Back In The Saddle

I've been away from blogging for a handful of days. Reason: Work has been a whirwind since I started on the new miion and projects. I have been getting up at 3:30 a.m. every morning for work and getting home between 4:00 and 5:00 p.m. I'm beat every night when I get home.

I got my airline ticket to Hawaii on Saturday. It was not cheap- $1,035. The flights aren't so great either. The flight out leaves at 6:30 a.m.- so early. The flight home is an awful red eye. It leaves Hawaii at 10:00 p.m. their time and gets into Philly at 4:20 p.m. the next day. The silver lining is that the layovers are in Phoenix. It's an easy airport.

I'm looking forward to the weekend but have no real plans. I'll clean house and pay my bills. Saturday it's supposed to get up to 60 degrees, so I'll do some trout fishing in the afternoon. I also need to do some writing over the weekend.

Everyone have a great one.

Tired, Work and Where Is Saturday?

Tonight finds me tired. I did not want to get off the bed this morning. It snowed like crazy last night on my way home from work, so I forced myself up early to shovel snow. I got up, looked out the window and saw that Billy had shoveled before he went to work. I promptly crawled back into bed for another hour. Even Bosco didn't want to get up and out of the covers this morning. This evening, I spent the last fifteen minutes of my dinner break cat napping. I can't wait to get home and crawl back into bed.

Well, my new assignment restarts on Thursday, so for the next five weeks at least, I will be working the early hours- 6:00 a.m. to 2:30 p.m., which will be quite an adjustment for me. At least I will be doing something that is interesting and a decent change of pace. I will still have to have somewhat of a hand in what happens with my department at night, and that will be the tough part. Also, one of my bosses gave me some new temporary responsibilities without giving me the resources needed to handle them. I'm not sure how I'm going to manage that yet.

I know it's only Tuesday, but I'm already thinking of the weekend. I don't have any plans yet other than a poetry group meeting on Sunday night, but I am still anxiously waiting for it to arrive. I wish we would get another warmish spell so that I could do some early fishing without freezing my tail off. I believe they call it cabin fever, and I'm getting it.

Happy Hump Day tomorrow, everyone.

Catching Up A Bit

Work on Friday was- different. Training people all day is nothing at all like supervising a department all day. I did hands-on training with three people, and it was interesting. Watching new people learning processes that my employees know by heart gave me some insights into the whole thing. I'm looking forward to more of this. I built the tentative training schedule tonight and if my boss approves it, I'll be doing nothing but training from this Thursday through the end of March. Then we'll see what else he has in store for me.

The weekend was as I predicted. Not much took place. I got home from work by 4:00 (nice!)Friday afternoon. I played around on the computer for a bit and had some dinner. Then I sat down on the couch to watch some TV with Bosco and promptly fell asleep. It was about 7:00. I woke up at 3:30 a.m. and staggered off to bed.

I slept in a bit on Saturday then took my car in for scheduled maintenance. I had an early dinner- take out chinese- and went to Home Depot with Billy to get a few things I needed for around the house like light bulbs and a new furnace filter. After that I recorded and posted my newest poetry podcast (www.ipoet.podbean.com).

Then, things got sort of strange. I sat up for hours listening to music, all different kinds. While playing some old Iggy Pop, Billy, who had been asleep upstairs appeared. I apologized profusely for waking him up, but he said I didn't. He said he was awake and heard the bass line of the song that was playing (Mass Production) and had to come down and see who it was. We spent the next two hours or so listening to music and drinking wine. I introduced Bill to The Idiot and The Roches, among other things.

Billy went back to bed at about 3:00 a.m. and I went to the diner alone for breakfast. I had coffee, pancakes, bacon and orange juice. It really hit the spot. Then I went home and jumped in bed.

