An update to the apartment saga

Howdy.

Some of you might recall a post I put up a little while back detailing the situation with our apartment complex.

Long story short, they had determined that we were in violation of our lease in that we only officially were permitted one of the dogs and the apartment had a pungent pet odor (aka cleaner). This was back in June, and they had mentioned a follow-up inspection to see if the problems had been fixed.

Well, June ended, July came and went, and there was nothing. No follow-up, no notices, just them handing over lease-renewal information. We found this to be interesting, but mostly normal procedure (although I continue to find it funny that you'd offer lease renewal paperwork to someone you're actively trying to evict).

At this point, there wasn't much interest in renewing, but we felt like if they were going to be backing off, we'd at least consider it.

Well, they didn't actually back off. While I was away in Florida at GCX, they left another notice on the door for a follow-up inspection. The inspection was scheduled for Monday, the day before I got home. This left my roommate in a predicament. She had to work, and Kylie would possibly be home alone. As she did previously, she emailed the office and mentioned she'd be home on Wednesday, if they wanted to stop by then. Otherwise, a kid would be here home alone.

To our surprise, they did in fact show up on Wednesday, however, they provided absolutely ZERO indication that they were going to do this. They didn't respond to the email, nor did they put any notice on the door. They just didn't show on Monday, and instead came by on Wednesday.

I was there for this one.

When I tell you the property manager IMMEDIATELY fixated on the one dog, I mean it. She once again said we were only approved for one dog, then started going on about him being a pitbull and those weren't allowed here. The roommate asked where his paperwork was, and the property manager just kept saying "we don't have it."

She said they'd come back the following Monday, and once again repeated the whole pitbull nonsense to us as she left the apartment, while also making sure to throw out a whole thing about there being a pet odor in the apartment (although she avoided using the word pungent).

We got to work (AGAIN) and got the place cleaned up. We vacuumed, steam-cleaned, dusted, and did all the laundry. We then repeated the process again just to be thorough. The litter boxes weren't bad, but I cleaned those again anyway. We steeled ourselves for whatever nonsense they were going to throw at us.

They didn't show.

They then left us another series of notices, this time telling use to voluntarily leave the premises, otherwise eviction proceedings would begin. After an initial period of shock, my roommate got to work. She started looking EVERYTHING up pertaining to the apartment. We looked at the renewal paperwork. We had a friend look at it too, and this friend noticed some interesting details.

The first thing was the complex was not regularly giving 48 hours of notice to come in. The second, and more important detail, is that under Ohio's low-incoming housing standards, they have to provide 30 days to "cure" any minor violation before they can start threatening with eviction. This had not been officially done.

We also started combing our own records, looking for anything that could help prove that something was amiss with the dog. While we didn't find much, we did notice that the residential portal had both dogs listed. This was helpful because residents can't actually manipulate that, someone in the office had to. This means that when this portal was created 6 years ago, both dogs were registered.

I remain convinced that they either have the "missing" documentation and have been lying about it, or they "destroyed" it when they decided he was a pitbull mix. I will reiterate that both dogs were absolutely registered at move-in 10 years ago.

The real funny thing was when we went online to check some stuff, we noticed $2000 in charges were on our account. None of it was actually rent, but rather pet fees and fines. For both the "unregistered" dog, and for Arbalest. They actually went and charged double sets of fines and fees. This made the stakes for proving that both dogs were registered even higher. Arby we understand. The dog? Not so much.

Additionally, given that my roommate had a letter from her provider that had been given to her 6 years ago recommending a therapy animal, she decided that she was going to register at least the one dog and Arby as Emotional Support Animals (ESA). When registering Ogi, she found she could register both dogs at the same time, so she did that, then registered Arby separately. And before someone starts with the "oh, 3 animals for therapy?" bullshit, yeah. Arby calms down my kid, who does suffer from panic attacks. Ogi calms her sister down, and Shenzie, the other dog, calms mom down.

She then gathered everything she had discovered and started compiling emails. She pointed out all three animals were being registered as ESA's, she pointed out that she had provided a letter to the office 6 years ago about having a therapy animal, she pointed out how Ogi was in the resident portal, which means he was documented at least 6 years ago. She pointed out how they weren't abiding by the low-income housing standards, as well as a few other things that had been discovered.

She sent all of that in.

A few days later on a Tuesday, there was a notice on the door that there was going to be an inspection the next day (once again violating the 48 hour notice section). The inspection notice only listed "pet odor" as the reason behind the inspection, which was interesting since there was so much fixation on the one dog. So Tuesday night, I vacuumed and steam-cleaned the carpet again. We made sure everything was in good order. I was tired, but felt good about the condition of the apartment.

They did not come by.

A few days after that, there was another notice in the door. This was congratulating us on our anniversary of being in the apartment, and a reminder to send back the paperwork indicating if we were going to be renewing the lease or not.

It was so bizarre.

Now, in no way shape or form are we of the belief that we're in the clear. After all, the initial lease renewal paperwork was in between an inspection and the eviction threat. But this whole situation reaffirmed that we weren't going to stay here.

Kylie's mom applied for a mortgage and was granted an initial preapproval. There was an attempt at including me to try to bump up the preapproval, but my credit is truly in the dumpster right now, so it didn't really help (we'd need double the current down payment we could provide). But she has an initial approval, which means the process of looking for a house could begin. Whether we find something that fits what we'd want that we could move into before November remains to be seen, but we're at least able to look.

There are two back-up options if it doesn't work out though. There's a townhouse up for rent down the road which would work, plus another apartment complex we could theoretically go to. While we don't want to rent, if we have to, we will. It'll cost more, but it would also provide more space. The hope is to find a house though. We don't mind a bit of a project (in fact, we've often talked about preferring something that needs a little love that could infused with our own unique take), but the foundation, electric, and plumbing needs to be in good order.

We'll see how this shakes out, but for now, here's hoping that the complex has at least decided to back off for the next couple of months. I'm fully expecting another notice to be in our door though, since that's been the trend.

I'll post another update when we have some sort of idea what's going to happen next.

Life Update 2023 Edition

It has been quite a while, hasn't it?

When I decided to update the appearance of this blog with the idea of occasionally posting again, I hadn't really noticed how long it had actually been since I last updated this. I knew it had been some time, but seeing 2019 as the last time I posted here was pretty eye-opening.

It isn't because I have had nothing to talk about. Quite the opposite really.

See, the idea of a blog was much more appealing several years back before I started really dabbling with YouTube and even livestreaming over on Twitch. I built-up a rather decent tech YouTube channel (that I've since abandoned for a few reasons, but would like to resume soon), started dabbling with gaming content again, and even streamed a bit on Twitch, reaching affiliate status several months ago.

The blog, as a result, fell to the wayside. Is this an actual attempt to bring it back? That's to be determined, but I felt like this was an opportune time to use it. I could put this all into video form if I want (and I still may), but I feel using YouTube would, uh, cheapen the message I'm trying to convey. It probably doesn't, but in my mind, that's what would happen.

I also want to preface this by saying that when I get into current events later on, you know, the main reason I'm actually posting this, I'm not doing so as a plea for help. I'm not asking for help in any capacity. I'm simply expressing the current situation for people who have likely been wondering what's truly going on behind the scenes, as I've been fairly vague about how potentially severe things could possibly get.

