gutter ball

Couple of days ago, I was working at my new Menards job, and my training at the moment was to check, reset, and inventory the gutter aisle, which turned into a six hour project. But it looked great when I was done. I had warned my training manager that I might take longer, because I'm kinda meticulous about getting it looking right. He said, "That's why I'm having YOU do it."

About four hours into it, I saw a familiar face round the corner, and he began appraising the polycarbonate roof panels. I called out, Hey Coach Miller!", but he didn't seem to hear me.
I said, "Mr. Miller!", but still nothing. So I got up off my knees, and walked toward him, and
tried again. He looked up, and I was met with a perplexed look of confusion, as Coach tried to process why a smiling man in a blue vest was approaching him. I gave him the easiest way out I could think of, and I visibly pointed to my name tag, and said, "It's Jay Hornocker!". I waited a beat, and finally the recognition came, and he exclaimed, "Horn!!".

Harold Miller was our Phys-Ed teacher at North Side Junior High School back in the mid-seventies, and he was our basketball coach when we won the 9th grade City Championship back in 1976. I was a second or third stringer, and was really on the team for height, more than talent, but the height wasn't helping me that much either.

As I stood next to the polycarbonate roofing panels, Coach chuckled, and told me that he had just thought of me the other day. He asked if I remembered running "Death Valleys" after basketball practice. For the uninitiated, this was, and may still be a common ending to the basketball practices of most young players. Each player takes his turn stepping to the free throw line to shoot two free throws, as his teammates face him on the near baseline. If he misses, everyone sprints forward and back, from the baseline to the free throw line, the mid-court line, the far free throw line, and the far baseline. If he makes it, everyone rests. Practice typically isn't over until the last guy has hit two in a row. Which brings me into the story.

Coach Miller laughed as he asked, "Do you remember how all the guys groaned every time you stepped to the free throw line for Death Valleys?" I may have blocked out that particular memory of Junior High peer pressure and frustration. But I did remember that I wasn't nearly the best free throw shooter on the 1976 North Side Braves 9th Grade team.
In fact, I may have been the worst. This may have been one of the reasons I was the Indian Mascot, and not the Indian power forward once we arrived at Anderson High School.

However, Coach did recall that I never seemed to tire when I was running at basketball practice, and he may have been the one who suggested that I run track in the Spring. I did run, and managed to make a nice little high school career out of the 880 yard run, with a couple trips to the State Meet in Indy.

Unfortunately, I did not qualify for the finals of the "Death Valley".

Coach is now a full-time farmer, and we talked for a spell about this year's crop prospects, and I reminded him of the one summer day that Macy, Funk, and I baled hay for him on a sunny, 90 degree afternoon. Hardest days work I've ever done.

Eventually, we both had to get back to work. Coach, or rather, Farmer Miller had to get back to his farm on West Eighth Street, and I had to finish sorting my Menards gutter aisle.

We shook hands, and I helped him get a twelve foot roof panel off the rack, and he was on his way. But as he walked away, I recalled what a positive influence he had been for us, and how he had helped mold our character and values, and I was thankful that he had stepped up in our lives back in 1976.

And I felt just a bit less guilty for missing all those free throws after basketball practice.

stall

For this new school year at Interactive Academy, Debbie has taken on a new responsibility, as the primary teacher for the newly offered two-year old class. I'm not sure I agree with a two-year old being away from Mom, and at school from 8am till 4pm, but I guess Debbie wouldn't have a job if all the Moms home-schooled their young children, instead of working 9-5.

But Debbie is so good at knowing what they need and perceive of the world at this ripe young age, and she absolutely loves the challenge. And often the funny moments overshadow the challenges. And naturally, the first one happened in the bathroom.

Most of the "twos" are in the process of being potty trained, and may be wearing pull-ups, or straight diapers. Yesterday, Deb had a little boy in the class who insisted that he knew how to potty, and did not need Miss Debbie to help. She let him try the first time, and was impressed when he crawled onto the seat in the stall, did his business, flushed, and washed his hands, as he had presumably been taught at home. When he came out, Miss Debbie said "Good job!", and the boy returned proudly to the classroom.