Sunday I slept in until noon. I got up and picked up prescriptions at the pharmacy. Then I went to Dick's. I had a $60 gift card that my daughter gave me for Christmas and $50 that my mother sent me for Valentine's. So, I got my fishing license and trout stamp (why wait) and bought a new bait casting rod and reel. I'm all ready now and waiting on the weather. Watch out, largemouth bass. Sunday night was spent watching Animation Domination and talking to family on the phone.

The only bad thing about the weekend really, was the high winds on Saturday and Saturday night- gusts of 40-50 MPH. I hate the wind to begin with, and I was so afraid of the spruce in the front yard falling on the house. Also, I have my canoe and kayak on saw horses and covered with tarps in the back yard. Well, they both went for unexpected trips across the yard in the wind. I also saw later where the wind pushed in the bottom of my shed doors. Nice.

This week brings more overtime. We'll be here until midnight every night this week the way it looks now. It's going to be another long week.

And So The Fun Begins

On Monday my boss explained a special assignment that he was putting me on that will last the next two months. It involves cross-training every employee in the facility in several different work functions. When I reviewed the moom chart for the project last night I saw a huge task that is very detailed and will take a lot of persistance and dedication on my part. I am looking forward to the change of pace from my regular duties.

Tonight I am to start drawing up a tentative schedule for the project. Today in a one-on-one meeting about something else, talk turned to this project, adn my boss told me that from now on, my skills and talents are going to be used in ways that no one (especially me) ever imagined. That really has me curious.

Later, in a different meeting, he informed me that schedule or not, the project starts Friday. I am to leave work half-night on Thursday night, then come in for the early morning shift on Friday. I am to spend that shift training the fifteen people in their department how to do my department's work. I am also to train their suopervisor on how to do that work the way re do it on my shift.

So, the fun begins quickly. And as a bonus, I'll be home well before dinner time on Friday. Yay.

A Follow Up

This is a follow up to last night's post. Regarding my bipolar disorder, I have been doing very well for the past four years or so thanks to the therapy and the meds. I am, and have been, very stable. I successfully hold down a job as a manager of people, and overall function as a "normal" human being. I live a fairly regular life and as you can see from my posts, do fairly regular things with my life. I am lucky. I know people with this disorder that can't lead decent lives or are pretty much incapacitated by it.

I have been very lucky to have had the love and support of my friends and my family, excepting of course, my wife. It was a hard illness for my family to fathom. And I'm the last person they would have ever imagined having something like this.

What really keeps my head afloat is not letting the disease (and it is a disease like any other) define me. I am not bipolar. I have bipolar disorder, and there is a difference. I've learned that I am not broken or a freak. I am a human being with an illness of the brain. That's all.

Yes, the meds have changed my personality. I used to be very upbeat, extremely talkative, and the class clown and practical joker, always screaming for attention. Now I am more quiet, subdued. I tend to listen more than talk. I am mild and very laid back. A very good friend has described this me as a "placid pond".

Every morning that I can raise my head off the pillow is a good thing, and I always find something to happy about, something to laugh about, and something to be thankful for, every day.

All Apologies

My apologies to anyone who read my previous, now-deleted post from earlier this evening. It's just a matter of what today is, and my being alone and feeling shat upon. I didn't mean to come off as bitter. WARNING: The rest of this post could bring you down.

This is always a tough day for me. After I went to hell and was diagnosed with bipolar disorder eight years ago, I got help. I started seeing a therapist and a psychiatrist, and started taking a few different meds. The meds changed my personality quite a bit, and my wife didn't like this. We went to counseling, we saw several different marraige professionals and it always came down to the same thing: My wife wanted the old me back. I was given the ultimatum of either getting off the meds and going back to the old me, or losing her. The problem was the old me had become a dark, manic-depressive insomniac who was cutting nightly and generally riding the crazy train. My old personality was there, but I was out of control.

In the end I chose my sanity. I've paid a very big price for that, and am still paying. I lost my wife of twenty years, whom I love very much. I am lonely constantly. I have no one. Salt on the wound, I pay a ridiculous amount of alimony to, and insurance premiums for her. And there is more, but I won't go into it here and now.