The reason I haven't fully detailed things is because it isn't entirely known what is going to happen and I don't like to worst-case-scenario things publicly. A large part of this is because I know there's always someone who has it worse than me, and most of my issues are very much first-world issues. This was reinforced today by seeing two different people with homeless signs near the shopping center by our apartment. It could ALWAYS be worse. Another part is my stubborn mentality that we'll find a way through whatever potentially comes our way.

I just want it to be clearly laid out the intentions behind this post. I know someone will inevitably claim it's a way to ask for help, but I'm not. I am incredibly stubborn in this matter as I don't like asking or receiving help. I was recently gifted a special edition Switch from a friend for helping with content creation that I was reluctant in my acceptance of. It's in my nature, so again, I'm not doing this to ask for help. I'm doing this for transparency for people who I know genuinely care (and to avoid repeatedly explaining the situation repeatedly).

Before that though, let's talk about some other stuff first. I don't post as much on social media as I used to. This is very apparent on Facebook, I site I keep simply because it allows me to keep tabs on long-time friends, classmates, and family. I only have about 90 friends or so on there, so it's a small list compared to some, and I'm okay with that. I maybe post once every 3-4 months, which I know disappoints some who want to see more of Kylie and such, but I'm quite deliberate in what I post where for a reason (which is going to feel awkward when it's pointed out that she's appeared in several streams and YouTube videos). I don't do much on Instagram or Snapchat either, mostly because I don't take a ton of pictures, and the ones I do almost inevitably have something in there I don't want being out in the public (personal info and such).

Even Twitter, I site that I used to post extensively on, has been used less and less of late. Some of this is because of Elon being an absolute snake and taking something that, while not great, was at least moderately functional, and turning it into an even bigger pit of despair than it already was. I absolutely hate what he's done with it and yet it's still the easiest way to find and convey information, although a vast amount of it is fake.

I'm not even going to delve into all the nonsense that the site has encouraged with conspiracy theories, but I'll say this much as a catch-all: I believe women should be able to choose what they do with their bodies and that abortion is healthcare, I believe LGBQTIA+ deserve better and we need stop trying legislate them out of existence just because you don't know what else to be scared of, stop trying to shove religion into schools (while simultaneously complaining about drag shows and trans rights being shoved in your face), stop demeaning teachers, stop trying to white-wash history because poor white people feel bullied, and so on. I could actually go on for a while, but I already feel my blood pressure starting to rise, so I'm going to stop.

Oh, and vaccines are good. Stop with this nonsense. Joe Rogan trying to debate AN ACTUAL FUCKING HEALTHCARE PROFESSIONAL SHOULD NOT BE A THING.

Anyway, I digress.

Hell, remember when I liked sports? Social media ruined that for me, first with fantasy sports, then later with every single anonymous account attacking players and coaches when something didn't work out, as if they could do better. Everyone is an expert on everything and nuance is dead (this also applies to real-world stuff as people take an all-or-nothing approach to EVERYTHING).

So I lay back and watch things unfold. I pay attention to how people react and then take note if they backtrack or hold firm. I see a lot of tweets, but rarely interact anymore unless it's someone I deem a close friend, and even then, I miss half of them because Twitter has been such a shit-show when it comes to the technical side. I've found myself disappointed, but rarely surprised when I find out someone has been secretly a piece of shit human and it slips out for all to see.

More than anything, I'm tired of the bullying. I'm tired of people telling other people how to live, or how wrong they're doing things. I'm tired of the name-calling when people don't agree on something, and I'm tired of people just being shitty in general just because they don't agree. I don't care if you're conservative or not, but I will decide to remove you from my life if I find you constantly posting antagonizing shit because you think it's funny. I'm not going to try and change you or convince you that you're wrong, but frankly, it's not likely to change things and I'M FUCKING TIRED.

What have I been up to though? Well, about two years ago, I was getting really into Destiny 2, but was tired of doing a bunch of things solo because I didn't have a lot of friends playing the game, and the ones that did were somewhat inconsistent. So in August of 2021, I began searching Twitch in the hopes of finding a community that showed some promise and give me more opportunities to do things like raids, dungeons, and Grandmaster Nightfalls. The first few channels I checked didn't cut it, but then I bounced into Alltimebrianna's stream, and was immediately struck by how engaging she was with her chat, as well as how engaging chat was too. It felt it held potential, so I joined the discord and started watching as many streams as I could.

At first, things didn't really change much, and that was okay. I was still working on figuring out the vibe and where I could fit in with the community. I did get a chance to do both a Pit of Heresy dungeon run with B and another member of her community, Mainpayne, and that experience was solid. I later then got to do Shattered Throne with her and FliptheGiant, and that's going to be important later. Beyond that, I didn't participate a ton, but was always there.

Fast forward a few months, around January 2022, and things started to change. I was invited to do a couple of raids that I hadn't done before, and the vibe was good enough that Flip later would message me about possibly doing my first GM. This is when I officially started running things with what would become known as the Trifecta of Chaos (myself, Flip, and FollowMeImFaded). We vibed immediately and things were never the same for me in this game.

I began getting pulled into more stream-related activities, at first because Flip would bring me along, but later because B would directly ask me. I incorporated myself into what would become a very tight-knit group of people within the community as time went on, and it was still just the beginning.

I'm not going to spend a lot of time gushing about it, but I think this community is one of the best in all of gaming, if not THE best. Sure, it's easy to say that as I get the privilege of spending a lot of time with these goobers on a daily basis, but it is easily one of the best things that's EVER happened to me in gaming, and aside from a few things, in life. I truly can call some of these people some of my best friends now, and I look forward to meeting them all at GCX in August 2023 (right before my two year anniversary conveniently enough).

I'm also privileged enough to be B's video editor for her YouTube channel, something that I need to spend more time focusing on, but as you might have gathered, time isn't always on my side. But it's an opportunity I'm blessed to have been given and I enjoy creating new videos for her channel and I'm excited to see us push forwards towards potential YouTube partnership, as well as partner on Twitch.

This does mean I've put significantly less time towards my own content creation, which I want to be clear I am NOT complaining about. If I had to choose, I'd rather help someone else create content all day and night. The idea of being a full-time video editor is intriguing, but is far too much of a risk right now for me to seriously consider. But if that chance did arise, I'd jump at it. As it stands, I just need to devote a few hours a week to her content and we'd be good. I just have to do it.

Of course, I still have a kid to focus on, and Kylie is a continued source of joy for me. She's now 10 and seeing this awkward mess of limbs pursue karate has been one of the most interesting things I've watched happen. She genuinely loves it though, and it's the one thing aside from video games that seems to have stuck with her. The other major development with her is a rising enjoyment of rollercoasters. She's terrified of heights, yet despite that, has ridden most of the coasters at Cedar Point now. She recently conquered Rougarou and expressed it to be one of her new favorites along with Gatekeeper and the new Wildmouse ride that opened.

The best part? She's now keeping her eyes open going down the first hill, which is a MASSIVE development. She previously would keep them closed until after the first hill, which is when she'd open them. But with this last trip, she kept them open for the entire time on all of the coasters we rode. Proud doesn't begin to sum up how I feel about this kid and I hope she continues to try and do big things, despite growing up in a world that's again becoming increasingly hostile towards women.

