A Good Weekend

I haven't done a weekend update post in a while and I don't intend to start doing them again. But for today I will do one.

I was out of town Thursday into Friday and didn't get home until middle of the afternoon on Friday.

I did some minor yard work Friday afternoon before heading to the soccer field for kiddo's makeup game from earlier in the season.


Saturday was supposed to be the last game of the season but the soaking rain that went through PA meant NO soccer.

But it did mean WET PUPPIES! And unfortunately......MUDDY PUPPIES!

They realized that it is easier to dig in mud than it is dry dirt. GREAT!


But then the real meaning to this past Saturday started......


Penn State @ Ohio State!!

If the Lions could win this game than they are on track for their first undefeated season since 1994 and possibly their first National Championship since 1986.

I was PUMPED!

Some friends came by to keep me calm and whatnot which actually did work. I wasn't too hyper and managed to not get too tense during the game.

But it didn't matter at the end!

PSU 13 OSU 6

AWESOME!!


And after that the weekend got busy again.

I woke up Sunday morning to......a mess in the dog crate.....and a mess on the dogs.

One of them had gotten ill in the crate overnight and there was stuff all over the crate and all
over the dogs.


So after all that cleaning and whatnot we went to a hockey game last night in Hershey, PA.

That was a good game to be at (we won 8-3) but the more interesting thing happened around the 2nd intermission.

Wifey and Kiddo went to the bathroom and when they got back there was a story to be told.

A little pre story.....kiddo wanted to bring her Nintendo DS to the game in case she got bored....I said no.

Apparently she didn't like that answer. She had stuffed her DS into her pants before we left the house and managed to sit in the car, walk to the arena, eat her dinner, sit for 2 periods (almost 2 hours), and get to the bathroom without having problems.

And she still didn't have any problems. Apparently the bathroom was so crowded that Wifey went into the stall with her just to get out of everyone's way. And then it was discovered.

I was so impressed that I allowed her to have the DS after the came back.

I would like to think that I would have been smart enough to do the same thing when I was 7!


And now I am here at work to begin yet another week....Yippee!!! (sarcasm intended)

Company Killer

If you don't like your company and you want it to begin to struggle or worse fail, just get me a job there.

Seriously, any company I work for seems to fall on hard times at some point in the near future.

Let's recap my work history and you will understand why.

First example:

My third job (first two were paper boy and something else small) was at a sporting goods store called Shenk & Tittle. I started in October and everything was fine....except that the mall we were located was damn near useless. The only people that came into the mall were old people so that they could walk around and get their exercise.

By May of the following year that store was closed.

I started and within 7 months the store was empty and I was looking for a new job.
Second example:

The next real full time job I had was at Rite Aid. If you haven't heard of it Rite Aid is a national drug store chain. Before I started the stock had been pretty high, like 50 or something. And while part of that was because of the executives cooking the books they were still getting away with it when I started.

Within a few weeks of starting at my store the companies stock price fell down to like 1 dollar or something like that.

Third example:

Another sporting goods store called Kelly's which specialized in shoes and sports clothing. I worked there from November to February one year. A nice store in a good mall that seemed to be doing okay.

With a couple months of me leaving the store was closed and everyone was out of a job.

Fourth example:

After that I went to work for my fathers construction company. I actually worked there for 4 years and while I technically didn't do any real harm to his company, it isn't around anymore. We were building around 25 houses a year, which is a lot for a small company like his, and everything was good. Except that his partner wanted out.

After 4 years of working there my dad and his partner sold the land they still owned and ended their company.

Fifth example:

After that my dad and I became partners in a new construction company. I thought it was the beginning of my future. I had seen how much money he had made and was fine with doing that for a living. We managed to build a few houses and even got a couple sold. And then.....

The housing market completely fell apart. Within 8 months of us starting the business the market was pretty much dead and didn't seem to be coming back. We managed to sell a couple more houses but I have since left and moved on.

Sixth example:

I am currently at this place of employment so it isn't all bad for them. But it isn't all peaches either. I work for the biggest employer in my local area and they usually hire numerous people each year.

Not anymore. Within 6 months of me starting here......there is a hiring freeze for the foreseeable future.


