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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