As an aside, with the recent news that some parents/grandparents have decided to determine that women with short hair are actually trans men and try and get them inspected at events, I ABSOLUTELY FUCKING DARE ANY OF YOU ASSHOLES TO SAY SOMETHING ABOUT HER. Kylie has had shaved sides and shorter hair on top for years now and I dare any of you inconsiderate transphobic assholes to say something. You WILL regret it. I would die for that kid and that's all you need to know the lengths I'd go to defend her.

She also does know karate, so I would absolutely let her unleash her fury upon you and maybe even hold you down. Keep that in mind. Thanks for coming to my TED talk.

Now, for the difficult stuff.

First, some backstory. When we moved in 10 years ago, we came with two dogs and two cats. This was not a problem and at the time, the cats didn't have to be registered, but the dogs did. They were both registered and compliant with the lease requirements as far as we knew. Granted, 10 years is a long time and it's highly likely that the requirements have changed, but we've never been presented with any indication of that.

As an aside for anyone unfamiliar with my living situation, I share this apartment with Kylie's mom, who is my ex. We get along great as friends and coparent like champs, and it's allowed me to stay close to Kylie for her entire life. As it stands, she is the primary resident on the lease, which is important for later on.

It has not been a pleasant last few weeks however. The apartment complex management has suddenly become a bit more hostile towards its residents and we've come into their focus of late. We recently had a notice on our door, conveniently placed at 3pm on a Friday, indicating it had been brought to management's attention that our apartment wasn't up to their standards and they'd be performing an inspection the following Monday. This left virtually no indication of what the actual problem was, and left us with very little time to prepare. That said, we did what we could and left it up to fate.

They didn't actually get in until Wednesday when no one was home, and we didn't get the results until Friday (a week after the initial notice). This is when we were hit with a bit of a sucker punch. The letter claimed we were in violation of the lease in that we were only allowed to have one dog and if we didn't remove the unauthorized animals immediately, we'd be evicted. Again, this notice was placed late in the day on Friday. It also made note of a "pungent pet odor," which was interesting given we had deep cleaned the carpet in particular, but it was clear they were focused on the number of animals (they noted two dogs and a cat).

Now, Kylie's mom has some pretty severe anxiety, which means she prefers to communicate through email when possible, and her anxiety was through the roof in this situation. We noticed that the "copy" of the lease they presented was just the final page that she signs, and there was no indication there of how many animals were permitted. This was noted in her email to the management. She also asked when the pet policy changed as when we moved in, this wasn't an issue and we moved here specifically because they allowed two dogs and didn't care about the cats.

They have not responded as far as I know, and as of this post, it's been two weeks since they threatened eviction. At this point, we're entirely anticipating it could happen, which has meant formulating plans in case it does. The dogs are the biggest issue in those situation, as most places that rent will only allow one at max, but it does seem like there's at least one option. The less-desirable one, and the one that would be hardest to achieve because of how things are for me right now financially, is me getting a place of my own and taking at least the one dog with me.

Financially, this is a challenge. My credit isn't good because of high credit utilization on my cards (largely due to kidney stone issues I had a couple of years back), which I've been unable to drag down. Combine that with some other stuff that I will not get into too much detail with (car payment and such), it's been a battle. There is a light at the end of the tunnel as I'll be done with one thing I've been paying on in November, which would free up some money, and my car lease being up in February could possibly alleviate some issues, but for the short-term, I don't have a lot of wiggle room. I do have inheritance money from my grandfather coming, but that's on hold as my uncle put my dad's middle initial on the check and the bank wouldn't accept it. I sent it back to him and am awaiting a corrected check.

There are other possible options of course, which I will not lay out here, but the hope was to manage until November and get a little breathing room there. I'm still hoping for that, but the stark reality here is even if they don't actually evict us, it's very unlikely they offer a lease renewal, which would still mean attempting to find a place by November regardless.

Yes, it's stressful, but thankfully, my child and my friends have helped make this far more bearable. Kylie is a natural stress reliever in she's just a good kid, and my friends have offered me a respite from the stress by providing a ton of laughter. In the end, what happens is what happens. I can only control so much, and I recognize that. What I can do is occasionally stream more, as I did just receive a payout from Twitch that caught me by surprise (thanks to those who stayed subbed even though I haven't streamed in over four months). I could put some effort into either YouTube channel and see what happens there.

But for now? I'm going to try and focus down one credit card and try and get that under control. Medical expenses from my kidney stone ordeals did the damage there, but I was also lax in getting it back under control when I had the chance to.

As with life in general, I take things one step at a time and adjust to whatever it throws at me (and us). Again, this isn't for a pity party, but rather just to provide some context and info for anyone wondering why some days I just might not be myself, or even around at all. I know there are people who care and I don't want them to be left wondering what the hell is happening.

Also, this is way longer than I anticipated, but here we are.

It's been quite a while since my last post, and while I can't promise I'll regular post here, I just may start using it again. We shall see.

A little (long) blurb about sports

*Caution - this will be long*

Sports used to be important to me.

I used to watch all the games. I used to post about them on social media quite frequently. If it involved the Indians, Cavs, Browns, or Buckeyes, I was all over it.

This was a deep-rooted thing within me, something that had been instilled in me at a very young age. I was raised on Cleveland and Ohio State sports and that has never gone away.

But it isn't significant anymore.

I still pay attention and still occasionally watch games, but rarely do I go out of my way to watch. I'm more likely to glance at the score on my phone and see what people are saying on Twitter than to actually watch. I've been transitioning in this regard since 2016.

Prior to that though? I watched all the games. I was invested in them. I hung on every last play, watched until the inevitable heartbreak occurred.

It occurred often.

The tragedy of Cleveland sports has been played over and over again. At least, it used to be. It's kind of died down since June of 2016. At least it seems that way to me. Maybe the sports montages still play, but because I'm not watching much anymore, I don't see them.

It's just funny when I think about how invested I used to be, how angry and upset these games would make me. I see others reacting that way now and I just can't let myself get that way anymore. It consumed me at times, sometimes to the point of breaking me when the inevitable bad thing would happen.

Consider this: I'm not quite old enough to remember Red Right 88 (I wasn't out in this world just yet), but "The Drive," The Fumble," and "The Shot" are all things I remember vividly. I was jumping up and down when it appeared Ernest Byner was running into the end zone when he fumbled. I didn't even know he fumbled until I saw the Denver Broncos players celebrating, at which point it hit me like a bag of bricks: they were going to lose and fall short of the Super Bowl again.

I lost it. I was just a kid, but it stung. It stung bad.

The Drive didn't feel good either, but I don't think I was as emotionally invested at that point because I was maybe 5?

The Shot, when Michael Jordan hit a game winning jumper in game five against the Cavs, was also painful. The Cavs were great that year and Jordan wasn't quite, well, Jordan at that point. This was the moment that catapulted him to the stardom that he eventually achieved, all while dooming the Cavs to being second fiddle in the East while the Bulls took the mantle from the Detroit Pistons.

It was unfortunate really. Mark Price, Brad Daugherty, Larry Nance, and company were good. They played beautiful basketball and could've had a run of dominance, but that Jordan fellow instead blew up into one of the greatest players to ever play the game, and the Cavs truly didn't have an actual window again until the first Lebron era.

The Indians during this stretch of the late 80's and early 90's were straight trash, more likely to lose 100 games than make the playoffs. I still remember going to a bunch of games (including Nolan Ryan's last appearance in Cleveland), but there was nothing memorable about them. The season was often over by June and it was time to look forward to the Browns and Cavs.