See what I am saying. That is 6 different occasions of me showing up and the business going downhill.

I guess I better put this on my resume so that future employers know what they are in for!

Whew

I have noticed that fewer and fewer people are checking out my nice little blog here and am curious as to why.

Is it the political posts?

Is it the lack of posts?

Do people just not like me?

Okay it isn't the last one because I think it is obvious that everyone likes me so it must be one of the first two.

To challenge the first one I won't say anything. I may still post about politics but it isn't a burning desire to do right now so you can come back if that is keeping you away.

The second one is a little harder. I started a new blog/website with Verb called Jumping Offsides. It is all about sports which I love. It also includes a podcast (episode 1 is up, check it out) which takes a lot of time. And if you have noticed I have already posted MANY posts over there.

But I am going to try to post a few times a week here too. Last week I was out of town from Tuesday through Friday so I wasn't available to post much and when I was the new sports site took priority.

I am going to try to stay on a schedule over here but I am not going to divulge my thoughts until I try it for a while because I don't want to let anyone down.

Other than that everything is good here.

The puppies are getting bigger and getting better at listening and whatnot.

I haven't really done much else other than watch football and read for a while now so I hope you are all doing well and while I may not post, I do still read!

In fact my google reader is over 300 and I am slowly catching up.

self promotion

How do all of you feel about self promotion?

By this I mean how do you feel about proudly sharing your achievements with EVERYONE in the office?

My co-worker recently passed a test to get some letters put after his name.

I am sure it wasn't easy and I am sure he worked and studied really hard to do it.

But when he came in this morning (his first in the office this since he received his passing score) he went around to EVERYONE and told each person that he passed his test.

Now personally I would never do this.

I might go and tell one or two people and then I would let the normal conversation and gossip carry it to everyone else.

But actually I don't think I would tell anyone unless someone asked me about it.

I am not saying I am right or anything but that is what I would do. But I also know that I am a very private person and don't want to have a conversation with anyone about my personal life or accomplishments.

But it does bother me when someone comes around and flaunts their achievements.

And then he sends out an email to more parts of the office telling everyone that he passed. And asking if anyone wanted to go CELEBRATE HIS ACCOMPLISHMENT next week.

Now maybe it is just me but I don't want to have to throw myself a party. But I can see why he would do this.

Now like I said I am not saying that I am right on this. Maybe most of you would do the same thing.

But it does bother me.

The first political post

Okay, I have read numerous political posts in the past couple of weeks with regards to the candidates for this year.

I am going to tell you right now that I intend to and will be posting my thoughts and views on what is going on.

I am not going to tell you who to vote for. And I am not going to exaggerate or make stuff up about someone to sway your opinion.

All I want to do is argue some things that are coming out and argue people's reasoning in their arguments.

Everyone needs to take a step back and look at the candidates and their interests before making a decision.

This will not turn into a political blog or anything close to it.

The only reason I am saying all of this is because most of the other political posts I have read have begun with someone saying that this is only a one time thing or something like it.

And I don't agree with it. This is the one most influential and important elections ever. Think about it......a black man for President and now a woman for Vice President!!!

I never thought I would see it in my lifetime and I am very excited about it.



The reason I bring this up today is that there have been serious debates in my office lately about the candidates.

And today's really bothered me.

A guy I work with said he likes Palin and that he thinks McCain is going to win in the elections. And that Obama is going to get crushed in any debate they have.

Okay, so I asked him, "did you watch any of the debates prior to the primaries?"

His response....."no, but Obama is only good reading from a teleprompter, he can't come up with things off the top of his head."

Oh really. Interesting opinion considering YOU DIDN'T WATCH THE DEBATES!

I did watch them. I actually recorded one cause I wasn't going to be able to watch it live.

I am not going to say that Obama is better than McCain at debates cause the two haven't faced off against each other yet.

But I remember listening to McCain and watching him back himself into a corner time and time again because he speaks to freely about his ideas and interests. Is that bad? No, I like that he is willing to put himself out there. But by putting yourself out there you are setting yourself up for IMMEDIATE ridicule if your opponent is competent.

The best politicians do one thing better than anything else.....they say a lot while saying NOTHING!!

