The Great Equalizer

I have wonderful news! Last Wednesday, I received a call from my district manager. He offered me the position of store manager, and I took it. I have quit at UPS, and now can manage and have some sort of a life working only one job. I'm terribly excited about the opportunities ahead.

So, apparently, are my parents. They came out from Ohio this weekend, and visited and congratulated, and we had a great time. Saturday, Charity and mom and dad and I went into the City and had dinner in Little Italy, and meandered from there to lower Manhattan. About 30 blocks or so. We talked, and laughed, and just had a great time spending time together. Sunday, we all went to church and that basically led to a day-long discussion about things of faith. Pretty interesting conversation this weekend. They will be leaving in about two hours to head back to Ohio. I am so glad-and honored-that they took time from their busy schedules to come out and spend some time with Charity and I.

Which leads me to this great equalizing force we call the Fire Alarm. I often wondered what the speaker-like box over the front door of my apartment was. Turns out, its a speaker. Around 1:45 this morning a terrible beeping went off followed by "The sound you heard indicates a fire in the building......" I couldn't believe it. The last time something like this happened to me, it was 1992 and I was living on the 7th floor of a 13 story building in Cincinnati. I felt like I was in college again. I asked my roommate, Dan, if he was leaving, and he said no. Told me to go down and investigate and let him know. Desy and I got dressed, and slowly made our way down the steps (only two flights, thank God) and went outside. Just as we were getting outside the fire trucks pulled up. They went in to investigate, and I stood about, watching people.

I found it interesting what people had with them. Several people had their dogs. One guy had a video gaming system. I took my wallet. I stood there thinking about what I would bring if I really believed it was a fire, and I think if its a question of my life, my wallet is a good thing to get. I might have brought Dan, too, if it was the real thing. We stood outside for about 30 minutes, and then were allowed to re-enter the building. One guy said the next time we have a fire drill, he would wear his Armani tux. Another guy had on his D&G shoes. A third had on flannel pajama pants and a sweatshirt. All were bleary eyed and pissed. I find a fire alarm at 2am pretty much levels the playing field. All the money in the world, all the nice clothes you have, none of it matters when you have 3 minutes to get out of a building.

I'm going back to bed, so that I can get up in a little bit, and start my first full week as the store manager at Carlton Cards. There are more details to share, but I will do that another time. There is more time to write now, so look for entries a little more frequently!