Cottonheaded ninneymuggins
Ready for the weekend. It's been a spate of meandering gatherings, financial foolishness, and struggling to keep my wits about me, but I think slowly but surely I'm winning.
Went to a Sunday morning version of my Hot yoga class and came out of it feeling good. This, in and of itself, was a major breakthrough as most of the time I'm wrecked. I found a pace and kept on at just the right clip that I was almost jazzed by the experience. I thought I had a bit of breakthrough of sorts. The euphoria lasted till Tuesday night, where with a new teacher, I was a trainwreck. The key isn't the heat, just the steady pace you keep your breath moving. I fell off the tracks about 40 minutes in and never quite got it back. Just one of those things, but the frustration can make you loopy.
It was the end of a very long day that had me in Syracuse to start. I met my counterparts from the Syracuse and Rochester Zoo to brainstorm and whatnot. I had been to Syracuse a number of times and it is always gray and overcast (kind of like the residents), but the Zoo was a little odd. It is mostly inside exhibits, impressive in a way. The buildings all link together around a courtyard that has a town square like feel to it, but reminded me if somebody used the "Old West" set from Fantasy Island. Ah well, I think the long day threw off my yoga mojo.
There is another board here that I am a liason for and they are exasperating in the extreme. By in large, I rumbling along just fine. Part of our monthly gatherings is to do a Zoo update as to what is going on. My part of that is talk about potential advertising, promotion and most importantly, corporate sponsorships. That last one is something that is tougher to get. Now, both my boss and the board chair also like to hear about prospects for sponsorships, people I'm working on to get them to try something zoo related. One of those is a meeting I have to take in January with one of the personal injury law firms. It certainly isn't my first choice, but they have money and are interested. Now this board heard that and crickets filled the room as there are a handful of lawyers from firms a little higher up on the corporate food chain. So, I got subjected to their attacks of self-righteousness. None of these folks have their companies doing anything at the Zoo. The state,city, county, and the school board are all talking money from us (or at least attempting to) and these jackasses want to give me a little shit about somebody wanting to invest in the Zoo? Puh-leeze. I felt frustation starting to enter my voice so I just stopped talking because there didn't seem to be much point.
Worst part was I had to hang out because they had their holiday party. I was in no mood to grin, so I sullenly slugged back a couple of beers with my boss, partook of what catering food I could identify and headed home. An annoying meeting/gathering that spanked my yoga time, which in turn will make whatever weekend class I get to that much more of a chore.
To quote Yosemite Sam, "I'm thinkin' but my head hurts.
On the much more pleasant side, I got invited to my brother's house christmas party on Wednesday evening after work. Without getting into too much detail, my older brother is a special needs guy and resides in a duplex with five other folks. It's a good setting, well-staffed and designed to create as normal living environs as is possible for individuals dealing with everything mental retardation, autism , to a few "isms" I'm still processing. With the staff's help, resources are pooled and this year they had a party at the Italian Village in Williamsville. I got invited last year, but a work committment kept me away. It was nice to see a genuine holiday thing, even more fun to get a peek into my brother when he isn't dependent on the family. It was the first time he'd seen me not at our parents house or at his place, so the look of pleased surprise he gave me was pretty great.
So, that was a nice place to hang my coat of this week. After plopping down for the Zoo's annual fund, City Honors graduation dues (which I hope means Daughter number one graduates), I figured as long as I was spending money that I shouldn't, what the hell. Number one son and I are going to go see the Sabres and Leafs play tonight.
"Dad, do they have pretzels bigger than my face?"
Yeah, they do. Good times
Went to a Sunday morning version of my Hot yoga class and came out of it feeling good. This, in and of itself, was a major breakthrough as most of the time I'm wrecked. I found a pace and kept on at just the right clip that I was almost jazzed by the experience. I thought I had a bit of breakthrough of sorts. The euphoria lasted till Tuesday night, where with a new teacher, I was a trainwreck. The key isn't the heat, just the steady pace you keep your breath moving. I fell off the tracks about 40 minutes in and never quite got it back. Just one of those things, but the frustration can make you loopy.
It was the end of a very long day that had me in Syracuse to start. I met my counterparts from the Syracuse and Rochester Zoo to brainstorm and whatnot. I had been to Syracuse a number of times and it is always gray and overcast (kind of like the residents), but the Zoo was a little odd. It is mostly inside exhibits, impressive in a way. The buildings all link together around a courtyard that has a town square like feel to it, but reminded me if somebody used the "Old West" set from Fantasy Island. Ah well, I think the long day threw off my yoga mojo.
There is another board here that I am a liason for and they are exasperating in the extreme. By in large, I rumbling along just fine. Part of our monthly gatherings is to do a Zoo update as to what is going on. My part of that is talk about potential advertising, promotion and most importantly, corporate sponsorships. That last one is something that is tougher to get. Now, both my boss and the board chair also like to hear about prospects for sponsorships, people I'm working on to get them to try something zoo related. One of those is a meeting I have to take in January with one of the personal injury law firms. It certainly isn't my first choice, but they have money and are interested. Now this board heard that and crickets filled the room as there are a handful of lawyers from firms a little higher up on the corporate food chain. So, I got subjected to their attacks of self-righteousness. None of these folks have their companies doing anything at the Zoo. The state,city, county, and the school board are all talking money from us (or at least attempting to) and these jackasses want to give me a little shit about somebody wanting to invest in the Zoo? Puh-leeze. I felt frustation starting to enter my voice so I just stopped talking because there didn't seem to be much point.
Worst part was I had to hang out because they had their holiday party. I was in no mood to grin, so I sullenly slugged back a couple of beers with my boss, partook of what catering food I could identify and headed home. An annoying meeting/gathering that spanked my yoga time, which in turn will make whatever weekend class I get to that much more of a chore.
To quote Yosemite Sam, "I'm thinkin' but my head hurts.
On the much more pleasant side, I got invited to my brother's house christmas party on Wednesday evening after work. Without getting into too much detail, my older brother is a special needs guy and resides in a duplex with five other folks. It's a good setting, well-staffed and designed to create as normal living environs as is possible for individuals dealing with everything mental retardation, autism , to a few "isms" I'm still processing. With the staff's help, resources are pooled and this year they had a party at the Italian Village in Williamsville. I got invited last year, but a work committment kept me away. It was nice to see a genuine holiday thing, even more fun to get a peek into my brother when he isn't dependent on the family. It was the first time he'd seen me not at our parents house or at his place, so the look of pleased surprise he gave me was pretty great.
So, that was a nice place to hang my coat of this week. After plopping down for the Zoo's annual fund, City Honors graduation dues (which I hope means Daughter number one graduates), I figured as long as I was spending money that I shouldn't, what the hell. Number one son and I are going to go see the Sabres and Leafs play tonight.
"Dad, do they have pretzels bigger than my face?"
Yeah, they do. Good times
In terms of the Zoo and the Personal injury Firm I wonder if it would be funny to get them to pay for the Hyange (sorry I can't spell) or some other animal that will eats it own young, maybe they would find that funny, HA. On a positive note maybe if some idiot jumps into pet a Polar bear and gets ripped to pieces that would be one law firm that couldn't represent him, HA. I'm Joking around. I can see why with how those firms are thought about or precieved that people would object to having a firm like that work with a zoo. But the point is they just need to say why they think it might be a bad idea and leave it at that they don't have to jump all over you about it. Hey times are tough and like you said zoos get less funding now you have to get it where you can (within reason of course).