And Obama is much better at that than McCain. McCain is a lot of times saying something meaningful. He is telling you what his intentions are and how he would do it.

The problem with that is that people instantly form opinions based on what you said and if someone doesn't understand what you meant than you may lose a supporter.

But Obama says very little but he talks all the time. And that is a huge advantage in debates in my opinion. He offers his ideas and interests without getting too deep into the planning of them.

Now like I said before I think McCain should be respected and admired for stating his intentions whenever he is asked.

But if you think McCain is going to destroy Obama in a debate than you obviously haven't watched them debate.



If anyone wishes to comment or debate, please do!!

Quite a Week (so far)

It has been a busy past couple of days at my house.

Saturday we drove out and picked up our puppies!

So the past few days have been filled with trips outside and playing inside.

Having puppies is a lot like having a baby. It is constant supervision and doing everything you can to make them happy and keep them occupied.

I would even say that having 2 puppies is harder than having a baby because they will destroy things if given the chance. (and remember I do speak from experience)

But the good thing about puppies versus babies is that within a couple months the puppies can (in theory) be left alone for a little while. And OBVIOUSLY a baby can not be left alone for years.

There will be pictures soon but right now they are still on the camera.

I have also begun being the assistant coach for my daughters soccer team which is only 2 nights a week, plus games on Saturdays, but it is something else to take my free time.

And I have started taking classes to be a real estate agent. If anyone living in the Central Pa area is looking to buy or sell in the coming months or years, let me know!

The wife has started classes again at a community college near us. This will be her third semester back in school. She is doing good but the puppies are affecting her study time.

And the kiddo started 2nd grade today. She is kind of excited and kind of not excited. Really she seems pretty impartial to the whole thing.

And to top it all off I have 2 fantasy football drafts this week/weekend to prepare for. I have been working on this stuff for the past few weeks but now they are here and I intend to devote a couple more hours to it. Although some (most) of that time will go to setting up one that is being held at my house.

So it has been and continues to be a very very busy week.

Oh and college football starts this weekend!! My favorite time of the year = football season!

WE ARE PENN STATE!!!!!

A little thing called...

Ambition.

It is something that I really wish I had more of.

I haven't really figured out a way to get more of it or if you just slowly develop it as you get older but I need more.

The past couple days I was out of the office doing work in the field and the business I was at had numerous 20somethings doing a lot of work.

And it wasn't just a lot of work but there seemed to be a lot of responsibility on the shoulders.

I have read numerous blogs of people that also seem to have good jobs with a lot of responsibility. And then I look at my own job and I feel like I could do more.

But I don't want to.

When I started this job I was ready to work all day every day with no problem. But then I started and I didn't have anything to do for a few months because I was new.

So now I am used to not doing anything and I can't get motivated to do anything.

The other unfortunate part of my job is that promotions and pay raises are more based on tenure than performance.

Which is good and bad. On one side you are all but guaranteed to get a raise and get promoted but on the other side you don't feel like you have to work for it so you don't.

So like I said, I need some way to get ambition.

I know some of you out there are ambitious and have good jobs and show lots of potential, so I ask you....

have you always been like that?

Were you one of the smart people in high school that always wanted to do better?

When did you become an ambitious person??

Cause I need to become one..........sooner than later.

Contact Info??

Okay.

So I have been looking into becoming a real estate agent lately and I took this survey/quiz thing for Century 21.

At the end of it they asked if I would like to be contacted by someone for more information.

It asked for some contact info, my home phone number, best time to be reached, and a comments section for anything else.

I put my number, said LATE AFTERNOON, and said in the comments section that if they could not call after 5 than to call my CELL PHONE around lunch.

(and lunch time was an option in the time to be reached section)

So the wife sends me an email earlier telling me that someone from Century 21 called this morning.

They called in the EARLY MORNING to my HOME PHONE NUMBER!!

Why bother asking for the information if you aren’t going to use it?

Summer....

I hate summer!

Okay, maybe I don't hate summer but it just seems to fuck with me a lot.

My problem comes from being completely unmotivated to do anything in the summer.

I am going to the beach in about a month and am doing nothing but thinking about it right now.