The Browns were my team though. Bernie Kosar, Byner, Kevin Mack, Webster Slaughter, Reggie Langhorne, Michael Dean Perry, Clay Matthews, Frank Minifield, Hanford Dixon, and so on were the toast of the town for a few years. They were good, they were fun, they were constantly in the mix for the playoffs. They had 3 AFC Championship game appearances, all against the Broncos, all losses. It always felt like they were right there, but couldn't quite get over the hump.

Like the Cavs.

Kosar was my favorite player on the Browns, Price was who I emulated when I played basketball. The Indians? Well, they always had Cory Snyder, right?

Then things shifted. The Browns started to struggle a bit, Kosar was benched, and eventually the team was moved to Baltimore because Art Modell somehow couldn't make money with the most profitable franchise in the city and was also mad because his team didn't get a new stadium first. Bill Belichick, who was the coach at the time of the move, was let go by the newly christened Ravens. We know how that story turned out. We also know how the Ravens became the dominant defensive team of the 2000's and won a Super Bowl.

Meanwhile, the Cavs fell into mediocrity under Mike Fratello and became mostly forgotten until Lebron James came around. The Indians though, well, they took advantage of the situation and became a powerhouse for several years.

This was the next stage of sports depression though. The Indians made the World Series in 1995, but couldn't handle the pitching of the Atlanta Braves and fell short, losing in six games. It felt like they'd be back though as the core of the team was set to return in 1996.

But baseball is funny and sometimes things take weird turns and the Orioles bouncing the Indians in the opening round in 1996 was not fun. It felt like the Indians thought they'd just show up and advance, and the Orioles took advantage and outplayed them.

They took advantage of a weak division in 1997 and made the playoffs again, but no one expected them to do much. Yet they made it to the World Series again and this time, they were in prime position to win it all. There are stories of how the champagne was already getting set up in the locker room when Jose Mesa infamously blew the most important save of his career, giving up the lead in the bottom on the ninth in game 7. The then Florida Marlins went on to win in extra innings.

That one perhaps stung the most. The Indians were right there. They had it won. The celebration was going to happen. Then it was ripped away in an unfortunate moment. I know a lot of the fan base was mad at Mesa, but the guy had been one of the best closers in baseball for a while. It sucked, but the sports gods didn't think it was Cleveland's time again.

The Indians never got back to the World Series with that group and wouldn't see the fall classic again until 2016. They had some good teams and some interesting runs, but the team of the mid-nineties never managed to pull it off.

The Browns leaving in 1995 was one of the most insane things I ever witnessed as a sports fan. It felt like it was impossible that it could happen, but there was Modell, gleefully displaying how happy he was to move the team to Baltimore. A football town had its team ripped away from them in the most unthinkable way imaginable. 

The void left was strange and while the Indians managed to capture the attention of most of the fans, the Cavs weren't great during this time. The announcement of the Browns returning was great news, but the fact that they were being rushed back for 1999 made me nervous. It felt like a real short period of time to try and put things together.

Sure enough, opening night 1999 against the Pittsburgh Steelers confirmed this as the Browns were rolled and the plan to bring Tim Couch along slowly was tossed out the window. He was the first in a long line of quarterbacks ruined by the Browns, and perhaps, the most talented. I still feel like he could've been a good NFL quarterback, but the first few years really ruined him.

The Browns though. How bad have they been since they came back in 1999? One playoff appearance, two winning seasons, and one infamous winless season. Nevermind the incredible list of quarterbacks and head coaches that have come through. Every time there is a glimmer of hope, that hope is then destroyed by all sorts of calamities.

Even last year's season of hope has been followed up with a train wreck, but more on this current season later.

The Browns have been horrific though. While most other teams at least show occasional glimpses of competence, the Browns muddle about, not in mediocrity, but in mostly despair. They have been historically bad at times and most of the season is spent wondering who they'll draft the following spring.

Thankfully, the Ohio State Buckeyes came through on the championship front, winning it all in 2002 against the Miami Hurricanes, a game that most thought the Buckeyes would get destroyed in. Instead, they played solid on both sides of the football, and with a little help, managed to pull off the upset. It was fun, but it didn't feel as significant as it would have if a Cleveland team had won something. It was still fun.

Then, in 2003, the Cavs started to give us hope with the arrival of Lebron James. He was the superstar that we had never really experienced, a player who even at a young age, felt like a generational player. He was easily the most gifted athlete the city had seen in several years, and he was our own. If anyone was going to bring a championship to the city, it was him, right?

Kind of.

They did make it to the NBA Finals in 2007. It was the first appearance for the franchise and it felt like an indication of things to come.

Again, kind of.

The first Lebron era was weird. It had that peak in 2007, then kind of disintegrated. The last two years he was here the first time around, the Cavs were great in the regular season, but bowed out of the playoffs early. Each time, it felt more and more likely that something very Cleveland-like was going to happen.

In 2010, it happened. The Decision, as it was called, which was when LeBron announced he was going to Miami. It was for most, crushing, but for me, it didn't feel like much. I had expected it, and while it sucked the way he delivered the news, it wasn't the jarring experience. I certainly didn't burn any jerseys, but hated that people went to that extreme (seriously, why burn things like that?).

That was a lean time in Cleveland. The Indians weren't very good (I believe these were the Manny Acta years, but I'm not researching it; I just know they were bad), the Cavs were awful (even after Kyrie Irving was drafted), and the Browns were finding new ways to make the fans miserable. Even the Buckeyes hit a rough patch for a bit there before Urban Meyer became the coach and righted the ship.

While the Browns have continued to Browns over the last several years, last year excluded somewhat, the Indians started showing signs of life in 2013. They drafted well and managed to build up some nice, young talent that got them on a run that was pretty good until this last season.

The real turning point though was the Cavs getting LeBron back for his second stint to go along with Irving and the newly acquired Kevin Love. That team was fun, if not a bit melodramatic. It began a string of 4 consecutive trips to the NBA Finals, something that was unheard of in previous years.

The first one was a strange one to me. Love had been lost to injury in the first round, then Irving went down in overtime of game one of the Finals, leaving the team severely depleted. Despite that, they went up 2-1 before the Golden State Warriors realized Matthew Dellavedova shouldn't be causing them fits and won the next three games. Most fans lamented on what could have been if Love and Irving had been healthy. The team had been dominant in the second half of the season and the Warriors weren't quite the juggernaut they were about to become yet.

The following season, David Blatt was fired as coach after a 30 point beating by the Warriors, handing the job to Ty Lue, who did a nice job refocusing the team. They mostly coasted to the Finals, only losing twice to the Raptors in the Eastern Conference Finals before pretty much demolishing them in the final two games.

The stage was set for an epic rematch with the Warriors in the Finals again.

Then they lost by 30 in game one. Then they got destroyed in game two. Irving and Love were pretty bad and it suddenly seemed like we were caught in the midst of another juggernaut. Remember, this was the year the Warriors were 73-9 and virtually unstoppable. I didn't feel good about it and was resigning myself to the fate that was coming.

Then the Cavs won by 30 at home. It was a complete role reversal. Everyone played well and it seemed like the Cavs had found something that worked against the Warriors.

At least until the second half of game three when the Warriors countered and managed to come from behind to win. However, Draymond Green couldn't keep his feet to himself and attempted a crotch shot on LeBron that ended up getting him suspended. Warriors fans will try to convince you that Green was innocent and didn't deserve a suspension, but the NBA had warned him about his flailing feet after some shenanigans against Steven Adams of the Thunder in the previous round.

