Saturday

Work today, after that I'll make a few snacks for a New Year's Ever gathering!

Not a lot on the agenda today. Work, home, a bit of cooking, and then relaxing!

Friday

And the best thing about today is that I still have the equivalent of a three day weekend AFTER today is over with:)

I'm feeling better each day and not as worn out. It's helping a lot and I really needed it, I just didn't know how badly I needed it.

Yesterday I started watching Burn Notice on Netflix. It's a very good show with the incomparable everyman Bruce Campbell costarring. A spy is issued a Burn Notice during an operation and is forced into poverty and doing odd helpful jobs using his skills as the government has frozen everything and dumped him in Miami. He has Campbell and ex IRA agent girlfriend Fiona helping him.

It's clever, witty, and a lot of fun to watch, and it's all on Netflix!

Thursday And I'm Off

No jobs at all today! The shower is once again operational, the hallway has been painted by the brilliant and talented daughter of mine, Thing 2, and The Date is dealing with her father's business in a nearby town.

I'm alone, am going to cook this afternoon, and do whatever it is I want:)

Today is going to be a good day!

Wednesday

I'm feeling better.
Recharging is a good thing. I came home early from Walmart last night, after about three hours I was absolutely nauseous and felt a dizzy and weak. I thought it was from not eating much that day but I don't think that was it at all. I'm feeling better this morning though.

Not sure what happened but I felt horrible last night. I went right to bed before nine and was asleep by ten, sound asleep. Hopefully it won't return as I've got to work again tonight from five to ten. I'm off tomorrow though! All day!

It's all part of the way things go I guess. I'm not a big believer in a power called luck, it just doesn't exist but sometimes I do feel that we've had some very bad luck over the past three years, sometimes we've just been snake bitten and it's hard to shake it. Whatever it is things don't go the good way, they go the worst way. I'm trying to have a good and positive attitude and look at the bright side of things but it rarely turns out without a lot of hassle and added expenses.

I know a good attitude is very important, focusing on the good and shaking off the bad but it wears you down over time. I count my blessings and have to believe things will get better otherwise what's the point?

Yeah life just happens and I hope life will take a break from using us as a football for a while, we could use a good break once in a while:)

Yawn...Tuesday

I'm enjoying the whole being off for a week thing. Well sort of, I do have to work at Walmart in the evenings however that's much easier when it's my only job for the day. I don't mind it much at all really.

I won the Wannabe Keeper league championship last night and progressed through to the super bowl game in my long time league. Not too bad for a season I really didn't watch or pay attention to. It could have been much worse for sure.

Well that was my evening, not sure what today will bring but I'm sure I'll feel good about it one way or the other! I'm still pretty thrilled to have won such a hard fought fight, I ran into the right match ups on the right weeks and it fell into place!

Leading The Game

My team The Predators are leading the Tebow St. Carnage this weekend in the Wannabe Keeper league. I'm up by eleven right now and have one player left to go. I've got Roddy White while my opponent has Michael Turner going.

The hitch comes because I have Turner in another set of playoffs in my long time league. So White will have to score at least one TD while Turner can score perhaps two at the most against a strong New Orleans D. I can win both games but it's tricky, I'd rather Turner score one TD and White score one or more. That would secure both wins for sure and my championship Keeper league money

The Keeper league is set up to where the super bowl champ wins the majority of the cash, that's what I'm after. My main league is set up to where the leader in points at the end of the season wins the majority of the money. I've won that before as well but I'm out of that this year and I'm only able to play in the championship bowl. That pays as well but not as much.

So tonight is the last night of one league while next week I'll hopefully play in the super bowl of my main league!

Merry Christmas!

To all of you a Merry Christmas, to you who have no one may God fill that void, to you who have family, may God help you through the day;)

Christmas Eve

My "me day" was fairly successful. I do feel better today in fact. Abostang and I played several games of Dominion. The Date rushed around and made some great cookies and went to see her dad in the hospital. Thing 2 and I later took him a paper and some scratch offs to entertain himself with for a while. He loves scratch offs.

Today I'll be working from twelve thirty until six and then the store will be closed down until late tomorrow night if I remember correctly. Everyone will get tomorrow off from Walmart in this store!

All in all it'll be an easy day and one that should fly by. I can imagine us being very busy as last minute shoppers rush in and out, perhaps not the produce section so much but a lot of people coming through anyway. No one stops for that last minute head of lettuce. I do enjoy my coworkers at Walmart and it'll make today fun on top of it being an easy day.

Maybe after taking a pause yesterday from the hectic race I've been running I think I might be finding my Christmas Spirit after all. It's always there, maybe it's just not as evident as I'd like it to be but it's always there.

And....I'm Off!

The company let us go home early yesterday but we still got our eight in. No Walmart last night. I went to bed around one. I'm off now!

Love the song that Thorin Oakenshield sings in the new Hobbit trailer! Very cool song that seemed to hold a lot of reverence for them. I've read The Lord of the Rings but have never read The Hobbit. I know, that's pretty weird for a reader such as myself who does read a lot of classic novels however it happens to be true.

With the Kindle though I'll likely load it up in the upcoming year and get it read way before the movie comes out next December, well part one of the movie anyway. It's two parts and it'll be a two year endeavor as Lord of the Rings was three full years.

Today is my day, I'm doing what I wish to do and that will likely be a bit lot of Not Much!

I've got projects next week I'll attend to but for now this is my time and if that's selfish then so be it, I need time to recharge once in a while.

The Alarm Is Off

It won't come back on until next year!

Alright I called in to Walmart last night, I just wasn't up to it. The previous night the store was filled with a ton of people and it was very difficult to do even a portion of the job. I'm not worried about it, I've called in there four times in almost five months. Five days short of five months actually.

The alarm clock is the main thing, it's the working class's nemesis. I got a lot of rest last night, went to bed around nine, probably asleep before ten. Hot shower this morning! Yep, I got the shower working last night after work, sealed up the seams. Added the shower head. Got a new shower rod. Insulated the crawlspace. Still need to seal the upper part where the new wall meets the top of the shower and add the molding. I'd say it's functional and 95% finished! Will have to still deal with the new floor and get some covering for it.

All in all it's not a great job but it works and it's what it needs to be.

Two Days

Today is my Friday at Walmart and my Thursday at work work. Funny how that works isn't it? Yes the actual calendar day is Wednesday but if you count a work week by ending every week with a weekend then that's how it lays out for me. So it's actually Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday for me, all in one day!

I'm very much looking forward to calendar Thursday night right now as that, at 1615, is when my eleven day odyssey of rechargement begins in earnest. Yeah I do have some projects to accomplish at home, yes I'll get those finished as well. Yes I do have to work at Walmart a few of those evenings but it'll be ok. I'll only be working one job and five and a half hours at the most.

It'll be good and I'll still have plenty of time to recharge myself and get ready for the new year.

Three Days

Three glorious days of work left in this year for me. When I say glorious I really mean hard and I'm going to work a bit under the weather. That's what I expect, everything is earned. I'm earning my time off and I'm going to make Friday an official me day. It's a day where I'm off from both jobs! Rare indeed.

Don't ask me to do anything, I'm going to take care of myself for one day out of this past three hundred sixty five days. If I want to hibernate under the covers all day long that's what I'm going to do.

I am not going to exist on this plane of existence, I'll be like a ghost going where I darn well please, an echo from beyond. I know I'll have projects this upcoming week that I'll have to get done. I just need one day to myself.

No offense is intended, if I want to have lunch, I'll call you. More than likely I'll grab a bag of chips and couch it. I don't know yet. I'm not going to plan Friday out and just give it my best shot at not doing a thing I don't want to do.

Four Days

Short week.
A head cold.
A father in law in the hospital.
A sick wife.
Yeah, it's that time of year.

I'm not feeling the spirit this year. I used to love this time of year and looked forward to it all year, even as an adult. The past couple of years though have been rough. I'm not Scrooge by any means however things just aren't as joyous as they should be for me right now.

I wished I could report better tidings of comfort and joy but sometimes I'm just hanging on by my fingernails.

Sick Date

The Date officially got sick yesterday. I figured it was coming on as she exhibited symptoms of a small cold to start with and then it gradually progressed over the course of the day to out and out sickness. She's laid up in bed right now and I've got her on Theraflu.

She had a pretty bad fever yesterday and up to late last night. I'm going to make her stay in bed today as well but she will have to pick up Thing 2 from mass later on (she's going to play violin with the orchestra today) and then take her to work. She can handle something that small and it might do her good to get some fresh air for a half hour or so.

I'll be on my way to work soon so I won't be able keep her in bed but she'll be on the honor system. I'll be back home around six and then I'll be able to make sure she rests like she is supposed to.

Better Not Great

Yesterday went fairly well. I got the panels cut to place in the bathroom shower. My brother is going to bring a drill over that will have a chuck big enough for the hole saw to place the faucet and get it all squared up.

That's it. Just placing the panels, putting things back into place and it'll be a working shower again. The tub is operational though.

I needed that day off. More than I thought actually. This week is also a four day work week and I get Thursday and Friday off from Walmart, that means Friday is another full day off! Then it's the holidays and a full week off for me. If yesterday is a good indicator I'll be needing that week off, I feel better today but still not myself yet.

Yes I'll still have to work at Walmart the following week but it'll be ok. It's only like three or four nights and only four and a half hours a night, a third of a normal work day for me anymore. I can do that standing on my head. I need it though.