And when I get back I will do nothing but think about how much fun it was and how much I want to go back.

Does anyone else have this problem?

My other problem with summer is that sports suck during the summer. I have said on here before that sports are a big part of who I am.

I am a big football and hockey fan, so from about the middle of August til the middle of June I am content. But during the summer there is nothing interesting in the sports world.

Just baseball......which is incredibly boring. I don't mind going to games but can't afford to go to many, but watching it or following it is not something I am interested in doing.

And tv sucks during the summer too. There are no really good shows out there on tv. Just repeats of shows.

So there is really nothing to keep my mind off of my boring job and how much I hate working!

But I think most of my problem is due to vacations happening and nice weather outside. I would rather be at a pool than here all summer long.

Some people probably love summer because of cookouts and vacations and other things.

And I love those things too. But it really affects my motivation and I hate that.

How do you all feel about summer??

Still alive and kickin

Wow....I haven't posted since the 25th of June.

Huh? I wonder where I have been.....oh well.

Are there any readers still left out there?

If so I apologize. I haven't really been overly busy or anything, just unmotivated to blog.

Last week I was on the road for work. I didn't have to stay over night but I had to drive about 3 hours a day and by the time I got back I didn't want much to do with a computer.

The past couple weekends have been relatively uneventful. A couple family dinners and one with friends.

Job is still kinda shitty. Finding out more and more about the future lately. Looks as though my job is possibly going to change. Could possibly be moving offices around the city. Hoping to get promoted and transferred to another department but I have to wait a couple months for that yet.

I think I might start applying to other jobs just to see what is out there. I kinda like the one I am in but there isn't much of a future and earnings are limited.

Oh well. Maybe I can stay on task and post every day or so again.

Time will tell.......

Please, Stop!

My one co-worker has the most annoying laugh EVER!!

And he thinks EVERYTHING is funny, especially if he says it.

He was just at the cubicle next to me talking to the guy in there and laughing at his own STUPID comments.

I just want him to SHUT UP!!!!!!

I hate annoying laughs. Especially when the person only laughs when THEY say something funny.

It drives me NUTS!!

Unreal

I have been listening to my coworker whine this morning.

He is set to retire in July sometime and there is a possibility that he could be temporarily laid of for a few days in July.

It is confusing and I am not going to elaborate cause I really don't understand it.

But either way he is worried.

Why you ask. That's a good question.

He is worried because when this organization factors in your pension they look at your three highest earning years and come up with some amount to pay you for the rest of your life.

And if he was to be laid off for the entire month of July he would lose some money on his pension.

How much would he lose that is causing him to whine each day?

$1.73 a month!!

Or $20.76 a year!!

And he figures that he will live for around another 20 years or so.

Lets look at how much he would lose after some time.

Say he lives for 10 more years...he would lose $207.6 total.

20 years.....$415.20

30 years.....$622.80

40 years (unlikely as he is already in his 60s)......$830.40

Are you kidding??

I could understand his whining if it was $100 a year or something. But seriously, $1.73 a month or $20.76 a year??

Just knock it off. You are acting like a baby who had a toy taken away.

Another Good Time

This past weekend was another good one at my place of residence.

We had another cookout (smaller than Memorial Day's) with incredible food and a great group of friends.

We had barbecue chicken, potatoes, a veggie, and a good desert.

To understand the incredibleness of the chicken you would have to taste the barbecue sauce that the wife makes. She has taken a family recipe and twisted it up a bit and it is AMAZING!!

I actually put it on everything (okay, maybe not EVERYTHING) like potatoes and broccoli. That is the best. Especially on the potatoes. I will actually eat a steak with a potato and heat up some bbq sauce for the potato.

But I got ahead of myself here in this story and I honestly just realized it. I was going to talk about my WHOLE weekend and yet I started the story on Sunday. So let's start over.

This past weekend was another great one at my place of residence.

Friday was a nice quiet night at home after a haircut and some yard work. I watched Charlie Wilson's War (loved it) and stayed in, just the wife and I.

Saturday I got up at 8ish and made eggs for everyone while we waited for a phone call from my daughters soccer coach to see if the game was cancelled due to storms.