The Warriors and their fans had all kinds of jokes and comments about the suspension and LeBron and seemed to think that the series was pretty much over since it was back at Oracle Arena, where the Warriors had been difficult to beat. But the Cavs, more specifically, LeBron and Kyrie, weren't interested in the story ending there.

They both scored 41 points and LeBron followed that up with another 41 in game six as the Cavs won both games to force a game seven. I felt content as a fan at this point. They had battled back, made the series interesting, and had shown they weren't going to give up. It was perhaps the most pride shown by a team that I could remember, which made it easier to deal with game seven.

I didn't really watch much of it. I instead kept watching Twitter and the score on my phone. The ebb and flow of the game was tremendous, but I couldn't watch it. I refused to watch what could've been a celebration by the Warriors. The only way I was going to turn that TV on was if it was certain the Cavs were going to pull it off.

The game went by and the back and forth was incredible. Neither team could really separate and a series that had been defined by blowouts was as close as could be in the deciding game. Then LeBron had the block, Irving made the game-changing three pointer, and Love forced Steph Curry into a bad shot. They were right there, with the ball, and a chance to seal the deal.

It was nearly spectacular. I turned it on right as LeBron attempted to destroy Green with a dunk, only to get fouled. His first free throw was short, and the nervousness started to creep in. This is how things fall apart. Missed free throws leave the door open to the greatest three point shooting teams ever, and they never miss in those situations. Yet LeBron made the second free throw.

The game was essentially over.

Yes, weird stuff could happen, but the Cavs were careful. They defended, but didn't foul until about 6 seconds left, which was okay because it wasn't a shooting foul. The Warriors were down four with 6 seconds to go, something that they couldn't even overcome. Curry's three was off, Mo Speights missed his shot, the horn sounded, the city celebrated.

Why detail all these moments? Because this is when everything changed on how I viewed sports. I had watched the Cavs win it all. The misery was no more for me.

I suddenly didn't care as much.

Sure, I followed as the Indians went on their own surprise run to the World Series, falling just short again, but it didn't sting like it did in 1997. Sports just weren't as important anymore suddenly.

Which leads me to the state of the current Browns. I'm indifferent to it. I go on social media and see people angry, frustrated, sad, and complaining about the team. I just shrug my shoulders and go back to what I was doing.

I can't get worked up by it anymore. Disappointing Indians season? I have Destiny 2 to play. Browns looking like poo with all the talent they have? I have a kid who wants to play Stardew Valley with me. Cavs? They're bad but kind of fun, so eff it.

The point is, sports just aren't the same to me anymore. Sure, they're fun to watch and I still root for my teams, but the emotional impact isn't the same. I just enjoy watching sports in general and appreciate good teams.

I think most get too worked up by sports, but I can't blame you if you're one of them. I was once that person. I'm not anymore.

Sports used to be very important. Now I just relax and enjoy things for what they are.

Change comes calling

Before I get too far into this, no, I'm not leaving Signature Health, nor did I get a new job. I know some will see something about my job and think that's what's happening, particularly since those who work in the Willoughby office may have noticed new faces in the pharmacy.

For those who don't like to read, I'll get right to the announcement as this may be a lengthy post depending on how much of a roll I get on and I know some of you may not want to read much. The gist of what I have to announce is that as of tomorrow, Monday, May 6th, I'll no longer be working exclusively out of the Willoughby pharmacy.

Rather, I've agreed to take on the role of inventory specialist across all Signature Health Pharmacy locations. This is a rather large change and will involve more working out of the corporate office (where I've been working out of most Fridays since last summer anyway) and traveling to all the locations we have. So yes, you'll still occasionally see me pop my head into the Willoughby location from time to time, but it won't be as often and you may not even see me at all since I'll be in to mostly work on inventory related tasks.

Now that the actually announcement is out of the way, for those who don't mind reading the rambling thoughts of someone who's been in a pharmacy for over 20 years at this point, I'm going to go back to the beginning.

Before I do that though, I need to make it clear how much I had to actually think about this decision. I've been with Signature Health for nearly 9 years. I helped start the pharmacy and was there when the doors opened for the first time on June 1st, 2010. I've watched the pharmacy grow from 30 a day, to 100 a day, to easily eclipsing 500 on Monday alone. We've hit milestone after milestone and have grown from a single pharmacist and tech in a single location to having several full-time pharmacists, part-time pharmacists, float pharmacists, and multiple techs across 5 pharmacies.

The growth has been astronomical and staggering at times. And it hasn't always been easy, but we've always managed to find a way to get the job done. And to say it's simply because of the pharmacy staff would be a dramatic understatement. Every nurse, prescriber, counselor, case worker, administrative assistant, and anyone else who's recommended a client use our pharmacy, or in some cases used the pharmacy themselves, deserves credit for the pharmacy succeeding the way it has.

We fill more scripts in a week than a lot of major chain pharmacies, and that's with us being closed earlier than most pharmacies during the week and not being open at all during weekends and major holidays. We recently hit 6500 total scripts in a month, a new record for us. The place is hopping.

The Willoughby pharmacy is special to me though. I was there from the start. It was a huge chance I took, leaving CVS and deciding to venture into the unknown. There was absolutely no guarantee the pharmacy would succeed. But I felt like we could do it. I've put a lot of time into that pharmacy, and in particular the last couple of years, a lot hours into making sure it stayed rolling along even through drastic change.

Looking back now, I had to do it.

I spent my first 13 years with CVS. I was tired of the way we were treated, tired of the way corporate didn't care about its employees. I was tired of being tired. Cliched, I know, but it was true. Then a girl I was dating at the time showed me the job listing (or maybe it was her Aunt who found it, either way, I'm fairly certain Tara was the one who showed me the listing and she can correct me if I'm wrong). I had nothing to lose so I went for it.

The discontent at CVS wasn't something that sprung up overnight of course. It festered for quite some time before finally reaching a boiling point. Of course, CVS wasn't always that bad. Sure, the pay was never great, but for a long while, it was something I could endure. It was my first job, and I took pride in getting it and sticking with it for as long as I did.

I applied for the job back in the summer of 1997. I was entering my junior year in high school. My mom needed help so it was mutually decided that I get a job. Back then, CVS didn't exist in this area, it was Revco, and there was one in the shopping corner across from my street in Brunswick. I went in, put in an application, then waited.

The call came from the Strongsville store though, which was a mild inconvenience. The idea with the one by my house was I could walk to it with ease. This wasn't quite as easy, but given they were hiring, my mom told me to go for it. I went in for an interview and was offered a job shortly thereafter. 

I started on Labor Day, September 1st, 1997. I was just shy of my 17th birthday and at first, I worked as a cashier before slowly moving my way into stocking. I met a lot of people while there, a few I still keep in contact with to an extent. It wasn't long before I was a shift supervisor, but that wasn't going to be my path. In fact, just a couple months after I started, it wasn't even Revco anymore as CVS had already begun the process of converting the Revco stores over.

No, my interest in pharmacy began to grow the following summer. That old style store meant the pharmacy was behind the front registers, which meant constant contact with the pharmacy staff and I found the world of pharmacy to be fascinating. When an opening popped up in August 1998, I decided I wanted in. The pharmacist in charge at the time felt it was a good match and the store manager reluctantly allowed it, although he wanted me to work on the floor at night when we were slow.

