I believe I mentioned that I am catching up on old episodes of Everest: Beyond the Limit on my Roku box. That show has really piqued my interest in Mount Everest. I think the people that climb it are crazy, but it’s pretty incredible that they can. I have added a bunch of other documentaries about Everest to watch on my Roku, and today I ran across a great presentation from Dr. Ken Kamler talking about his Everest disaster of 1996.

I hate arguing with people that don’t open up their mind and listen. It’s about as productive as talking to a wall and trying to convince it to move. It’s just a wast of time, and I get too worked up over it.

In the end I guess it’s ok if you disagree with me. I can’t force you to be right.

So Monday was the Wife’s Grandma’s funeral. Pretty much the whole family was there. It was a sad time, but also a nice bonding time. It was quite obvious that everybody cares a great deal for everybody in their family, despite not seeing them all that often.

Grandma picked out almost every detail of her funeral from the songs, and singer, right down to the casket color inside and out. That got me thinking about my death.

Do people really care about their own funeral?

I personally could care less. I don’t really care what they do with my body. I probably prefer to be cremated, just because I would take up less space that way. I am not religious, but if they want a religious funeral go ahead. The funeral is for them anyway. Once I am dead, I won’t know any better anyway. The only thing I really care about is not having a religious symbol on my headstone or urn. That lives on for an eternity, and I don’t want my name next to a religious symbol. Anything else you want to do for my funeral, go for it.

I kind of think of it like our wedding. The Wife and I didn’t need any wedding or vows to prove our love. We got married in a church for our families. Most of our families are Christian, so we pretty much did it for them. That may sound wrong to do, but I am a big fan of traditions. In my eyes, our wedding was more of a traditional thing rather than a religious thing. It’s sad that it’s so hard to avoid religion in our society. It’s wrong that I feel like an outcast for not being religious. Hopefully that starts to change as more people start questioning religion.

So my Wife’s Grandma finally passed away last night. It’s sad, but it’s kind of a relief. She was in a lot of pain these last few weeks, and hardly slept. It was also taking a toll on my Wife’s Grandpa. He is in he 80s and doesn’t really need the stress. Her daughter from Arizona that was living with us, was also very stressed. She felt uncomfortable living with us, and really wanted to go back to Arizona and her job. Just a few days ago Grandma was looking pretty strong and we had no idea how much longer she was going to live. The one good thing is she passed before the holidays. My wife has a hard time during the holidays because her other two Grandmas passed right around Christmas.

The next few days are going to be busy with family and funeral plans, but we knew it was coming, so will be nice to get it over with. I am sure everybody agrees with me, but funerals suck.

Last Friday my supervisor at work retired after 44 years of work. I couldn’t imagine working at the same place for 44 years, but if I stay there until I retire I will be close to it. Chances are I will be too. I like my job, I make decent money, and I like this city.

I have only had two jobs in my life. Three if you count the paper route that I had before I was sixteen. I started my paper route when I was 11. Having a paper route takes lots of dedication. It only took 45 minutes every morning for me to do my route, but it had to be done EVERY morning. So from the age of 11 to 16, I was up at 6:00 AM every day to deliver my papers. There were time when I had to get a substitute, but then there were times with I substituted on other routes too.

I started working at a restaurant when I turned 16. I started as a dishwasher, and worked my way up to the top cook. That also took a lot of dedication because it involved working every weekend. I worked there for seven years, and only called in sick once. It was tough when the employees had to work shorthanded, so I never wanted to do that to them. I worked at that restaurant until I graduated college, and got my current job.

I am on my 12th year at my current job. It is also a job that required some dedication. It’s a 24 hour a day, seven days a week operation. Someone has to be there at all times, so it involves working nights, weekends, and holidays. I have taken a few more sick days at this job though. We get sick days, and working 12 hour shifts sick is no fun.

So I guess I am a creature of habit and don’t like change. Not many 34 year olds can say they have only had two jobs since they were 16. I will have to work until the age of 67 to get 44 years in. Who knows what age I will be able to retire at? I haven’t really looked into it much. Honestly I’m in no hurry to retire. I like to keep busy. I guess I could always find things to do, but I am afraid I will get bored retired. I don’t see myself being a Wal-Mart Greater either.