I called my family to tell them that the game was likely to be canceled (which it was) and my sister asks me if my mom can take my daughter for the night. I was all for it and so was the wife.

So my mom and sister came and picked her up around noon.

After which, the wife went to work and I started on my yard work. (side note - the yard work has been consisting of tearing out grass and laying down some mulch to create some great flower beds.

After she got home from work and I was done we went to the Olive Garden for a nice quiet (not so much when they seated about 8 little kids at a nearby table) dinner.

After dinner we went home to watch the Pens/Wings game before heading out late with some friends (sister, donkey, young buck, and verb) to a nice arcade/bar called the Coliseum. It is very much like a Dave & Busters (which we don't have here in the greater Harrisburg area).

When we were done there after about 3 hours we headed down to Denny's for a late night snack or very early breakfast for some.

We got home at about 3 and went to sleep around 4.

So I decided that I would get up at 8ish the next morning! BRILLIANT!!

I had more yard work to do and had to get things ready for the previously mentioned cookout.

I cut the grass and created even more flower beds for about 5 hours (during which I drank 80 oz of Gatorade). Then I started pealing potatoes and getting the place set up for friends and family.

My dinner guests included the group that was out the night before and my mom and her husband.

And as I previously mentioned, it was a GREAT time!

After dinner we of course played some bowling on the Wii and then some serious Mario Kart before I kicked everyone out at about 930 cause I was EXHAUSTED.

And then it was back to work on Monday and Tuesday I left for Scranton, PA.

I am still in Scranton (yes, the place the Office is set in) and will be until Friday.

I went to a baseball game last night at PNC Field, home of the Scranton/Wilkes Barre Yankees. And they LOST!!

I couldn't have asked for a better outcome, I hate the Yankees (all of them).

That was probably the most beautiful baseball stadium I have been to. And just so I am honest and you don't mistake me for an expert, I have been to (the late) Veterans Stadium in Philly, Camden Yards in Baltimore, and Riverside Stadium in Harrisburg.

But really the place is beautiful. If you are ever in Scranton or Wilkes Barre you should get to a game. Parking was (surprisingly and impressively) free and great seats down the third base line were only $10.

Just Admit It

There are many things in this life that piss me off or bother me. But there aren't many things that bother me as much as this.

Fans of sports teams that can't appreciate another team.

I love hockey. I am a Capitals fan. Not a Penguins fan or (especially) a Flyers fan.

I thing all Philly fans are idiots (and yes I am an Eagles fan, but no I am not an idiot, all the time).

At my work there is a idiotic Flyers fan that I have to deal with. And he hates the Penguins.

He does know his hockey though. He has played and understands the game very well. And he makes sure he tells you that.

In fact this morning (about 8 minutes ago) he comes into my cube and says "I know my hockey, don't I?" Because he told me on Friday that the Wings would win on Saturday night.

The thing I hate about fans like this is that they can't appreciate good play from teams they hate. And they never give credit where credit is due.

He insists that the Penguins are not any good and (for this series) he thinks the Red Wings are the best team in the world. And he HATES Sydney Crosby (the Pens star player) and can not handle that he might be the best player in the NHL.

I know a decent amount about hockey and will admit that the Wings are playing INCREDIBLE hockey right now. But I still think the Penguins have a chance and have been playing pretty well.

Although I am not surprised with how the series is going. I thought it would go 6 games and it still may but it doesn't look good.

As a die-hard Penn State football fan (I really do bleed blue and white, honestly, you should see it) I am not a fan of either Ohio State, Michigan, Notre Dame, or really any other college football team. But I can admit that those teams are better than PSU, if they actually are.

But when the Pens beat the Flyers in the previous playoff round this IDIOT gave the Pens ABSOLUTELY NO credit and couldn't admit that the better team won.

He used excuses like luck, injuries, and officiating, instead of just saying the Pens are good and they just played better than the Flyers. And all he did was bitch about Crosby and how he dives and all this other crap.

I HATE THAT!! Just admit the facts and grow up!!

1 pitch, 1 run

I haven't posted in a couple of days mainly because I haven't really had any urge to.

But I am back on this Wednesday (oh yeah, it's actually Thursday). I love short weeks!