Day Off

I took today off, it was very much needed. I was nearing the end of my endurance for all things work related. Yesterday at work I was just going through the motions, no doubt twenty years of muscle memory aided me in that endeavor of tasks. I had in the back of my mind, stored where only I knew where it was, the thought that I didn't have to work at Walmart last night. That gave me a brief gust of wind in my sail every time I needed it and propelled me through the straits of my day.

My brother changed out the faucet and we fixed a leak while clearing a hair clog after work. The shower is now ready to put up the wall cover. I have to cut it all to size and then using the adhesive fasten it all in place. In theory it shouldn't take long however being that this is a home project I predict it will take much longer than it should and end in a frustrating day off for me.

Rest?
What's that?

I'm Off

It's great, I don't have to work tonight. Yes I work today but it'll feel almost like I've got an entire day to myself! Last night was busy. I went to the toy trailers, essentially they are big storage bins the size of a semi trailer. They have a lot of boxes of products, in this case toys, that are not on pallets. So you have to put the boxes on pallets and then they'll move them to where they need to be moved with a forklift.

However last night there was another guy for just a little bit and then me and a manager. Then the guy left and it was me and two trailers worth of products to be stacked on pallets. That took a while and then he got on the radio and got four more volunteers to help and we moved a lot of pallets by hand on pallet jacks to the other side of Walmart. The complete other side of the store, by hand.

Between us all I bet we moved eight or nine pallets each easily. I was sore, tired, and beat last night. My legs are still a bit sore this morning.

The funny thing is that they were trying to get the store up to snuff for some kind of walk through inspection by regional managers this morning. My section only had one guy the whole night and that was it. So the graveyard guy and the morning crew will have to have had a miracle night to have gotten everything stocked and cleaned before the morning. That was what I was supposed to have been working on.

I can imagine they'll be very mad when they saw the condition we left it in. One guy there while I was gone and he mopped the floors, did as much stocking as he could, and did his best but that didn't go very far. He is off today too as well as me so we're all good! We won't have to deal with any of the problems with me being pulled off of where I was at and moved to where they wanted me.

The only thing on my mind right now is that I don't have to go to work tonight!

A Brake Pad

The first analogy that came to mind yesterday when my supervisor asked me how I felt was that I felt like a worm out brake pad right now. I'm worn thin, I growl more when pressure gets applied, and I feel like I need replaced.

The brakes on your car are what keeps things under control. They keep you from wrecking more than any other piece of your car. When they wear out you are not as safe. I'm not dangerous I'm just worn out.

Next Friday I'll have the first of eleven days off. The way the holidays fall I'll spend four days of leave to get eleven straight days. That's great use of leave and a great return on what you are spending your leave on!

That will help me get back on track and give me some much needed rest.


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Coram Deo

Means essentially "Before The Face of God" or "To Live in the Presence of God". I'm conscious of God's presence all the time. Even in the toughest times I'm confident God is right there with me and my family. When I do something secret and good I know God is there and when I do something bad I also know God is right there.

There is no better explanation than right here and the brilliant theologian R.C. Sproul. He has long been my favorite teacher as he has a true gift of making the extremely complex easy to grasp. I mean the very hard to grasp and at depths you've never pondered existed.

Regardless of Sproul's brilliance this is about living differently. When I'm faced with a situation where I'll have to go out of my way at inconvenience to myself for someone I remember Coram Deo. It inspires me to do the hard stuff and mostly when no one else is looking or around. It inspires me to do the right thing when I'm by myself and I'm sure I can get away with anything.

I always try to live this way yet fail more times than not but it helps me succeed when I'm probably really in need of succeeding.

Bathroom Update

The Date's dad really needs a solution for his dilemma today. The hospital is talking about releasing him today which first of all is way too soon, and second of all he can't help himself in any fashion at all. He is incapable of taking care of himself right now, he can't afford home healthcare or someone to check on him five or six times a day or more. He's a bit grumpy with his condition and risks serious injury if left by himself. We simply don't have the capability of having him live with us while he is in this condition. We don't have the room, a bed he would require, or the money to be able to take care of him as The Date would be needed at home full time to take care of him. She'll be looking over his options today and she and her brothers will be making a decision on what to do. Prayers are needed though on what we should be able to do for him.

Yesterday was a nightmare. I called in to Walmart, they weren't happy about it but then again my tenure there will be coming to a close soon enough so it won't matter. I hate calling in to work but that job functions as a secondary job only anyway and sometimes it gets in the way of living.

I had planned on putting tile on the walls around the shower. It would look the best and after doing the kitchen I felt confident enough that I could handle a shower. So we headed to Lowe's and priced how much tile it would take and then we purchased a very nice shower insert, the accessories that are needed to install it, and insulation. We got it all back home and got to the point where it was going to go in and then we learned it wasn't going to fit. We tried several ways to get it in there and get it fastened but it wasn't meant to be.

So in the rain I loaded up the shower insert back up and made the cross town trip to get it exchanged for a urethane style waterproof backing. I got four sheets of it to surround everything and make it a shower again. I got the adhesive to apply it with and the trim. I got back to the house with the third solution I wanted and then we put sheet rock up. The bathroom immediately started to get warm again! We've still got some work to do as right now the sheet rock alone is on the walls. We still need to apply the adhesive and actually get the urethane sheets fitted in place.

The bathroom is about 60% done I'd say. The floor is in good, solid shape, the shower is about half finished. So that's about the size of it. It sucks and it was a lot of hard, frustrating work yesterday to get it all to this point. That's why I hate doing home repair, I'm not good at it and it always turns into three times the work you planned on.

Another Busy Day On Tap

This morning we'll start the bathroom project by adding some insulation around the shower and sheet rocking the area. After that we'll head to Lowe's and find a insert that will work to surround the shower keep everything waterproof.

While all that is happening I'll also have to get ready for work and then head to Walmart for a few hours (Hopefully shorter, I'm going to see if I can break away before my shift is over) before returning home and hopefully adding the finishing touches to a fully functional shower!

I'll have to get Thing 2 to work this morning and sometime today she has a set strike as the Christmas show closed last night. Cinderellas is now in the books and over with. That will end a grueling stretch of shows that The Date has been involved with since she was cast in Dixie Swim Club.

She's ready for a break like I was after my last grueling stretch of shows.

Darn Hard Day

Today was super busy. First my brother and Fat Plummer (his best friend since high school)came over and we ripped up the bathroom. We dismantled everything that needed to be dismantled. The contractor showed up and the three of them formed a plan and they got the floor pieces cut and shored up.

Then I went to work and when I came home the floor was just about ready to put down and set the toilet back into place. Another hour later and everything was rock solid and working! Tomorrow the shower will take center stage. We plan on hanging the sheet rock in the morning and fitting up the sheet rock with a shower insert or something along those lines.

This post is late today because of the busy day and how much was happening! I'd like to mention that this is also my two thousand five hundredth post, yes the big 2.500! I'll be making my three thousandth post in about a year and a third from now.

She's Headed Back Soon

The Date came home yesterday afternoon after what I realized was the longest time we had been apart since we moved in together! Sunday to Thursday, the longest stretch so far and hopefully that's the record for years to come! It made sleeping more difficult when you get used to someone next to you and then they are gone like that.

I'm glad she came home though for the time she did however she needs to be with her dad in the hospital right now. He's still hurting pretty badly and still needs prayers. I'm encouraging her to spend as much time with him as possible.

It's something you'll regret someday if you don't.

So this morning after she's refreshed her clothes supply for a few more days she'll make the short trip back and keep an eye on him again for a bit. Tomorrow the contractor will be here and we'll be working on the bathroom so things will be out of commission for a while anyway.

Hopefully it won't be that long but it'll be long enough to cause discomfort!

Is there anything better than meeting your loved one at home after being gone for a few days?

Last Evening This Week!

I'm off work tomorrow night! I'm more than thrilled with that idea! The downside is that I work from Saturday until next Wednesday before having another evening off but I'll get next Thursday and Friday off in a row! That's what I do, I do the hard and ugly stuff.

At work last night they left the night shift the organics, that's the fruits and vegetables that are sold to the hog farms. Well as I'm headed out the manager tells me that Deli left a few buckets out there and make sure they are empty. So I check and they are filled with congealed grease and oil, along with old, cooked chicken.

Great.

Instead of whining to the guy about what I find, I find a board and break loose all of the congealed mess and dump it into organics. It was cold out, not bad but cold. I was out there for perhaps a half hour or more doing the dirty work. When I get back in he asks me about the buckets and I showed him the remaining mess that's still stuck. I tell him that Deli probably needs to clean their buckets out and then I left all six of them by the their entrance door in the back room.

It wasn't pleasant but I'm blessed to have two jobs right now while a close to a tenth of our population doesn't even have one. Yeah sometimes I get the hard stuff but life isn't always easy and sometimes you have to do the hard stuff to get through. I'm made for that. I'm getting real used to working fourteen hour days now, I'll feel like I have a ton of free time when I get off of work tomorrow night! However with that said I'll appreciate the rest a lot!

New PC

The FiL is slowly recovering from his fall. The Date is still at the hospital with him and making sure he is taken care of and has someone to talk with all the time. It's a crisp seventeen degrees outside and Thing 2 is stirring upstairs while Thing 1 is camped on the living room couch.

The brand new PC is humming along nicely. Quiet, fast, and reliable! That's what I want in my PC! I picked it up yesterday after he called me it was finished. An AMD six core with sixteen gigs of RAM, more USB slots than you can imagine, and plenty of power!