And we were slow. We were terribly slow. A good week was 1000 scripts and that wasn't that frequent. The store was in an old shopping plaza where Tops (previously Finast) used to exist. That spot had long been vacated (although a Pat Catan's eventually moved in there right before I left) and while other locations were getting brand new stores, we were left out.

Of course, this meant we got away with a lot of things and were generally avoided when corporate came to town. But it was boring and people were moving on.

My pharmacist in charge had been relocated to the Berea store not long after I started working in the pharmacy and my friend Mike grew disenchanted with CVS and moved on to a couple of jobs before eventually coming back for a bit. I was feeling underutilized and my previous pharmacist in charge was trying to convince me to transfer to his store.

The politics behind that when I decided I wanted to transfer were pretty awful. My manager refused to agree to it at first, then said I couldn't go until a replacement was trained.

I honestly couldn't tell you who was trained. I didn't care. I was done with that location, wanting to move on to a new challenge. The Berea store was one of the busiest stores in the region, a stark contrast to the Strongsville store. Berea was known for easily breaking 600 scripts on a slow Monday. But I wanted that pace, I wanted a new challenge.

In 2000, I got my wish and began my time at that store. It was definitely a different world. For one, the store was actually relatively new, so it was set up how CVS wanted its pharmacies to be at the time. It had a drive-thru, it had automated filling, and the pace was something I hadn't seen before.

I caught on quickly though and quickly integrated myself into how the store operated. There were good times, there were bad times, and I was definitely not always a model employee, but the job would get done we tried to have as much fun as possible.

One day I'll get into more detail the shenanigans that went on there, and touch on some of the lower moments for myself, but this isn't post isn't meant to go into great detail on this time. Let's just say that it became increasingly clear that CVS corporate, and the Local 880 union, didn't really do much for the staff.

It wasn't uncommon to have corporate kiss up to a customer, even if the customer was clearly in the wrong, because they wanted to keep that business. There was nothing really liking have a customer tell me to go fuck myself because he didn't have his kid's insurance card, then have corporate throw a $25 gift card at him to keep his business.

This, along with the increasing cuts in hours while adding to the workload, made for a very stressful environment and morale was crashing down pretty hard. We continued to do the best that we could, but it was clear that corporate didn't care how stressed we were, they just wanted to keep piling things on.

They added phone calls, pages upon pages of them, that had to be completed each day in a weak attempt at keeping customers compliant (what it really ended up being was another way to boost script counts). They decided that pharmacists should give vaccines, which was more work, but then they made the vaccines a priority. If you came in with your sick kid's antibiotic and someone showed up wanting a flu shot, well, your kid's antibiotic got shoved to the side because CVS required flu shots be done first and foremost. They continued to cut hours while increasing the kinds of calls to make.

It became suffocating.

The breaking point for me was two separate points that summed up how corporate treated us.

We were busy as shit, running around like mad. The bigwigs, as they were referred to, showed up in the middle of an intense rush. We were filling scripts on time, moving people through the drive-thru quickly, answering phones in the time required, yet all this one particular asshole noticed was that there was dust on top of the highest shelf. He turned towards the staff and asked if anyone was intending on cleaning this.

We all stood there, dumbfounded. One pharmacist spoke for all of us though when he asked "are you kidding me? We're busting our asses and your worried about the dust up there? How about you clean it then?"

It was a moment I won't forget because it was a clear signal that they didn't care about us. They didn't care how hard we were working. They wanted us to do more.

The other moment was when we blew past the budget they expected us to hit for script count, then promptly shaved 60 tech hours away while increasing the budget. It was a punch to the gut and the final straw in all reality. I was ready to go. I was done with that place.

I was done with retail pharmacy.

Then I came across the job listing for a new pharmacy opening up within Signature Health. I jumped on the chance and was determined to not just get an interview, but land the job. I needed to get out and I needed a change of pace.

I remember feeling very good after the interview and thinking I had a real chance even though I was told there was another good candidate. I felt I had to have this job, had to get out of CVS.

We know how this turned out. I landed the job and was in the building prior to June 1st, 2010 to prepare the new pharmacy for its first day. I remember sitting at a computer, running test claims on dozens of fake scripts to make sure all the insurance contracts were good to go. I helped set the pharmacy up and helped figure out how we were going to operate.

On June 1st, the first Signature Health Pharmacy opened up and the rest is history.

It was exactly what I needed.

Too bad I was a shitty coworker for much of the first 6 years. Okay, so most of the time I was okay. I showed up, did the job, but I grumbled a lot. I was extremely moody. I was resistant to things I didn't like or want to do. I slacked off a lot and was annoyed when people wanted me to help with something.

The constant theme of my reviews was my attitude needed to improve, how I treated the clients needed to improve. I didn't adjust it right away, or if I did, it didn't last long.

I made a lot of mistakes.

The reality of it all was I was looking for a break. I wanted to do less work while getting paid more. Sure, there was motivation at the beginning and pride, and this isn't to say I didn't do the job. I absolutely did the job. I just didn't go above and beyond and if I did, it was for the wrong reasons.

After Kelley took over as pharmacist in charge, I had to shape up. She wanted and expected more out of me. Yet I resisted a lot of the time. I made excuses when I was constantly running late, made excuses when I wasn't answering the phone. I wasn't being accountable with myself and I was putting the burden of fixing my attitude on others who had to deal with it.

It took a while for me to realize that empathy is a wonderful thing. I wasn't empathetic at all the first few years. While the client base was much better than CVS's, I continued to react to them like they were a CVS customer.

It wasn't good enough.

Oddly enough, sometimes you have to see yourself in someone else to realize what you're doing wrong. You have to see someone else doing the things you were doing to realize how awful it looked. I had to see that. It's how I had to learn to be better.

I eventually realized about 2 or 3 years ago that how I was wasn't working for everyone else. I had to be better. I vowed to be better. I made myself be better.

I stopped letting personal life stuff affect my attitude at work. Once I was done entering scripts at drop-off, I didn't just sit and browse social media; I realized I should be helping others with what they're doing. I made myself more available, opened myself up to doing other things than drop-off. I started to understand empathy and stopped reacting with a nasty attitude, but rather tried to figure out how to deal with the situation in a more positive manner.

I saw what was wrong with me and grew up. I found ways to be helpful, made myself available for whatever needed to be done, and in some cases, became the voice of reason when things were challenging.

And 2017 in particular was challenging. There was turmoil, there were moments where we were barely staffed, and at times, my pharmacist Kerri and I were pretty much the only ones working in Willoughby.

We spent a LOT of time working together to keep things afloat. We had to. It meant I had to be willing to be everywhere needed.

I spent much of 2017 and early 2018 on drop-off. I grew to appreciate not being there, and when Regina came aboard, was more than happy to let her have a day over there to give me a breather. I relished it even.

By the summer of 2018 though, the winds of change were beginning to pick up. I didn't know it yet of course. It started as an offer of overtime to work on inventory related issues that had become concerning. I spent almost every week last summer working on Friday on overtime, figuring out what was going on and trying to come up with a solution.

It felt like an audition at times, like I was being prepped for something. I wasn't sure what, but there were whispers of an inventory-based position. Nothing that I could confirm at the time, but just things I had heard.

