girl. In order to rid her from my memories, I wanted to create new ones and quickly. One fateful afternoon I was scrolling through my Facebook News Feed and I encountered an advertisement that spoke to me. Not literally, of course, but it is possible. Party Camp was asking for support for an attempt at a world record. I thought instantly, "HELL YEAH, I wanna be part of history, and world record!" I reviewed the date, etc, and bought my ticket. I managed to convince several other friends to join me. I honestly didn't think anyone else would join me, but I soon discovered there was more than one person that support my oddball ideas of fun. It made me...