Last weekend:

I had a good time all weekend.

Friday the wife, daughter and I went to this little pizza buffet place (which sucked) and to look at a new car. And while we came away feeling like we could afford it we decided that it just wasn't the right time to add the car payment to the bills.

After that we watched a movie (the holiday) which was very good.

Saturday I got up early (8ish) and got started on my yard (house) work that I had planned for the weekend.

I had been waiting for weeks to stain my deck because I needed a few days with no rain and a full day to scrub and stain it. Finally this past weekend came along and I got to do it.

I never want to do it again!

After scrubbing the whole deck which made my arms hurt I took a few hours break to let the deck dry from hosing it down.

While I took a break I walked around the yard (which I have had since April of 07) and picked up rocks and dug out rocks (that were there when I moved in) because they are ruining my lawn mower.

After that I had lunch and then got started staining the deck.

About 2 (I think, close to 2 anyway) Verb called and said he was coming down. I didn't remind him that I was staining the deck because I figured at worst I would have company or maybe he would help a bit.

And he did. He also ruined the shorts he had on as he somehow got paint on them.

After we were done with the deck Young Buck came down and we played some wii, had dinner, played some wiffle ball, watched the Pens/Wings game, and played more wii (mario kart) until about 2 am.

Good Times!

Sunday I got up early (830ish) and relaxed for a minute or two before starting to set up and get things ready for the cookout that would commence at 3pm.

I cleaned up the tools I used Saturday in the yard, got the toys out to play with, and started washing some furniture for later.

Verb came down around 1 to wash his car, after which we washed my car when it arrived home from being out. Young Buck arrived shortly after that.

We finished getting set up for the cookout before retiring to the couch to watch some of the Indy 500 and (surprise) play some Mario Kart Wii.

We went outside after that and tested the wiffle ball field to see if it would work for a kickball field. It wouldn't. It wasn't big enough and the yard next to me is not really a yard yet, just wild weeds and grass growing taller and taller every year. The first time I kicked it out we spent a good 15 minutes looking for the ball.

And to the minor amazement from the neighbors out back (who watched us search for the ball the first time), WE DID IT AGAIN! Only this time I also punted a football over there. SHIT!

At about 4 people started to show up. We goofed around out back until we started cooking at about 530.

After dinner the wiffle ball game commenced. You can check out this page for a minor recap. But the two teams ended up tied 5-5 and there was only 1 home run. (the first batter, with me pitching - SHIT)

After we finished with wiffle ball and talking for a while some people left while the others ended up in the living room......playing the Wii.

Until 2 AM!! (see a pattern anywhere?)

Monday was a lazy day for me to do ABSOLUTELY NOTHING!! It was AWESOME!

And then back to work on Tuesday, Shit!

I want to be a ______ when I grow up!!

I have never had that dream job that some people have.

I never wanted to be a firefighter or a pro athlete.

I would love to be a scout for a hockey or football team but the travel is just way too much no matter what the job.

The only thing that I have always known is that I wanted to be my own boss in some fashion. I kind of got to do that for a year and it was great.

But I am really not sure I have the ambition to make it last for a long period.

I really don’t know what I want to do for the rest of my life.

My dad’s side of the family and my siblings have always been different though.

My grandmother was a teacher and loved it. My aunt is a teacher and loves it. My uncle is a food science doctor kind of guy and he loves it.

My dad went to college because he had to (parents orders) but didn’t graduate with a degree because he changed his major too many times. He has owned his own construction company ever since and wouldn’t change anything.

My sister is very much like that side of the family, very MONEY oriented. They all seem to hoard their cash and count it daily. She has always been like this and has a good job now. She has always wanted to work in the financial field and does, although she might move on to another company, she knows what field she wants to be in.

My other sister just graduated college and already has a job lined up to be a teacher. And guess what. She loves it. She has been working with kids for years and has always known that she would be a teacher someday.

Me? I’ve got nothing like that. I don’t have the ambition to really get ahead in the corporate world and I hate having to be somewhere for 8 hours a day no matter how much you have to do.

I am currently an auditor which isn’t bad because I love numbers but I also hate money and really don’t want to work with it all the time.