Of course, that came to be the case, and while I can't say for certain my inventory work was an audition, it sure feels like it was at this point. And I guess I passed that test, as here I am, on the brink of starting this new chapter in my pharmacy career.

It's going to be strange at first though. Signature Health in Willoughby has been my home for the last nearly 9 years. I've watched it grow from a few scripst a day to a relatively high volume independent. I've watched it grow from one pharmacy to five.

I'm proud of it. I'm proud of the Willoughby staff past and present. I'm proud of all the Signature Health staff that have come, gone, and still exist to this day. You all have a hand in the pharmacies succeeding.

Now I take my work behind the scenes, hopefully operating in a way that the pharmacies don't notice unless I'm there unless they need me to be. I'll be meeting new people and probably be getting lost in new buildings as I find my way to all of our locations.

I look forward to this challenge and look forward to helping all of the pharmacies get in a better place with their inventories, if they need the help of course.

I don't want to step too hard on any toes.

The honest truth is I wouldn't be here though if certain people weren't hard on me, didn't expect more from me. It took a while, but I think I finally got the message.

Thank you.

Why you no attracted to me?

Attraction.

It's a funny thing really. We spend so much of our younger years trying to figure out if someone we like likes us back (except in those situations where it's kind of a "no duh" moment; I'm not familiar with that too much though). We look for signals, try to show our own worth, and generally make ourselves go crazy, all because we find someone attractive.

I was super guilty of this for a long time. I'd like someone, try to "prove my worth," and end up falling flat on my face either because they didn't feel the same way, or in those rare cases that they did, I would spook them because I'd stop being me and just be this whacked out guy trying too hard.

I'm obviously not the only one guilty of this. I see it on social media a lot, whether it be a meme or someone actually lamenting how they like someone, but it isn't being returned.

Some people get mad. They go on tirades about how perfect they'd be for that person, how happy they'd make that person. They complain that this person doesn't even know that something great is right next to them. It can get ugly sometimes too.

But that's what makes attraction so interesting. You liking someone doesn't automatically mean they should like you back. It's never worked that way, even if you believe that it would be a great relationship. There are factors beyond the obvious that play a role in whether a relationship develops or not.

Of course, it typically starts with physical attraction. But physical attraction can only take things so far. You also have to connect in other ways and sometimes, even if you want it to be there, the chemistry just isn't right. Something that clicks for you isn't clicking for the other person and you can't just force it to happen.

Sure, there are occasions where it could happen with time as a friendship develops and becomes something better, but more often than not, if things aren't clicking, they aren't going to magically click.

My particular favorite is when someone compliments the person they like, but throws in something like "too bad you have poor taste in men/women."

Because that's particularly endearing.

No, attraction isn't something you can force, and if it isn't there, trying to make it happen will typically only make things worse.

For instance, let's say there's a woman I like. She's a great woman in a lot of ways and is a blast to talk to. She's the type that will do whatever she can to help you out, no matter what. But just because I think these things doesn't mean she thinks the same back and the thing I need to be more than willing to accept is that we'll likely only be friends.

That's okay. She can make a great friend and be willing to listen to me when I need to vent, but more importantly, can give me a fresh perspective on a number of things, something I desperately needed after I kind of went into a tailspin early in January. Between her and another friend, they helped pull me through it and remind me I have it pretty good.

So you can like someone, think they're incredible, but be okay with just being friends. And that's where I am right now.

Some things that stuck with me the most include wanting to develop a friendship that turns into more, thus this person I'm with isn't just a person I'm with, but a best friend as well. Taking time to let the relationship develop is something I haven't really done well and maybe next time, this is the approach to take.

Another thing that's stuck with me is the idea of being the energy you want to attract. Hence, while I was mopey for a bit, I've snapped out of it and am trying to be as positive as I can be. That's what I want around me after all. People who are positive and can see their way through anything.

The final thing that's really stuck with me is that maybe it hasn't happened because it isn't meant to right now. While I'm not religious, I often wonder if there's something going on beyond what we understand, guiding us in ways we can't comprehend. Maybe, just maybe, I'm not meant to be with anyone at this point in time to keep me on task and that the right person will come along when the time is actually right.

Which of course is cliched, but it sounds pretty solid actually.

Let's get this money saved, get a new car, and get a house, then see what happens. Oh, and fix my teeth. That should be a priority too.

At this stage of life, I'm content to have as many great friends around me as possible. If anything else is meant to happen, well, it will. Otherwise, I'm going to enjoy the ride, continue to get in better shape, continue to try and help people whenever I can, and see where life takes me.

Life's too short to sweat the small stuff and now that I'm approaching 40, I really start to see this and understand it.

In any case, this isn't meant to come across as whiny or mopey, but rather as me observing the things I see around me.

Let's have fun with life guys.

Tales from the pharmacy - A prankster is loose

It did not take me long to acclimate myself to the crew inside of the Revco in Strongsville.

Within weeks, I was throwing jokes around with the best of them and often being referred to as the "peanut gallery." It helped that most of the mainstays had strong senses of humor as well as it made it easy to fit in with them. Most of my comments were directed at Mike, but virtually everyone was a potential target, including my store manager.

The only person that was spared most of the time was the assistant manager, a person (and position) that was eliminated within months of me starting there. I don't remember much about him, but he was someone I just simply didn't like, and it felt like most felt the same. I remember one particularly nasty exchange he had with one of the pharmacists, who ended up telling him to "get out of my pharmacy."

The rest of the crew were pretty laid back, funny, but also hard workers. The work would get done, then the games would begin, and since it was a relatively slow store (and getting slower by the week), there was plenty of downtime to cause chaos.

I made my mark in my own way, whether it being one-liners directed at anyone who said something silly, or in some situations, pranks. Sometimes the prank was really subtle, other times, I went for a slightly more direct approach. Either way, it was memorable and probably caused my manager more than one heart attack.

One of my earliest pranks involved the security tags that we'd have in a big strip that we had to manually place on high-ticket items (remember friends, this is prior to 2000, so things were a bit more relaxed back then). They'd send us a bunch of these with each warehouse order and most of the time, the strips were placed where corporate preferred them to be place.

I had a better idea though.

In an initial attempt to prank Mike, I started placing the strips upside down on the floor under the desk in the manager's office. Mike had been elevated to shift supervisor (along with myself and the other pharmacy tech), so we all had access in there. The prank was pretty simple in design: get at least one of these to stick to the bottom of the target's shoe(s) in hopes of setting off the alarm and causing mild panic as they tried to figure out what item was setting off the alarm.

As Mike went to leave, the alarms went off as expected and he spent several minutes trying to figure out what happened. Meanwhile, I was dying of laughter, which tipped him off that something was amiss.

He astutely checked the bottom of his shoes and found several of these strips attached. He called me a jerk, I laughed some more, and he went home for the day.

Not content with just getting Mike with this, I took aim at my store manager. In retrospect, it probably wasn't fair. He was a good guy, albeit a bit behind when it came to changes in retail, but he was friendly and good-natured and didn't deserve what I was about to do to him, but I couldn't resist.

I once again laid several of these strips upside down under the desk and waited for the moment. Finally, late in the afternoon, he went to leave. He had a bag of stuff that had been rung up earlier in his hands, went through the alarms, and about fell over when they went off.

After several minutes of rooting around, he shrugged his shoulders and left.