It's a great system and I'm positive this one will stay together!

First Snow

It was really only a dusting of snow as there's about an eighth of an inch covering everything. It was a storm though and it lasted a while!

I've got the Tahoe warming up, got the dog taken care of, showered and ready for another thirteen hour day. Thing 2 doesn't hit the snooze button, she's up before me and I'm an early riser.

The FiL still has pneumonia and they can't do anything until they get him over that first. He started to rest easier last night before I got to bed, The Date sent a picture to me. He seemed to be sleeping fine. At this point he looks like he'll have a good recovery once they kick the pneumonia.


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Father In Law

My father in law fell off of a roof yesterday and is in the hospital. The Date is staying with him at his house as she is his power of attorney and can make decisions for him. He's in rough shape right now and I'm sure he's pretty sore.

He's talking though and alert from what she's told me. If you are the praying kind I'd appreciate one for this man and our family, especially The Date for strength to get them both through this. I'll be holding down the home front with The Things:)
We'll be ok:)

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Day Off

This is a rare day off for me! Not much on the agenda today but to enjoy the time I have off. Thing 2 is at work, The Date is working around the house, and Thing 1 is camped out on the couch with a broken toe playing Modern Warfare 3. I'm making a pot of chili for this evening and things can't be better:)

Dangerous Patriots

This is it, this is the blog I've promised for a while but was waiting until I had our new desktop PC ready to blog with. We don't but this needs to be written now. Senate Bill 1867 passed last night. What is 1867?

S. 1867 is a bill that has both the left, far left, right, and far right standing together in opinion that it is an evil and bad bill. This was drafted by politicians Carl Levin and John McCain. I'm not a fan of either. You can read some of the damaging aspects of it here. It is an open affront to the sixth amendment guaranteeing American citizens the right to a trial.

1867 authorizes the military, even on American soil to detain indefinitely terrorism suspects...even citizens suspected of terrorism. Citizens dear reader meaning you. If they suspect you, don't like you, think you smell funny they can hold you forever and you will NEVER have your day in court to say otherwise. I've been looking at left leaning sites and right, both really are in agreement about this. It's bad.

The good news? A bill will have to get passed the House in order for it to get to the president to become law. As far as I know it hasn't yet but you can bet there are politicians working on it now. There are those who do not have your best interest at heart working feverishly to hide similar language in their bill.

Now for a part that originally prompted me to want to write this a while back. I can't add much to it, they do a great job on their own in announcing what they are planning. Once you have 1867 in mind and add it to what you are about to watch I believe you'll will have your heart jump at the potential magnitude of what's at stake.

Here it is and it runs six minutes and twenty nine seconds, please watch it until the end, that's where it twists into a nightmare for all of us. It's simply chilling.

The Collapse Of The EU

I'm not big into buying into the so called Globalist Agenda which supposedly would turn control of most nations over to the Council of Foreign Relations which is run by foreign bankers which probably has secret funding from Xenu from Scientology fame.

However with that said the collapse of the European Union appears imminent. Too much money is being printed out of thin air with nothing to back it. It's got worth because a government with a massive military says it has worth. Greece is done for, Italy is on the ropes, and Spain is on deck.

Countries that promise the entitlements that these countries promise are in trouble. Too much government spending and not enough people to support those gone before. It's a pyramid scheme, just like our system has become.

Watch the dominos fall in Europe, pay attention to how much The Fed prints and sends out, it'll be a spectacular failure and people will suffer because of the idiocy of politicians. Then when the EU is over with ask yourself if it can happen here.


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Working Until Ten

Since I had my available hours changed last week so I'm no longer working until eleven o'clock it's been a lot easier on me. Working until eleven just drained me the next day. I was drowsy, felt like my head was in a fog, and just wanted to nap all day.

Ten is easier as I can unwind a bit, get into bed usually before ten thirty and I'm so tired I'm asleep a few minutes later! I'm alert when I wake up but I grab a cup of coffee anyway.

It's the first of the month, the first of three food stamp days. It'll be busy at work tonight for sure. It's ok, the night will go by faster that way. I only work four and a half hours, should be a snap!


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Sons Of Mayhem

On my night off I made a stir fry and took a bowl to The Date at the theatre. She and Tech Guy were making programs for the show. She'll be lost next week as there won't be a thing to work on at all other than pick up rehearsal. For the first time since summer she won't have a show! She needs a rest. Theatre wears you down, that stretch of shows I did last two seasons was a killer over time.

My night off consisted of watching over a sick Thing 1 while watching Knights of Mayhem and Sons of Anarchy.

Knights is a reality show about jousting and how one man is trying to make it larger than it is. He trains the horses, trains the jousters, and does most of the work in keeping the sport going until it can become bigger than it is. He's hoping for a big payday at the end of the line. Maybe it'll happen. Hard to tell right now.

Sons is once again aiming to finish on a high note and has set the table for a huge showdown between Clay and the club. Opie took the position of executioner into his own hands and put Clay into the hospital.

He deserves it but he's also played by Ron Perlman who is a top actor. The show wouldn't be the same without him so I figure he'll live through this and into next season. We'll see though. The story can go in a lot of directions right now.




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Success!

Got everything finished yesterday that I sat out to finish! We now have a working washer and dryer, the contractor is coming over tonight, and Thing 2 has a replacement phone.

I changed my hours at Walmart and getting off at ten instead of eleven will be a lot better. I got to catch the last few minutes of the Theatre's Christmas show. It looks like a lot of very hard work has gone into it! The costumes combined with the lighting really give it the fantastical look of a fairy tale! The carriage looks spectacular, is functional and fits backstage!

A very tall order to fill!

Great job!


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Busy Day

I've got a really busy day ahead but work isn't a large part of it. I've got to find or order the parts for the washer and dryer, get Thing 2 a replacement phone, check on the PC I ordered, get things arranged with the contractor, and then go to work tonight.

I'm off tomorrow night and then I think I'm off Sunday. Just the way it is.

Yeah I'm a bit down and disgruntled this morning. I'll get better though.


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Bachelor Night

The Date went to see her dad on Saturday and spend some time with him over the Thanksgiving weekend. Thing 2 worked yesterday until five then my mom picked her up and they had a great granddaughter/grandmother evening together shopping away! I got off of work at six and they didn't make it back home until a bit after nine! Thing 1 went to her aunt's house for the weekend.

That left me alone for the evening and it was nice and quiet all night:) that's rare anymore and man it was peaceful! I'm in the process of fixing both washer and dryer. The direct drive coupler broke in the washing machine and that lead to the drive belt breaking in the dryer. Thanks to a couple of YouTube tutorials both are really simple fixes. The problem is that on this weekend no one is open that has the parts!

It's really amazing at how simple both machines actually are! You can literally fix both in less than a half hour if you had the replacement parts and get a load of laundry going! So I'll get them both repaired tomorrow before going to work and get them both fixed for way under what it would cost to have a repairman fix them!


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Unexpected Night Off

A Black Friday bomb threat ended my work day before it began! That gave me the evening off which was very nice!

Today I work six hours from noon on, hopefully it'll go by fast and will be an easy day. We'll see how it goes. One of my coworkers should be having their last day coming up very soon. He's one of the ones I enjoy working with. He'll be working weekends only at another local chain and for a bit more an hour.

It won't be long before I'm turning in my notice and walking away. Looking forward to that day!


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Black Friday

For me it began about three hours til ten last night. The produce section was fully stocked and we mainly did busy work to make it look like we were busy. The managers didn't notice as they were flying around the store preparing for the opening sale of the holiday season. All of them.

It was crazy, thousands of people were lined up in the store waiting for their opportunity to purchase things before anyone else could. It was so packed that they actually ran out of carts and shoppers had to park in the nearby Lowe's store parking lot, which was closed.

I hit the clock as fast as I could when I was able to and got out of there leaving the delirious masses to their shopping frenzy. Tonight at work it should be fairly calm. The shoppers should be all shopped out by now and it might even be fairly quiet on the floor.

Thanksgiving!

The turkey is brined and thawed, pies are being baked in the brand new oven, and The Date is working away in the kitchen!

The parades will be on shortly, football will be on later, and all is right with the world during our and your feasts.

Be grateful dear readers, be grateful.


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Last Workday

Yesterday after work The Date told me she was going to take Thing 2 to the highway patrol station and get her some paperwork for her state issued ID. With that she could finally cash three paychecks that had been building up. No one would cash them with just a student ID.

So after we got the paperwork finished I took her to the tag agency and we got her a very real ID and then onward to cash her paychecks! We proudly stepped up to the checkout stand at our grocery store and handed the checks over and she presented her brand new ID!

The clerk wrote the information on the checks and Thing 2 endorsed the backs of them and was presented with a wad of cash for her effort! She walked on air all the way back to the Tahoe when I reminded her she should probably go put a little into the salvation army kettle for others who aren't as fortunate as we are. She did:)

Then I took her to buy some new boots, happy as could be all the way!

Today I'm working both jobs, the turkey is in the ice chest thawing and I'll put the brine in it before going to work this afternoon. It'll take a few minutes so I'll have time:) Tomorrow the parades will be on and we'll be cooking! The bird will be cooking away to a nice and very picturesque golden brown!


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Thanksgiving Acquired!

The Date and I did our feast purchasing last night! We'll have a great feast for ourselves and those who perhaps won't have such a blessing as we will. The Date always invites some strays over for a feast.