Later in the afternoon, it was time for him, and another boy to potty, and the first boy once again claimed his potty independence. However, the other boy called for assistance, and Miss Debbie was there in the stall to help him out. As she stepped back from this boy's stall, she caught a curious sight through the crack into the independent boy's stall. He had once again dutifully crawled up onto the seat, and had done his business, however, Debbie now realized that on this trip, and most likely on his first trip, the boy had never bothered to take off his diaper, and he was sitting on the toilet seat dutifully doing his business, just as he had been trained at home.

Except, he was doing it right into a full diaper, as he sat on the seat, and even flushing afterward.

Debbie spoke with the boy's mom when she came to pick him up at day's end, and they had a bit of a laugh over it. Seems that he is on Pull-up's at home, but Mom was nervous about how he would do at school, so she sent him to school in the non-removable diaper.

I'll be curious to hear how it gets sorted out tomorrow.

remembering the season

relax.

Sometimes, after a long day, it just feels good to sit on the couch and enjoy some quality television programming. For many a night, Debbie and I would watch the back-to-back broadcasts of "House" on the USA Network, and we were especially happy when they ran a Sunday marathon.
But it eventually got to the point that we had both seen nearly every "House" at least once, so we dug out the first season of "Grey's Anatomy" from a box, and began watching that. I'd never seen it, so it took awhile to figure out who McDreamy was. Or Grey.

I'm not sure why, but a few months ago, we switched our viewing desires to the half-hour sitcom,
and we rented Season One of "Will & Grace". Actually, we borrowed it from the Lapel library.
We've continued through Season Three, and currently have Season Four on reserve at the Anderson Public Library. I think we may have borrowed and watched the first season of
"Two and a Half Men" recently, and while we are awaiting the arrival of W&G4, I remembered that I had borrowed the first season of "How I Met Your Mother" on DVD from an old Starbucks friend last December, just before I got downsized out. Guess I better get Joe's address, and mail this back to him. After we get through Season One.

Last night, we had a productive evening of hanging two key pieces of drywall, and a few rows of insulation, as well as, completing some installing and wiring of outlet boxes in Samuel's renovation-in-progress room. Actually 75% of the house is a renovation in progress, but Sam's room is the focus right now, so he can have his bedroom back for at least some of his Senior year.

After we put our tools down, we popped some popcorn (real kernal-popped on the stove, not microwaved in a bag), cracked open a couple bottles of frosty beverages, and we turned on
"How I Met Your Mother". The last episode we watched for the evening was set on New Year's Eve in New York. The main characters were determined to make it the best, most fun NYE ever, complete with the midnight kiss. It was a funny episode, but what made it memorable for me, was that it made me stop and try and remember where Debbie and I had spent New Year's Eve earlier this year.

It took a moment for me to recall that we hadn't really celebrated New Year's, or any of the holidays, for that matter, because I had lost my job on December 22nd, and then Mom had gone into ICU on the 24th, and she never came home. On New Year's Eve, we were in the process of admitting her into Hospice in Indy, and she had died in her sleep the morning of January 2nd.
I know I spent the night of Christmas Eve, and most of Christmas day in the ICU waiting room, and I may have been with Mom on New Year's Eve in hospice, but I really don't remember.

All this hit me, as I watched the sitcom characters kissing at midnight, and I broke down and had my first good cry on Debbie's shoulder in at least a couple of months. I was reminded how difficult the 2009 holidays may be for the Horn family, but I was comforted knowing that I'll be spending them with Debbie this year. And as much as I'll miss Mom over the coming months, I know how much I'll treasure kissing Debbie at midnight on New Year's Eve 2010.

God willing.

I got a job

Seven months after I was downsized out of my position of Starbucks Store Manager, I have been accepted into the Manager Trainee Program at Menard's, the #3 home improvement retailer in the U.S., behind Home Depot and Lowe's, but more impressive because Menard's is mostly Midwest regional, and privately held.

I haven't been the best of company in person, or on this blog for quite a few months, so I promise to improve on that, as I begin this new and exciting career journey. More later....