I like to be a little creative with a job. The only thing that I really remember ever saying “that would be a cool job” was an architect or landscaper. I think both of those would be interesting. I could design different things and use my creative side.

But I hate being outside too much and I DO NOT want to go back to school. So guess what…..not likely to do either!


My mom is a little more the creative type that lacks ambition as well. So at least there is some one else in the family that understands.

My sister (who just graduated) has a b/f, lets call him Donkey, that also just graduated college. He wasn’t the greatest student either. He graduated with a degree in biology with a minor in philosophy, that’s right a philosophizing biologist. Not something you see every day.

But Donkey does not know what he wants to do (like me) and my family and sister sat there and attacked him last night saying that he needs to find a job immediately and start working in his field.

Why? So he can leave in 3 years because he hates it? He is only 22, give him time. Let him do a couple crap jobs in meaningless fields so that he can think about what he wants to do. If he is rushed into a decision it will only end badly.


But anyways I am getting off point.

I just need to find something to make some money and support my family while being able to be creative and work for myself out of my home if possible.

Maybe I will be a writer.

I have wanted to do that too. I really enjoy writing too. I actually have a good idea. I think I will refine it and post it on here for you all to read about soon.

Staying or Going

Right now I am sitting in a hotel room in Mount Pleasant, PA. If you were wondering, it is a little east of Pittsburgh.

And I hate it here. I like it at home.

Okay, maybe hate isn’t the right word but I really would rather be at home.

See the job I have has a ton of perks. I mean a lot. I get 11 holiday days a year, 10 annual leave days, 13 sick days, 1 personal day, and another 13 days a year off for taking a 30 min lunch instead of a 60 min lunch.

The people I work with are great and there is really not anyone to watch over me all the time. My manager walks by my cubicle about twice a day and only says two words to me. And that is GREAT because I don’t have to worry about someone harping at me all day long about what I am doing.

On top of all that I am not really all that busy, which means I can do other things at work like read everyone else’s blogs and write my own blogs.

But there are a few serious downsides to my job.

One is that I am not all that busy which means that sometimes I actually just sit at my desk in my cubicle (which is quite big compared to other entry level workers) and literally twiddle my thumbs.

I would rather be busy and have minimal free time at work than have NOTHING to do.

The other major problem with my job would be the travel. I have to travel around to little rural areas (mostly) in Pennsylvania and do audits.

I don’t mind the work even but I HATE being away from home. Especially considering that I am still training so I have to go with someone else.

If I was on my own I would be able to get the work done faster and get out of town earlier but I am not on my own and won’t be the next trip either.

The travel is only about once a month but it can be for the entire week. If it were just for a day or two it wouldn’t be a big deal but it isn’t. At least not right now.

I know there are a lot of people out there that would love to travel because they don’t want to be at home all the time. But I am a homebody and LOVE being at home. I LOVE being with my family and being able to relax at home.

So what should I do?

I can transfer all around the company if I want but I might lose my big cubicle, extra 13 days off, uninterested manager, and nice people in the office.

Or I can stay at the same position and just deal with the travel.

I have a few months to decide because I can’t transfer until mid August when my probationary period ends. But that is what was on my mind, so that’s what’s on the page.

Thanks for listening.

What should I......

I have now started 3 different blog posts today and have erased all of them halfway through.

Have you ever done that? That is a first for me.

So far on this blog I haven’t had much trouble but for some reason today I just can’t think of anything to really write about.

Its frustrating!

And when I do think of something I get about halfway through it and decide that I don’t want to write that anymore.

Let’s see what I did today and maybe that will give me something.

I got up early with the intentions of getting on my treadmill and jogging for a little bit but didn’t have the energy. Yesterday I got up early and jogged and then I walked home from work which is about 2-3 miles. So I think my legs were just too tired.

I haven’t been getting on the treadmill with any regularity for the past 2 months so maybe that has something to do with it.

I used to work in construction and there wasn’t much work so I would come home in the mornings some days and hope on the treadmill for an hour or so.

Other days I wouldn’t go to work at all and get on and run for a while in the morning.
But now I have a real (boring) job and I work real (unnecessary) hours every (freaking) day. And my real hours are 7:45 – 4:15. But that doesn’t include travel time. So my real day is about 6:50 – 5:30.