I know many of my friends are finding something to be thankful for each day this month. I applaud that, as we have been born into the best and most well off culture in the history of the world we have plenty to be thankful for.

I'd challenge everyone to be thankful for something every day of the year. Even on your worst day you don't live in Somalia, or Cuba. You don't have the thumb of oppression baring down on your actions, or face imprisonment for your faith.

Be thankful everyday that you've got another day to change or help someone. Be thankful and you'll find contentment.

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New Week

And as I mentioned yesterday a short week! I've got a blog planned to write after I get the new PC in.

I don't believe I've mentioned how that has gone yet. Tiger sent me a new CPU and I took the PC to a tech guy I know and we gave it a shot. It did the same thing, would not fire up. We found a blown part on the motherboard so I called Tiger the next morning and told them I'm shipping the entire thing back to them.

They sent me the UPS tracking slips in my email and that afternoon it was on its way back. Moral of the story, don't buy anything from Tiger anymore. Ever.

So that's why I haven't put up a post yet that is a follow up to the one where I talked about the Department of Homeland Security and their terrorism video that depicted white middle class Americans profiled as terrorists. Because obviously we've had so many radical Islamic white terrorists in the past ten years. They are a huge threat.

My next post on the subject will actually involve a video game that will be released this next year. It'll put you in charge of an elite combat team that fights terrorism on American soil and fires upon cops and the civilian population. Now if let that sink in and settle it should make your blood run cold.


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Easy Sunday

My contractor called me last night and we scheduled a time to talk and get everything ready on the Monday after this holiday weekend.

I'll have a three day work week at my real work. I'll have Monday and Tuesday off from Walmart and then work five straight days there. It should be an easy week with only Wednesday being the day I work both jobs! The week after that they have me working over thirty hours so it'll be busy busy.

But today has been an easy morning, I work from twelve thirty until six. I called in yesterday so we could finish painting the fence.


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One Painted Fence Later!

Thanks to my mom, Beersnob, and of course Theatre King for his generous loan of a painting system! It all made for one long day but resulted in a white fence coated with seven gallons of barn paint as thick as marshmallow cream.

The graffiti is now gone, the fence looks pretty decent, and one project is in the books.





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Big Weekend

This weekend will mark the start of our new plan to get this house fixed and on the market. First up we'll get a confirmation call from our contractor to start the projects we have hired him for. After that it'll be fence painting and thanks to the wonderful Theatre King who graciously offered the loan of his sprayer it'll go very fast.

I'm likely going to bundle up the entire PC kit I bought from Tiger Direct and ship it back to them. The CPU wasn't bad. We found a burned up place on the motherboard that was. That was evidently the loud pop the morning I turned the system on.

I'm sick of it.

I do have to work this weekend but it'll be ok, I'll be able to take care of what we need to do in the meantime. It's as easy as that.

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The New Plan

As most of you now know we've been vandalized for the second time this calendar year. Our new fence has been spray painted by thugs as some sort of threat. Not gang related either according to the police.

So now over the past couple of days The Date and I have put in place a new plan and have had to pause the debt snowball for a while. My plan for Christmas was to hire a contractor and get a couple of things done that need to be done around the house. Now the plan is to do that but get it ready to sell to find another place to live.

Safety of our families is of the highest priority and I've never had the problems I've had living here until this year. The neighborhood has been peaceful, quiet, and other than the one robbery I've never had reason to want to leave it.

Now I work a lot of hours, I'm not home much to protect anyone should something happen. So as soon as the contracting work is completed we'll list the house in an attempt to sell it and find that safer neighborhood.

I've got the money in place as of yesterday, I've got the contractor lined up, and I've got the real estate agent on board.

After a new house is found then the debt snowball will roll again. By that point The Date will be working full time and our income will be significantly better and we should actually roll it a bit faster.

Eye on the new prize!

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Survey Says

Abostang comes over to my shop every day for lunch. We usually fix a bagel sandwich or lately quesadillas. While he's there he reads the news sites.

What is interesting is that yesterday he came across a survey on the NBA lockout, the same day I blogged about it, yesterday. So we went through the survey and put in his opinions, well my opinions as well. Turns out the players got no love from the public.

The NBA will have to earn back the trust of the public similar to what the MLB had to do after the World Series was cancelled. The players came out on the losing end of pretty much every question.

Yesterday I believe they decertified the union and filed an antitrust lawsuit on the league. The season will not happen now in all likelihood. In fact next season could be in jeopardy if the suit isn't settled by then.

After it is settled they will have a huge public relations mess on their hands, how to bring back the fans. A few will return on opening day, a few will never return, and since I'm not a huge fan I can really live with it or without it. I'd probably make it a point though to not watch any NBA for quite sometime until a compelling story comes along as the McGuire/Sosa home run chase did in the 90's.

It's not a great situation to be in, well as far as still being a millionaire and a billionaire that is.

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Horrible Timing

The NBA is still suffering from a lockout. Yesterday the players decided perhaps their best course of action is to decertify the union and file an antitrust lawsuit against the owners. They felt that given an ultimatum of either accept the offer of a fifty fifty split or take a forty seven fifty three split of revenue was unfair.

Now this is the worst time in the world to pull this stunt. Horrible economic times are driving record amounts of people into foreclosure, unemployment, and onto food stamps.

In the midst of these times billionaires and millionaires are having a disagreement on how to split up millions of dollars. Side note, see any people occupying any player's homes? I think not. What you are seeing is a real time train wreck. Both sides are involved in a sport that is largely dependent upon people willing to pay for a product.

How many of those people will ever watch an NBA game again? I imagine basketball fans will gladly turn on college basketball many times over before ever watching another pro game. Who can blame them?

One side pays people to play a game, the other side gets paid to play a game. Ultimately the market and any remaining fans will decide the real fate of this league.

As for myself, well it isn't like we are watching the NBA during the Jordan era now is it? The product is a watered down shadow of previous years and for if I ever see another game it'll be by mistake. Yes you'll have some die hard fans that will buy tickets no matter what but will they be enough to keep it all afloat? Not if no one watches and the networks take a bath on the tv contracts.

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Bad Stuff

From hints my coworker through my way last week I know some bad stuff will be happening at work this week. He is on the grievance committee and meets regularly with the higher ups.

He couldn't tell me specifics but anyone could easily deduce from the numbers that have been well known that there will likely be a layoff very soon. They wanted the workforce down to a different number in what started out as 120 days, then it went down to 90 and now it's more like 30.

Management wanted to handle the overage by attrition meaning they'd fill slots vacated by retirees and those moving on. Well no one retires before Christmas and if you stayed that long you might as well finish up after tax season.

They had unreasonable expectations which means there will be some unhappy families this coming December. I don't know why it is but layoffs always happen before the holidays instead of mid-year. Perhaps it'll be easier for those effected to find holiday jobs until something breaks loose or they are recalled.

They will have two years of callback rights, meaning they can go and do what they want and when a slot comes open instead of hiring someone from the public they'll hire a laid off person. They'll retain their pay and any raises they would have received during that time.

I've never been laid off from this job. It's been cut right up to me though and a friend/coworker of mine who's seniority is about four months less than mine has been laid off twice. This time of year brings hardship to a lot of young families. This year appears to be no exception but let's hope for the best!


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Nothing Much

Had a good day of work yesterday, it was four and a half hours so it went fairly quick. Busy enough to keep it going, slow enough to pace yourself.

I just looked at the lottery numbers I bought on 11/11, no winners. Guess I'm going to have to do this the hard way. Work for everything, save, and save some more. I guess it's not as fast but it's the same way others have done it. Unless I get struck with a lightning bolt on an idea that would catapult my family into a super business that takes off like a rocket.

The debt plan is rolling, however slowly it is rolling it is still rolling. The faster it rolls the better off we'll be. My check this coming Friday is the day we should budget things again and reassess how far we've come.

Not going to lie, this is tough.

Nice Friday

I enjoyed it a lot. My day off was really a full day off and it was needed. I had lunch with Beersnob and had a couple of nice premium cigars and coffee with him as we discussed the future of the commercial business and if there were any options to pursue outside of that business.

We came up with a few thoughts and ideas that could possibly be pursued. We'll likely revisit them at a future date and see how viable an idea they are then.

Thing 2 plays in the National Honor Orchestra today and The Date and my Mom are going to drive down and see her play! I'm very proud but sad I'll miss it due to my job commitments. I know she'll do a great job though!

Last night we attended a movie night showing of the Tarrantino movie Pulp Fiction. The movie that made Tarrantino Tarrantino. It's always an enjoyable watch. I made smoked spare ribs for the occasion, not from any reference in the movie but just because I felt like making ribs:)

Day Off

This is it! My hard won day off thanks to the Veteran's of the US who protect our freedoms with their blood, sweat, and plentiful amount of tears. Thank you to the US Veterans and if you know one today, buy them lunch or supper.

Seven Days

I'm done. Seven straight days of Walmart and now I've got two off! Tonight and of course all day tomorrow! I plan on making chili on the grill! It'll be cool enough to make it taste really good.

I go to the Teralinga chili cook off site once in a while and find their best recipes. It's unique as the winning recipes are posted in full down to spices and correct times. I figure adding in the outdoor aspect will add the smoky flavor and give it a heartiness it would otherwise not have.