What made this great was this went on for several days. Every time he came in and every time he left, the alarms went off. He was baffled and nearly called the alarm company in to check them when for some reason, while sitting at the desk, he happened to drop something on the floor. It was at that moment he noticed the stray security tags still sitting under the desk, then noticed a corner of one sticking out from underneath his shoe.

He came out of the office, a smirk on his face, and a clump of these tags in his hand. He looked directly at me, chuckled a bit, and said "That was a good one."

He then added to not do it again.

I wasn't done with the poor guy sadly, although this next one wasn't directly intended to get him, it just kind of worked out that way.

One fateful delivery day, I managed to get my hands on a ton of bubble wrap. Having finished up my allotment of totes, I proceeded to head to the back room, grabbed this stash of bubble wrap, and very carefully spread it out across the floor of the stockroom. I mean, I covered the entire floor with this stuff, even being smart enough to work my way from the back to the front by the door to avoid accidentally stepping on any of it.

I laid the last piece down by the door, then high-tailed it out of there. My money was on Mike getting there first, but he ended up taking longer than I thought to finish his section.

I happened to notice my manager was heading straight for the door to the backroom, his giant cart full of finished totes in front of him. I knew what was about to happen. He was going to push the cart into the door and go straight on in without a second thought. For a brief moment, I felt bad.

The feeling didn't last long.

As soon as he pushed into the backroom with the cart, the bubble wrap started popping so fast and so loud it sounded like a fireworks show was going off back there. In his panic, he pushed the cart in even faster, thus causing even more bubble wrap to pop. Even with the door now shut, you could clearly hear it all the way up in the front of the store.

The pharmacist stopped working long enough to look at me and ask "what did you do this time?"

Before I could answer, my manager opened the door, walked out so I could see him, and held up several sheets of popped bubble wrap, shook his head while smiling, and walked back into the backroom.

He later told me that he appreciates a good prank, but if I kept this stuff up, I was going to give him a heart attack.

I was also banned from going anywhere near bubble wrap in the store from that point on.

Another frequent, but less impactful prank, was after I finally bought a new car, I took full advantage of it having a panic button. See, Mike and I often parked next to each other, so when Mike would head out to his car, I'd wait for him to be bent over, reaching into it, then hit that panic button, thus sending my car horn blaring and his head into the roof of his car. It took him a few times to figure out what was happening, but the look on his face was priceless.

After leaving that store to go to the Berea location, the pranks became more elaborate, but I'll cover those at a later time.

I had fun at the Strongsville location in my 3 years there, but a major change was about to unfold just shy of a year on the job, one that completely altered where I was heading with the job.

Stay tuned.

Tales from the pharmacy - Get a job hippie!

The circumstances that led me to apply for my first job have long become clouded over in my memory. I know it mostly out of necessity given how things had been at home for the last several years, but I'm sure it was also decided as a character building exercise as well.

What I can be sure of is it needed to happen. Things had been rough for a while with my dad hardly working (or being around for that matter) and my mom trying to get where she wanted to get to with her nursing career by working multiple jobs while putting herself through school.

As I approached my 17th birthday, we somehow came to the conclusion I should try to get a job in retail, presumably somewhere small where I wouldn't be overwhelmed. I could be making that up though. I don't really remember why we ultimately decided on me walking up to Revco, which was next to Stop-N-Shop in the plaza across from the end of my street on Hickory Ridge.

For those unfamiliar with either name, well, thanks for showing my age. Revco was one of the larger drug store chains until CVS bought it out and Stop-N-Shop was the big local grocery store before Giant Eagle took over the town. Revco seemed like a safe place to start my working career, and since it was within walking distance of my house, it was real ideal.

Naturally, things didn't pan out quite how my mom and I anticipated of course. The Revco in Brunswick wasn't hiring, so they sent my application to the store in Strongsville, which was looking for cashiers. I received a call from the store manager, who asked me to come in for an interview. I did and not longer after that, I was offered a job, which my mom felt I needed to accept even if it complicated how I was going to get there at first.

Remember, I was 16, just a couple months short of being 17. Yes, I had a driver's license, but we only had one car, which meant we were going to have to find a way to make it work until I could afford my own car.

My mom, as was often the case, assured me it would work. Another thing we had to work out was how much was I going to work. I was entering my Junior year in high school, which meant balancing school and work was a real thing I had sort through. Again, my mom helped me balance things out, which was tremendously helpful. The plan was put in place and I was set to begin my first day of work.

*     *     *

There's always been a sense of irony to me that my first day of work was on Labor Day, but that's how it worked out. I started on September 1, 1997. I was one of two new hires, the other being a girl whose name I sadly never retained after all these years for a reason that will be explained in a bit.

I was nervous as I had no idea what to expect throughout the course of the day. I was given the customary tour of the place, and for the first time, had a glimpse of what a store looked like behind the scenes. I had no idea that the infamous candy selection overstock was kept in boxes inside of the office, spanning several rows of shelves. Nor did I realize how many boxes were kept in the backroom.

I also had no idea that most of the current employees were a bit apprehensive. At the time, CVS was in the midst of buying out Revco, so while the store was still operating under the Revco name, it was assumed that the deal was going to be completed and major changes could be coming.

It was a close group though. Many of them had been working together for quite some time, so they were comfortable with one another. Thankfully, my sarcasm fit right in and I acclimated myself to the group fairly quickly. In fact, my longest-running friendship still exists to this day with Mike and Debbie, two people who took me under their wings and helped guide me.

Another person, the pharmacist-in-charge, Steve, ended up becoming the father figure I so desperately needed, particularly given the continued absence of my own dad. Steve was the guy I could talk sports with, the guy who helped me learn how to tie a tie, the guy who gave advice whenever I needed it. He was friendly and caring, even when customers were being nasty to him.

Thankfully, my first day was mostly uneventful. It was a 5 hour shift that was mostly spent learning how to run a cash register and the responsibilities I was expected to have. Of course, this didn't last long as much more responsibility was thrust upon me faster than I could anticipate.

Sadly, the girl that was hired alongside myself didn't last long.

Keep in mind, this was 1997. They were just starting to stiffen the penalties for underage drinking, which meant there was a lot of emphasis on checking ID's to make sure someone was legal to buy alcohol. This also meant police departments were running frequent stings to see if cashiers were adhering to the rules.

Well, the sting operation hit us one night. I was working the floor and she was working the register, so I wasn't at the counter when it happened, but saw the police come in shortly after it happened to talk to my manager. She was escorted out of the building and I never saw her again. She was a nice girl who unfortunately forgot to check ID one time. From that point on, I checked everyone's ID, and when people had an attitude about it, I told them I watched someone get taken out of her for not checking, so they can deal with it.

Within my first week on the job, I had learned how to ring up a customer on the register, watched a coworker get taken out of the building and ultimately lose their job, made life-long friends, and start doing plan-o-grams and other stock work.

It was an interesting start to what has become a 20 year journey at this stage and one filled with stories covering all types of emotions. Over the next several months, I plan on telling some of the more memorable stories, at least the ones I can remember enough details about.

I ask that if you have a story you think is worth telling from any time working with me that you send it along to me. I want to include as much as I can, but obviously my memory can only help so much, so anyone who can fill in the gaps is welcome to.

I will try to keep these in some kind of chronological order, but ultimately they may fall out of order as I remember things randomly.

Stay tuned for more by following the blog and I'll see you in the next one.