I enjoy my solitary time. When I am fishing, kayaking, biking or hiking I enjoy it very much, and I need it. But I very much miss waking up with someone other than the dog. I miss having someone to share meals with, to go to the movies with, and on and on. I miss intimate proximity and physical affection very much.

On a day like today especially, these things hit home for me. I' more sensitive and feel them more keenly. I think that I deserve someone special, and my big fear is that I will never have one again.

Project Weekend

Well, tonight finds me sleepy again. It doesn't help that we aren't very busy tonight at work. I hate slow work nights. As mentioned previously, this will be a house cleaning and laundry weekend for me. I also will be producing another poetry podcast and getting it out on the site (ipoet.podbean.com).

I thought I was sleeping in pretty late tomorrow, but as it turns out now, I will be getting up to have my taxes done. This is a good thing, as I figure I will be getting about a $1300 return from federal, and about $350 from the state. Not too shabby. I'll be getting up around 10:30 for that. Maybe a nice afternoon nap will be in order when I get home. Yeah.

Once I get the tax money I will be getting my airline ticket to Hawaii. My daughter is getting married there in May. I already have a place to stay- an aunt's time share which will cost all of $40 for the five or six days I'll be there. My parents and I will be sharing it. I'm glad to see her get married. She is 33, kind, beautiful and has her masters degree. Her fiance is a great guy. We hit it off pretty well right from the start, even though he is an Eagles fan.

Well, that's all for me for now. Everyone have a great weekend.

Mainly About Sleep

I don't have a whole lot to say tonight except that it's been a long one. We had to work overtime tonight. It's really just a warm up for the next two weeks, in which we will have to work ten hour nights every night. At least I get comp time for anything over 45 hours.

I'm tired tonight, too. I woke up that way. I really had to fight to get up on time today. Most days are like that, and I don't know why. I don't stay up late. I don't spend a lot of time awake in bed or tossing and turning. I fall asleep pretty quick and stay asleep. And I do get enough sleep- on average ten hours a night. Once I've been up for a half an hour I'm fine. I don't feel tired at all. I felt fine all day today until the last half an hour or so. It's just the getting up that kills me.

That said, I'm glad that tomorrow is Friday, because I plan on sleeping in with Bosco on Saturday. I may just not get up until noon or later. I may do the same on Sunday too, if I feel like it.

A famous writer once said, "I'll sleep when I'm dead". Another famous writer once said, "Sleep is my greatest vice". I tend to agree more with the later statement. It suits me better.

Everyone have a nice night. Sleep well...

Where have I been?

Not to London to see the queen. I've just been really busy at work.

The weekend was also very busy and very good. I got the best reception I've ever gotten at the poetry reading on Friday night. I think that for readings I need to pretty much stick to light and humorous material. It seems to go over better. Afterwards a few of us went to Dunleavey's for a late dinner and a beer. That was nice.

On Saturday I went writing at Borders with R and D. It was good to see them, and I got a few really interesting poetry prompts from R. The party I went to on Saturday night was great. Getting there was awful, though. I was raining. And foggy. Then there was the spray from the tires of the cars in front of me. Lucky, though, the rain stopped by the time I got to Seven Valleys, and soon after, the skies cleared and warmish breezes started to blow. Anyway, it was a hobo themed birthday party and we had beans and weenies to eat, booze in paper bags, and a fire in a big, metal trash can. I had a lot of fun, stayed the night and my clothes all smelled like wood smoke.

Sunday, I went to K's house to watch the football game. My team won, so I was happy. And K's wife made these awesome home-made pizzas and even more awesome brownies with carmel in the middle. Wow.

The only bad news in all of this is that I spent enough money over the weekend that I'll be spending the coming weekend at home. That's probably not totally a bad thing since I do need to clean the house, do laundry and do a few other things. It's also a good thing that the week is going quickly so far. I can't believe that tomorrow is already Thursday.