I'm sure that it'll work just as well in the dead of winter. After I got The Big Green Egg I made steaks at seven hundred degrees while it was nasty cold, windy and sleeting out. It can handle cold temperatures very well and that was a deciding factor in this grill over a Weber kettle grill.




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Last Day Of Work

Yes, I've made it! Six days down and tonight is the last night I work at Walmart for two days! Friday is Veteran's Day so it is a full day off.

I just have to make it through tonight and I'm home free. I can come home tomorrow and cook if I want to, I can sleep in until seven thirty Friday morning if I want to, just make it through tonight. That's all I have to do, one more five thirty to eleven shift! Two nights and one day off!

The Date took care of me too, she had soup on the stove before I got home between jobs and she made me some Stove Top Stuffing after I got home for the night:) I've got a great wife:)



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Super Rain

The Date pointed out to me last night that we had snow in the panhandle, thunderstorms, tornados, and another earthquake that came close to a 5.0 yesterday.

That's really pretty incredible for a single day!

Work was slow last night. Everything was stocked up before I got there so it was a long and boring night. Tonight might be similar, who knows. Two more evenings and I'm off for two days though!





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PC Problems Again

So Saturday morning I got the new PC up and running along. Got the motherboard drivers installed and it worked like a dream!

All weekend long it worked. I get up this morning and it wouldn't fire up. I reset the power strip and it finally did start but it's not kicking on the video card for some reason. I don't know why or what happened but it's not working. It's weird too because I put it to sleep last night before bed so it wasn't running or anything.

I'll have to have a friend look at it and see what he thinks. It was running perfectly too! I'm feeling sick to my stomach about it right now.


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The Day After

Well after the wild ride last night with the earthquake, that was later upgraded from a 5.2 to a 5.6 and the largest in Oklahoma history, we had a bunch of aftershocks. I don't remember feeling any of them though. It was really pretty cool though to just have everything move and shake around you, knowing you don't have any power to stop it or even slow it down.

Then I saw on Facebook about all of the reports from how far away it was felt! OKC, Tulsa, Wichita, and further! I could only imagine what a seven or higher magnitude earthquake would do to the state. A state not really built to withstand earthquakes at all. It would likely devastate a lot of the infrastructure and more in terms of personal property.

A nine would level the state, I'm sure of it.

Hopefully we'll never know and it'll never happen!

Earthquake

Yup! We just experienced a 5.2 magnitude earthquake! My very first earthquake!

The house rocked back and forth, not violently but steadily for about a minute! It was quite the exciting experience!

Our state has had tremors and small quakes all day and I guess it finally broke loose with a big one.




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Busy Day!

I got up this morning, and had to get to O'Reilly's to get rear brake pads for the Tahoe. They had gone beyond squealing to growling! That's bad! So Fat Plummer and I whipped that out in less than a hour! It was easy as could be!

Next on the agenda was to get the home PC running again! After installing the new motherboard I hadn't had a lot of time to get out going. So I sat down, got the hard drives hooked up, installed the SATA cables, and got it to fire up! While doing that I had lost track of time, I had a half hour to get to work!

So I changed clothes, wet my hair, and sprayed myself with Old Spice Swagger and headed to work!

Tonight we have reservations at Costello's for our anniversary dinner! I'm looking forward to this, their food is so good! I'm starving too!

I haven't had time to even grab a snack today!


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It's Friday

I'll be at work by myself today and probably most of next week as it is deer season. My coworker is a hunter and always takes off a lot this time of year.

It's alright though, the shop is in good shape and doesn't require a lot. At Walmart tonight I'll have one of the coworkers I really enjoy having around until eleven. Actually I enjoy them all, even the lazy one as he is just so weird that I chuckle at him.

Five and a half hours just goes by really fast with more than just me there.

It's a bit brisk out this morning, it feels nice to me. It's not ten or a crazy low temperature but it definitely not cool either. I like it, I don't mind the cold weather at all and love snowy weather! It will probably be a while yet before we get to that point of the year though.

Not a lot to report today, work is taking up most of my time right now. And that hasn't been overly interesting at all.


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Here We Go

Day one of seven. I'm not going to keep a log of all seven days, hopefully I'll think of more to talk about than just my second job and getting out of debt. It's a real struggle though since not a lot happens to me these days apart from my first or second job.

I'm not looking forward to going to work tonight though, working until eleven is getting tough. It really is especially after a full day of work.

No matter, it's temporary. Hopefully me doing this has inspired one or two of you to get your financial house in order and get yourselves out of debt too. I can't wait to enjoy the feeling of living with nothing but utility payments! Knowing my 401k is being fully funded, and enjoying the freedom that goes along with having an emergency fund!

That's why I'm doing this. It's temporary, it's necessary, and it'll be permanent.

Eye on the prize!






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Last Evening Off

For the next seven straight days I'll be working at Walmart. I'll be rewarded with two straight days off in a row, next Thursday and Friday.

Next Friday is Veteran's Day so it'll be a real day off all around! That will be nice and very needed by then. I'm doing it for the extra money. Everyone knows that by now, it's helping too, I don't have a bill count for you this post but I will soon. Friday is payday and our bills will be due soon. I know the amount is slowly being chipped away.

Its a good thing too, honestly this is starting to wear on me. I also know this time of year is when Walmart will start to give a lot more hours. Hopefully they keep mine the way they are, I'd be worn through if I had more to work. In reality I'd probably have to quit if they gave me more hours at this point.

I'm hitting the sixty seven hour mark on a regular basis now, it was a breeze when I was a kid. Now it's not as easy. We'll benefit from it though and it'll change our lives for the better when we are finished with it!

We'll look back on how tough it was and say something like, "It wasn't so bad." but it'll be over then and I know I'll be relieved. That's just the way I envision that day when it comes.

Eye on the prize!


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Ready Player One

I zipped through this book! Only put it down when I had to and still pulled it up on my Kindle app at both jobs in my spare time!

The story takes place in the not so distant future. The population is out of control and resources have dried up. The only respite for the common person is to spend time in the OASIS. A free massive multiplayer online game or life simulator. It's free to access for everyone and depending on your personal wealth how you are able to access it is up to you. From free publicly provided visors and gloves to state of the art immersion pods. In OASIS you can escape the drudgery and very harsh reality around you. You can be anyone you design, you can go to public school in the OASIS, or church. You can basically do or explore a painstakingly realistic simulations of many fantasy universes from Star Wars to Star Trek. From Norrath to Azeroth and more.

Then came the day that changed everything. James Halliday died. The co-creator of OASIS, genius, and multibillionaire had no one to leave his fortune to. So he held a contest and the first one to find a hidden Easter Egg or surprise within the game would inherit everything.

Halliday was a teen during the eighties, like myself, and chose to make hundreds of pop culture facts as his clues and sprinkled them around OASIS.

This lead to full time Egg Hunters or Gunters for short. A sort of professional class of pop culture experts trying to glean every shred of knowledge about the seventies and eighties they could to find the Egg.

That's the premise you'll find in this book and I loved it! Every bit of it! I devoured it from ecover to ecover! I wished it had been twice as long or longer like the Song of Ice and Fire series!

One of the more interesting references was to an Atari game series called Swordquest. The idea was four individual games that held the clues to a hidden jewel encrusted sword. The first game was released and I had it and played it! Before the games could be completed Atari cancelled the contest and the prize. I believe the first prize was found though but I never looked into the winner.

This was an enjoyable trip down pop culture lane:)

Ready Player One was just a good book:)


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A RAK

Saturday evening before the teen show and after I had gotten off of work I picked up some supper for The Date and Thing 2. After I had ordered a couple of kids came in behind me.

The youngest of the two ordered something like a dozen tacos but ran out of money somewhere around the sixth taco. From where I was waiting I saw the very young girl running the register pull a few crumpled up bills out of her pocket and complete the transaction for the child. Considering that she kicked in around five to six dollars and she likely makes around seven and a half per hour she basically worked an hour for them to eat.

A fact that was likely lost on the two young children or at the very least something they wouldn't think to consider as they likely don't grasp a lot of concepts in currency.

However I'd love to point out that even when we could calculate the nation's mood via the old scale of the misery index from the Carter years good things still happen and good people still exist. If that doesn't brighten your day just a little bit and inspire you do go and secretly do someone a good turn today than I don't know what will.

You'll get the opportunity to hold open a door for an elderly couple or make up the slight difference in a grocery bill for a single struggling mother. Do it and smile, you won't be able to help yourself once you do!




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Great Snape Family Reunion!

I got to hang out with all of my relation last night from the house of Snape! Myself as Occulous Snape and my family of Bette LeStrange Snape and Studious Snape made our appearance from whist we came.

We enjoyed the company of many fine Snape relations for several hours of fun and frivolity. It was a spectacular reunion complete with pictures! I even found a You Tube video on how to tie a tie but I still didn't get it quite right.

One of my Snape relations helped me though and his name escapes me so I'll call him Teehee Snape. All of the Snapes enjoyed themselves immensely and had the best of times!
Very grateful to Ludicrous Snape for arranging the reunion and hosting such an extravagant event, he has outdone himself once again!

Yawwnnnn

Feels good to sleep in some after working last night!
The alarm is turned off and I wake up naturally, that feels great actually!

I've started reading the best book! It's written by Ernest Cline called Player One Ready. Once I'm done with it I'll post an in depth review here. I'm loving it even though Cline's character is an atheist and his beliefs aren't along with mine it's really a minor point when dealing with this incredible story!