Like I said unnecessary and might I add, ridiculous!

So, because I am slightly (comments on this are unnecessary) overweight, I have decided to get up every morning at the awful time of 530 to get on the treadmill for 30 minutes or so.

So far so okay! I have done it everyday this week but this morning I couldn’t do it. I don’t know why but I was on there for 10 minutes and I felt like I was going to fall over right then.

So I got off and said hell with it.

Tomorrow I will be up again at 530 (which is wrong on so many levels) and back to the grind of trying to live to see 70.
That worked. Look at that I actually got a whole post out of that.

That won’t work too often though because I do pretty much the same things everyday.

But it worked today and that’s all I care about. I hope you enjoyed it even though I know you didn’t.

Lessons for today

My second day of training today was actually more boring than the first day.

Like I said yesterday the training was about fraud detection and prevention or something like that.

Every time the instructor/speaker started talking about fraud I tuned him out and did other things. But every once and a while I would pay attention and learn something.

Here is what I learned today:

• the instructor is from Florida, by way of Cuba, by way of Spain, by way of France. That is correct, my instructor was a French Spanish Cuban American!! Cool shit man.


• Young people don't work hard enough or care enough. But in the same argument people were saying that young people get their work done too quick and then have nothing to do. So which way do they want it; young people who work fast or old people that work slow?


• Did you know that mayors, governors, and presidents don't actually do anything? I did but I wasn't sure if all you knew. See they have all these ass-kissers that do all the real work for them. They are just there to take the credit and/or the blame.


• People can't think for themselves. One lady heard on TV one day that gas was going to reach $11 a gallon sometime in the future. She thinks it is going to happen SOON! Unbelievable.

That is pretty much what I learned in training today! Cool, huh.

But last night I learned something even cooler. Did you know that the extinction of the dinosaurs was caused by a hypercane? Me neither.

What is a hypercane you ask. A hypercane is a hurricane and tornado hybrid storm. Cool?

I thought so too until they said "can another hypercane form and kill everything on earth as we know it?"

Well that just sucks to think about doesn't it!

Have you ever actually thought about what would happen if all of a sudden everything just ceased to exist? It is quite a thought and I think you should take 5 minutes (that you will never get back) and think about it tomorrow!

Oh and one more thing. I just got a Nintendo Wii tonight and it is awesome so far. There was only one left in the Harrisburg area and I got it. How awesome am I??

Cruel and Unusual

I had training for my job today. I am not sure you can call it training though because I don't think I learned anything at all.

We were supposed to be learning about fraud but I am pretty sure that all I learned was that 2 of the people are really annoying and how to fall asleep without the instructor noticing.

The second thing I learned I already knew how to do but I hadn't done since high school which was almost 9 years ago. So I pretty much relearned it today.

There were 2 people that kept making comments and asking questions which caused the guy to go really slow. It is a 2 day course and there are 9 chapters and at lunch today we were only at the end of chapter 1. At the end of the day we were halfway through chapter 4 though so maybe we will be done on time.

I wish I could talk to my employer and say that these classes are just a waste of their money and my time but I have only been there 2 months and I don't think they would appreciate that.

I mean really they are RIDICULOUS. We sit there for 8 hours and listen to these guys talk about things they have experienced in the course of their career. And most of the time the only things we learn are personal things about the instructor.

This is my third training class and here is what I have learned:

• the first guy was from Nashville and is a huge Predators fan. He has three kids and actually likes coming to PA.
• the second guy is from Miami and is one of those old people with a young child. He has three kids, two of which are out of college with families of their own and one that is 7!
• the third guy is actually the second guy. But I learned something new about him today, he is really allergic to cats and said that stray cats he finds turn into alligator food in the everglades.

See...I haven't learned anything from this.

Okay, that's a lie. The first guy talked about interviewing techniques and I learned a lot of useful information to help me read people at the poker table better. That training was also 2 days and the second day was all about deciphering a lie. So that was cool.

Today though was something that they should put criminals through. I can tell you this....I wouldn't kill anyone if all I could do for the rest of my life was sit through these training courses.