Well it's a great story for those who grew up in the seventies and experienced the eighties as a teen that is, it might fall flat on others of an older or younger generation but that is exactly me. Might be why this story resonates for me and I'm enjoying it so much.

I'm cooking The Date potatoes O'Brien right now and enjoying my free time before heading off to work later on. I only work until six tonight and have the party of the year to go to later at Jamal's house. That should be a great time!

Good Show!

I'm proud of the teens. They put on a very good show last night and did a great job of bringing the characters to life! It's especially impressive when you know that few of them had any experience before this show.

Naturally I thought my own Thing 2 as the spinster owned the stage but I think that's what parents are supposed to think. Be that is it may they should all be proud of the jobs they have done and I'm sure audiences will enjoy the show even if they don't have a teen in it!

That was how I spent my night off, tonight I'll be working my second job. A less enjoyable endeavor but a necessary one. My next day off will be Monday I believe.

The snowball is rolling.
Eye on the prize!


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Night Off

Final dress rehearsal for the teen show, And Then There Were None is tonight. Thing 2 has got a pretty healthy part as the old spinster. The Date tells me the show is looking fantastic and is coming together like they always do in the final week.

Tiger Direct is sending me another motherboard. They had me call Asus, the manufacturer and talk to them. They told me the motherboard wasn't compatible with the CPU. Called Tiger back and they told me it was.

I said I didn't care I just wanted it to plug in with no errors and work and if they had a trouble shooting idea to fix the error then I was listening. They didn't have any ideas so they are sending out a new motherboard from a different manufacturer.

It'll be here in the next day or two and I'll get it all buttoned up and running!

I got paid today from Walmart! This getting paid every week stuff is pretty cool! I'm enjoying it a lot! It is helping too, The Date and I will figure out who we can send money to tonight. I believe we paid off three or four small bills last Friday. I also think we have two or three that are now under two hundred dollars. I'll have to check those for sure to find out. The snowball is rolling along and we've got proof!





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New PC Blues

After work I headed out to Walmart to see if they needed me. There was a big inspection manager coming and they wanted extra help so they asked if I would show up. Actually to start they wanted me to come in at five AM, chuckling I said no.

I arrived there and talked with my manager and she said head on home, so thankfully I got to do just that! I arrived home and spent a little bit of time with the family before tech rehearsal at the theatre. Just before they left the UPS truck showed up with the new PC kit I ordered last week! I wasn't expecting it until tomorrow.

Now I had a fun project for the evening! I called my friend Mandingo to come over and help. He does this stuff daily, it's his job at work.

So I started in with unpacking and getting things put together. It went very well. The instructions were clear, I had Mandingo double check my work, we plugged it in and got a two motherboard error lights. After moving the RAM we got it down to one error light.

Not sure why it's on. The CPU is seated well, went in like a dream and the fan heat sink right on top of it. There shouldn't be any errors at all. So we started looking at error codes online.

Similar problems were posted but they all had to do with bent CPU pins. Well we didn't have any. It fit snug into its socket and locked down like it should have.

By that time Mandingo had to head home. So the new PC is still a work in progress this morning. I'll be reading message boards on my iPhone and seeing what I can come up with. I know Mandingo will be doing the same.


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Kitten Trouble

Watching our kitten Jet play is an exercise in exhaustion. He runs everywhere, attacks everything, is in the air as much as he is on the ground, chases every single other pet in the house including the dog, and has zero fear for his own safety.

Everything is something to bite, stalk, chase, attack, or rarely sleep on. He has no idea where he is going but he runs there as fast as he can. Even the dog will go to his pet taxi once in a while to get away.

He will use up every single molecule of energy before just laying down, sometimes in mid attack and nap. Very sudden like, he'll just terrorize whatever is there and like flipping a switch it's nap time.

Scotch and Baby Kitty have had very active kitten hoods but neither were as rampaging as Jet, nor as willing to inflict bodily harm on himself or others. Let alone the energy tank Jet has is far bigger than any I've witnessed. He goes on forever!

I'm not sure if Jet will evolve into being a lap kitty or not, he doesn't enjoy being held much at all. Baby Kitty is very lovey and when I'm home will frequently be in a lap. Scotty though has his moments of loving a lap.

Today is Tuesday and the new PC kit will make it here this week! I'll be able to work on it perhaps this coming Saturday if all goes right! It should be up and running this weekend and everything will be restored once again! That will help The Date out with her school work and make my blogging that much easier!

Although it is much easier on this iPhone than it was on the last one!


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Going To Work

I just took my last steroid pill. I'm having coffee to wash it down and I'm better, much better. Who was the first person to find a coffee bean? What would possess them to take it, roast it, grind it up, run water through it and drink it?

Who was the first person to take bacon and eggs and say, "You know? Maybe coffee would go good with breakfast."

Some daring culinary pioneer no doubt. Someone who perhaps thought that if you found a plant, dug underneath it and found an ugly looking root like thing you could cut it up, fry it, and serve it with ketchup.

I owe that guy though, I don't think I have a better comfort food than fried potatoes. Well to me that is. It's simple, filling, and tastes good.

To those daring pioneers who took that first bite or first drink, I salute you this morning!



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Much Better

Today was the last day of the antibiotics prescribed to me. I feel a ton better and will continue to improve from here. Yesterday at work was fairly easy. Just some stocking and such, nothing major at all.

The four and a half hours flew by and I was back at home a bit after six. Now I've got one more day like yesterday and then I'll head back to work like normal tomorrow. I guess I just wore my body down enough that I needed that kind of rest. When I look back through history at some of the most rugged men that came and settled this country I wonder if they ever had the same problems.

For example the coal miners who ushered in the industrial age and brought America to the forefront of modernization. They were essentially indentured servants for a long time, paid with coins that were only good at the company store. They were given housing but it was usually very shack like and ramshackle at best. But they were men and they went to work when they couldn't or shouldn't. Yeah they also had a very short lifespan and if a mine accident didn't get them then more than likely black lung disease did.

They were among the designers of this country that went unmentioned for the most part but had a work ethic that would shame many today that enjoy our country as it exists. Even at my best I will never be as tough as those men. Long hours, bad conditions, worse pay.

Today I go in for another four and a half hour shift of moving products from one section of the store to another section. Easy enough, and thank you to those that came before me and helped settle this country into what we now enjoy.

Another Day Off

I took Friday off from work and went work at Walmart at five. I'm feeling much better after yesterday's rest. I was able to run some errands and I also ordered our new PC kit. It will replace the one that has served faithfully for over four years. I'll have it built and running by next weekend for sure as I have a couple of evenings off this week from Walmart.

I also decided against purchasing the iPhone 4s and went with the iPhone 4 instead. It was readily available, I upgraded The Date to the same phone and played with it. It's really an impressive machine.

It's very fast, easy to work with, has IOS5 already installed, has so many advantages over the iPhone 3G that it's like night and day. For a hundred dollars you can't beat it so it's got a ton of value. I just put the two 3G iPhones on eBay for sale and they'll more than make up the cost of upgrading when sold.

The extra money will be used for car insurance next month when it's due after they sell this week.

I work four and a half hours today and tomorrow, thankfully I'm nearly done with my medications. I feel a lot better and I hope to continue to improve over the next week!

Feeling Better

After three weeks of a hacking cough, enough congestion to put an elephant down, and numerous aches and pains I decided to take off of work on Wednesday and headed to the doctor. I have a respiratory infection and while it wasn't pneumonia it didn't feel good either.

I got two prescriptions and headed home to get better. I called in to work yesterday and today but I'll have to go to Walmart tonight from five to nine thirty. My cough is still there and is still a hacking cough but it is lessening some. The worst thing about this is that I wanted to build my leave up, I had just passed the ninety hour mark and now with me taking off two and over a half days it'll be back down to the high seventy hour mark.

I'll rebuild it though. It won't take too long to do again. It's ok though because I do need to get better or I won't be able to handle my schedule again. I probably should have gone to the doctor before the other day, I mean three weeks with a bad cough is probably too long but I just didn't take the time to take care of myself. If I had then it probably could have been caught before it got as bad as it did and wouldn't have had to taken off from work to get better.

I'm blessed that I do have a job where they are very understanding about leave and it's very easy to take off with no problems at all. Just a phone call and you are good, it's not like I abuse my leave. I show up and for 99% of the time I take off from work with permission, usually half days or put my leave in well in advance so it can be approved.

For a job as good as mine is to me I can do that for them. They deserve that in the least. Walmart on the other hand is a bit of a different animal. You don't start earning leave until after a year of service. I can see that because of the turnover rate they have but perhaps if they altered that policy then maybe they would retain more people. Take care of your people and the good ones will take care of you and do more than make up for the screwups that game the system.

I am feeling like I have more energy now this morning while the past two days I've felt drug out and trampled on. That's probably an effect of breathing better now and feeling like I have a clear head. I should be back to normal by Monday and I'll definitely be back to work then. Thank you all for your prayers and kind thoughts:) It's helped a lot:)

Occupy

I've been watching the Occupy X movement with intense curiosity and without a lot of comment although I did engage in a brief discussion on a friend's facebook wall about it.

I have kept my powder dry until now and I feel I have a good grasp of what the movement is about and what they want. I can infer from this list of demands that they are hoping to reform congress and pass different acts to place limits on, further regulate, and prosecute criminals they deem to work on Wall Street.

While I don't really agree with a lot of it I can see why they are angry. They feel disenfranchised. Well so do I and most of the other millions of Americans that didn't vote for Obama. That aside if you look over the demands you'll notice they demand that essentially criminals responsible for the banking, housing and whatever other crisis be prosecuted. I'm actually all for that, I'd LOVE to see Barney Frank, Chris Dodd, Jimmy Carter, and all of the other liberals who engineered the housing collapse (which triggered the banking bailouts) to go to prison. Don't believe me? Read this.

Second of all I know they are against income disparity. The growing rift between the rich and the poor. That is one that really tugs on the heartstrings. Poverty of course and how the rich control the money in the country has got to be a sticking point of the protesters. For those of you who know me I'm not anti-rich, anti-poor, or anti much else but I am anti-elitist. I have little patience for those of you who feel you are elite among many. I've met wealthy individuals and would hang out and have a drink with them and I've met poor, destitute idiots who felt superior in every way to me. It goes both ways. No one class is immune to its share of elitists.

So let's examine the poverty issue. Granted this article comes from Heritage.org however they draw their numbers from the Census Bureau so the numbers don't lie. It would appear that the poorest among all Americans have it better than around 70% of the world. We on average live better, have better homes, have better entertainment options, and a higher standard of living than many other countries.

So if a few misguided protesters are being driven by envy, well I'd say it's undeserved but likely rampant. I'd also like to point out that many wealthy athletes are exempt from a lot of the disdain exhibited from the Occupy crowds for some reason. Even the poor like to pull for their favorite team as I don't see Occupy Giant Stadium or Occupy Jerryworld in Dallas protests. That leaves me to believe that a lot of this jealously is urban myth. Something believed to be true and reinforced by media stereotypes such as music videos and athletic commercials. After they are seen over and over again on their color TVs in the houses of the poverty stricken they can't help but garner a bit of resentment.

I'm for the free market. I'm for earning your own way. I'm for student loans, grants, and aid and working to pay it back with your newly earned education. I'm for hard work and earning your way, I'm for living within your means, and I'm for living debt free. If you feel the banks are greedy and only want your money, DON'T APPLY FOR A CREDIT CARD WITH 30% INTEREST to get a new shiny thing! If you don't give them your money they have no power over you! At all, end of story!

Took me a long time to learn that lesson but we are digging our way out as you loyal readers well know by now. The rich, by and large, have earned their wealth. No one is stopping you from being as wealthy as you wish to be but you. Athletes, actors, musicians all earn obscene amounts of money and get little in the way of criticism from this crowd, why is that? Supposed overpaid fatcat CEOs are responsible for more than you'll ever realize when they run a company. Families depend on the decisions of those in charge, good decisions put food on the table and bad ones break a company and put people out of work. Try to sleep with that knowledge, all of that pressure on you and you alone.

Athletes can dunk a ball or throw a touchdown and get millions each year for that. Actors can put out a lousy movie and get paid the same as a great movie. So I'm not sure that the anger Occupy Wallstreet exhibits is directed in the right place or not. Something to think about isn't it whether you agree with me or not. I don't think there are protesters at the houses of Tom Hanks or Julia Roberts, you don't see a Occupy Tom Cruise movement do you?

I'm upset with Congress too and feel they deserve lots of reform. I've blogged about that before, and can sum it up by saying serving in congress is a privilege and not a career. You go, you serve, you go home.

Comparing the anger from the Tea Party and the Occupy movements does seem legitimate to me. Both are equally passionate in what they want but what they want is as far apart from the East to the West. The Tea Party wants restraint on government while the Occupy movement wants restraint on corporations...which (and I can't labor this point enough) hire people such as me and you.

Is it an organic movement? Who can really say at this point, I'd wager George Sorros is funneling money to them somehow and in some fashion though. While the Arab Spring was purely organic and led to overthrown governments the Occupy movement will not topple anything. It'll likely have very little effect over time. The 2012 elections will rid our country of our failure of a President and hopefully a liberal senate and we'll see gains in the house. Jobs will come back and the protesters will go away. Tax rates will lower, drilling will increase, oil prices will lower, and overbearing regulations will dissipate like a bad nightmare. Dawn will break and the country will be new and fresh again, free from the liberal grip that has held it's boot on the throat of freedom!

Well that's a bit dramatic but hopefully that's what will happen anyway:)

Half Way

This week is huge for us. First of all The Date gets her student aid this week! Finally after the semester is over half way finished. Second all of the work I put in last week gets paid off Friday! I got my paystub yesterday and yeah, it felt good to see the bottom line! My next Walmart check will be full as well and that snowball will be rocketing down the hill once this month is over!

Yesterday was a day that I wished we were in a position that I didn't need a second job. I hadn't slept well the night before and was tired all day, wanting nothing more than a few hours of sleep. It was not to be. I got home and made chili for the family and went off to work until eleven.

I feel better this morning though. I'll have a decent day at work but I am working until eleven again barring any overtime at work that might alter that time table.

Let's see what fun stuff I can blog about. I finished the second Sandman Slim novel. It's pretty good, lots of funny parts, lots of violent parts. A weird mish mash of detective noir ala Sam Spade, supernatural suspense, and a lot of fun. Not for everyone though. The series deals with Heaven, Hell, and everything in between!

It focuses a lot on the angels that fell from Heaven after God kicked them out. Some want back in His good graces, some set up life on earth and in Hell. Sandman Slim is in between, a Nephilim in fact, half man half angel.

Set it all in LA and let the fun begin!

Working Tonight

I'm back to my normal six thirty to eleven schedule tonight. There is a chance of overtime as well from my real job.

If that happens I'll probably head from one job to the next and just change clothes. Yesterday I was off and worked my normal hours, the day flew by! After what I was working last week it was a breeze to work a regular eight hour shift! I couldn't believe it was time to go home when it came!

That's a good feeling, a feeling I'll get again once I'm back down to one job again. It is temporary, it's going to be so much better when that happens, and I'll tough it out until then. Those are the words going round and round in my head. Lots of people work two or more jobs with a goal to work one that pays a good wage. I'm not unique, not breaking new ground, just traveling the plowed earth that many others also tread in this miserable economy.

Every day, every hour exchanged for money...well that's one hour closer to obtaining that goal. One day closer to having a single job, coming home at 4:15 and cooking for friends on Wednesday nights again. Spending time at the theatre again, that's a nice goal. I'll get there!

Eye on the prize!

Off Tonight!

After working the weekend I'm off tonight and Thursday night. I believe it's going to turn colder today or tomorrow so I've got chili planned for supper tomorrow night before work.

The Date got her homework submitted last night so since student is her full time job we both worked yesterday. Work was super busy for me, the section was a huge mess when I got there and when I left. There was an area manager inspecting the place when I got there and she didn't like a lot of stuff I gathered. The fat assistant manager was upset at my coworkers before I arrived. Only three of us were on the schedule though, not the best move on one of the busy days of the week. Not my call though.

Fortunately since I don't depend upon this job for a living I've got more options as to what I can put up with regarding the attitudes of managers. My coworkers aren't quite as fortunate. However they really don't bother me a lot so I don't feel defensive around them. Generally always working when they rarely come around and busy so they can't say much.

I'm giving them a fair shift of work compared to my wage, they really can't complain a whole lot. We are short handed and perhaps they can address that soon, it'd solve some problems for sure with scheduling.

Tonight we don't have any plans:) come home from a regular day of work and enjoy the evening unless they offer overtime:)

Evaluation

Yesterday I got my Walmart evaluation from our manager. She said I rated higher than she was going to put on the evaluation and by doing that she was doing me a favor. I rated as Exceed. Basically on the path to a manager but she put me as a grade lower and told me why.

She told me that management would be all over me, I'd be required to do a lot of extra tasks, and that I'd have to work more hours. All of the things I don't want as I won't be working there long enough to advance anywhere. She said I was an exceptional employee and she needed more like me. All in all it was a very nice evaluation and made me feel really good about my self, my work ethic, and what I'm accomplishing for our debt snowball. It really validated what I'm doing right now.

She is leaving soon to take care of a family member that needs help. I'm sorry to see her leave but hey, she's got a great reason to do so.

I came home and started to rest up. I was about to go to bed but then The Outlaw Josey Wales came on so I watched that and went to bed around one thirty. The Date and I watched it actually:) It was a pretty nice experience to just chill on the couch and enjoy each others company.

Thing 2 auditioned for the National Honor Orchestra yesterday and wound up getting first section, eighth chair violin! Better than anyone else in varsity orchestra and she's a freshman! Very proud of her! She's worked very hard to get where she has gotten and it really shows:) Love my girls!

Super Friday

I got to work and had nothing to give. I really didn't have much at all to offer so I thought it best to remove myself from work and head back home. Three days of sixteen and a half hours is rough. It came down to simple math, I worked forty nine and a half hours out of seventy two possible hours. That leaves a scant twenty two hours off to sleep, eat, and recharge.

I know I'm not twenty anymore and now heavy work loads take everything I've got over an extended time. Fortunately my company has a very good leave policy and they are always willing to work with someone over any situation. It's looked upon as what you've earned and ninety nine percent of the time you get the time off you ask for without question.

That's darn hard to beat. So I worked three hours and came back home and crashed on the couch for a bit. My head was stopped up, coughing nonstop, and I Nyquiled up and stopped coughing.

Last night we went to movie night, a new trend my circle of friends is starting. Hosting a movie night and showing a movie that you feel needs to be seen or appreciated and you want to share it with your friends. It's really a great idea and I'm going to enjoy going provided I'm not working that night.

I work today but now I've got some fresh batteries in my system. It's a standard shift for me which equates to roughly four and a half hours. Not hard by any way, shape, or form. I'll be back home before I know it and getting ready for a similar shift Sunday. As long as I get a bit of rest now and then I'm more than up to the task. It was only getting to me last week as we worked overtime at work and tacking on another shift after I left work. However as I've blogged about, the money was way too stellar to not work it and I knew Walmart wouldn't work with me on the schedule anymore. So to keep both jobs and make the money I did what I had to do. Glad I did it now, very glad next Friday, but it was hard when it happened.

Hopefully the overtime train isn't done yet though, it's possible to run into more this coming week and possibly the next two months. For the debt snowball, and the holiday season it'll be very good to us if this continues.

Now I've got to get some food and get ready for work soon.

Eye on the prize!

Normal Day

Yesterday we came to the point on our project at work to where overtime was not necessary today. Next week probably though! I get to go home at a normal time and I'm off from Walmart tonight!

Instead of getting up at a quarter to five this morning I got up a quarter after six! I needed that rest. It doesn't sound like a lit but it is. I am feeling refreshed this morning and knowing my day ends normally this afternoon I'm really feeling pretty chipper!

The iPhone 4s is released to the world today. I am going to wait until this massive paycheck comes in before I'm able to search for one. I'm eligible for the upgrade though:) It's going to be free though as I plan on selling Thing 2's broken screen phone and my phone and that should more than cover the cost.

Used and broken they still bring from ninety to a hundred fifteen dollars each! Both combined in one sell will cover the cost of my upgrade but I can't sell them until I get one bought, hence the waiting.

Looking forward to the weekend, I need some rest.

It's Early

Today and tomorrow and I'll be able to sleep in a little bit extra on Saturday! Last night was tough. Making it to eleven was quite a feat. I ran out of gas around nine. Had to take a break for a while and refuel some.

It'll all be worth it next Friday and then again on the following Thursday. Both paydays will be very sweet!

Until then though I'm just looking forward to being able to grab some extra rest on Saturday...before I get to work at noon. Next week won't hold much overtime, thankfully and sadly. The money is top notch but this week has been rough as you, dear reader have been enduring with me.

Eye on the prize!

Yeah, Sixteen More Please

By the time they put me in the ground in another forty years or so I might be the laziest person anyone would have known for the last couple of decades of my life. But I'll have earned it and those of you who know me will know I earned it.

Kindly let those who don't know me know the real story if they should ever ask you:) You can tell them that even before you knew me that I had worked over a hundred hours a week when I worked at the local airport and once went a hundred and thirty one days during the summer without a day off. You can tell them that when I had a single job I still dedicated free time to those things I considered a challenge such as the theatre and making it a better place for both the patrons and volunteers.

You can tell them that during his prime he would have laughed at a long day and come back for more. That he did what he did for his family and his friends when I'm old enough to wake up and watch The Flintstones, or any other cartoon all day and little else.

You can say you knew me when...and it'd likely be true. You do that for me if the subject ever comes up and I'll return the favor for you if someone should speak ill of you after you've earned the same rights. And I know you will:)

Now after four and three quarters of an hour of sleep I'm going to put in my second sixteen and a half hour day of work. One more after this to go!

There are rumblings at work that our twelve hour days are just beginning due to two coworkers out on medical leave until after the first of the year. Maybe I'll have a few more of these weeks in store for me!

Bring it!

Eye on the prize!

Tuesday Morning Sunshine!

Well it's not sunny yet but it will be, it definitely wasn't sunny when I got up at fifteen till five! I'm good though, reminds me of high school and the paper route days. I've got an edge on the world, I'm awake and yes alert while you are still in the REM sleep cycle.

Not sure how much more overtime I'm going to get this week but after today I'll have twenty in the books! That's quite a bit for me and us as a shop! We rarely get OT as I've said many times in the past.

This is all coming at the exact right time too, with the holidays approaching, with the PC needing rebuilding, and with the snowball in full rolling mode! Yes this extra amount added in will be a fantastic boost to any above!

I had thirty three hours on my last WM check that goes into the bank on Thursday. It's a bit more than I expected, a welcome sight. Next check will be full and will have about a hundred dollars plus added in which is what I've been getting.

A very happy birthday to my beloved wife! Happy 29th honey, sorry I couldn't be with you today but I got to spend my day off with you yesterday!

Coffee, Black

That's what I'm enjoying right now and I've got no where to go today and little to do! A very rare day off and I'm going to enjoy the heck out of it. Tomorrow is The Date's birthday and we'll probably go do something nice for her at lunch today:) We talked about it earlier so it isn't a surprise. It's going to depend on if she has to work or not.

Tomorrow is going to be tough, the first of sixteen hour days. I just set the alarm for a quarter to five. I have to be at work by six and then I'll get off at six and be clocked in at Walmart by six thirty. I haven't put in days like that in a long time but I have been working fourteen hours recently so two and a half more hours won't bother me a lot.

I'll get through this too and enjoy the benefits when both checks come in. The biggest on the twenty first, then a regular full Walmart check the week after that. The debt snowball is rolling, rolling, rolling along! The Date officially accepts her student aid today and it's a huge blessing! As I think I said earlier in a blog she got way more than expected! She was nervous about it but it turns out that her hard work and good grades have paid off in spades. She's got a ton of aid now and I couldn't be prouder of her efforts!

It'll make college less of a struggle right now while I'm doing what I'm doing. In other words it's one less thing I've got to be concerned about cause I know it's all taken care of.

Another cup of coffee is calling my name!

Eye on the prize!

Good Night, Good Day

Last night after work The Date and I helped Hollywood Actor celebrate his thirtieth year on this earth and helped warm his house with about twenty of his favorite people around him! It was good to see him be so happy! I've known him a long time now and he has been a gloomy Gus most of the time but the past few years have been very kind to him and he's come a LONG way!

May he have many many more days like yesterday!

Today I've gone to work, got come groceries, came home and now I'm making tacos for the family. It was a fairly easy day of stocking produce, nothing out of the ordinary. Most everything is routine now.

It has rained ALL day long, a slow soaking rain. We needed this for months now and finally we've got it. It would have been nice around July but that's ok, better late than never.

Tomorrow is my first day off during a weekday in a long time. I am off from both jobs! I did have last Sunday off and that was very nice, tomorrow will be sweet! I plan on sleeping in until at least seven, maybe seven fifteen!

We'll see what the day holds!

Cabaret

I got through the workday, both jobs, and made it in time at cabaret to hear my baby sing! I clocked out at Walmart and ran over to the theatre to make it just as Thing 2, FFC, and Musical Genius just left the stage. I was sad that I missed them sing but I did make it in time to hear my wife rock the theatre's audience:)

I couldn't be prouder of my gifted family:)

After the set closed the show Tech Guy and I were chatting in the lobby. He had this observation that was really pretty profound and one that I and many of our age have noticed of the upcoming generations. Let me preface this by telling this short story, I had a conversation with a coworker at Walmart who stocks frozen foods.

He is in college and we were talking in the back room. He said there were a lot of hillbillies in a small town north of here. I said there weren't any because the land was flat and that Oklahoma wasn't where hillbillies come from. I explained to him where hillbillies came from and he said I was a historical genius or something. He also said he made good grades in his college classes. Now if THAT doesn't make you question our educational system I don't know what will.

So Tech Guy and I were chatting that the youth of today lack many mechanical skills that were commonplace in past generations. Tech Guy gave the example of ten guys riding in a jeep in WWII, if it broke down on the side of the road more than likely nine of them would be capable of fixing the problem. I myself am capable of fixing many minor problems that arise with owning a vehicle. Some things are obviously outside of my knowledge range and comfort level for example I wouldn't go tearing into a transmission without guidance. I can do the work if I had an over the shoulder mechanic guiding me but it's not something I'd attempt on my own.

Many growing up today lack those skills and many other skills. Carpentry alludes me even though that's one of the basic skills that I'd enjoy having mastered. I'm a basic welder, and I can paint anything that moves. I add to my educational background on my own and am always learning politics and the ins and outs of the political system. I know how the electoral college works and why it's necessary for example.

I'm always anxious to learn more in fact. I never cared for my education while I was in school as much as I care about it now and after I dropped out of college. I wanted to get on with living and being an adult. Classrooms weren't teaching me what I wanted to know.

So to wrap it up I'm thrilled that my wife did such a great job at cabaret, I'm thrilled it was another successful evening at the theatre, and I'm thrilled that my family is prone to working hard and learning more about being self sufficient. Basic skills that everyone should know and should endeavor to learn.

Finished

The tough part of the week is finished now. Four twelve hour days at work are done. Hopefully they will say they need more next week.

I can work both jobs without much problem I think. If work will let me come in early I can get twelve in and still get to Walmart without a lot of difficulty for four or five more hours.

Every hour worked is one hour closer to quitting Walmart. It's serviceable income and it's helping to get things paid off sooner. That's the goal. That's why I keep rehashing this in my blog every morning, to keep me focused on what I have to do.

I remind myself why I'm doing this every day, I remind myself what the prize is, and I remind myself that it's not about me and my comfort anymore. I put my needs behind the needs of my family and our financial health, from that we'll grow a much better future for ourselves.

It's a big prize to earn but earn it I will.

Eye on the prize!