Had Some Fun

For lack of something interesting to write about, I offer you a poem. This one was very fun to write. All of the lines are based on lines or phrases from rock songs. I wonder how many people could pick them all out? I hope it gives you a chuckle.

Amalgamated Me

Whenever I look at myself in the mirror
I see that I am not bad to the bone.
I am not working for the weekend,
nor am I going to funky town anytime
soon. I am not a teenage dirt bag, baby.
I am not a goody two-shoes. I do not
whip it good. I’m shattered, shattered.

I don’t want you to destroy my sweater.
You cannot take me to the river,
drop me in the water. I will never be
blinded by the light, wrapped up
like a deuce, another runner in the night.
When the lights go down in the city,
and the sun shines on the bay,
I don’t want to be there in my city.
I tried so hard and got so far,
but in the end it didn’t even matter.

However, let it go, I tell myself—
This too shall pass. I’m a man. I’m the man
in the box. I was born in a small town.
I’m alive in the Super Unknown.
I’ve got the beat. I’m together
with your plan. I’m gonna’ rock this town,
rock it inside out. I’m TNT, I’m dynamite.
I’ll never be no beast of burden.
I’m as free as a bird now,
I believe it’s time for me to fly. I feel
like making love. I just wanna’ make love
to you. Love is all you need. I’ll rock you
like a hurricane. Let the good times roll,
and watch out, here I come.

I Beat It

Well, when I saw on Monday what the weather forecast was for Tuesday and Tuesday night- a 1/2 inch of freezing rain- I immediately put in for a vacation day for Tuesday. I did not want to spend another night on a cot in the conference room. It was approved, so I was at home yesterday.

In my area, South Jersey, we got nothing but drizzle all day and night. In North Jersey, where work is located, they got the ice storm. So, I made a good move. Today everything warmed up and started melting. By the time I had to go to work today, the roads were just wet. It's been windy all evening and the roads are drying. Yay.

So, yesterday, I slept in until noon. I got up, cleaned up and ran some errands. I also went to the bank and got myself set up with a debit card and account. That's correct, I did not have one before this. After that I ate lunch and spent three hours on the guitar. I plugged the mp3 player into the stereo, put in on shuffle, and tried to learn every song that popped up on the fly. My success rate was about 20 percent- not too bad in my opinion. Then I produced and posted my latest poetry podcast (ipoet.podbean.com) and ate dinner.

Later on the night took a crazy turn. I was playing around on facebook. A friend posted an update that basically said, "comment on how you met me, but don't tell the truth. Make stuff up. Then post this to your profile so I can do the same". Well, I did it, and it just took off. I was suddenly geting lots of comments on my wall and all of my friends were posting the update to their pages, and I was commenting on all of them. It was a lot of fun.

While this was going on, I started drinking red wine. I drained a bottle and a half, and when I was nearly finished, I got into a drunken texting bout with a former lover. It quickly became a train wreck. She didn't know I was drunk- just thought I was being an ass. She called me this afternoon to find out for sure which it was. She was pretty unhappy with me and I feel bad about it.

Anyway, I ended the night hopping into bed about 12:30. I slept great and got up feeling great this morning. Tonight has been a slow night at work. A number of people were given the option of leaving work two hours early. All but one of my employees took advantage of the offer. Tomorrow is going to be even slower. We have plenty of shipments out there, but the storm has delayed everything and slowed things down considerably.

Well, my break is over. Back to work. Good night all.

Saturday Recap

I got home last night at 11:00 and was in bed reading before midnight. I got up today at 12:00, took my pills and then went back to bed until 2:30, when I was awakened by the phone. It was my ex inviting me to dinner with her and the kids. We went to Benihana's. Man, I love that place. I had two orders of hibachi shrimp, hibachi rice, plus the soup, veggies and salad that come with the meal. Our cook was really good.

Would you believe that I got home around 7:30, sat down in my chair in front of the TV and fell asleep until about 11:00? I am just so tired from the week. Tomorow I have to run some errands, go to the gym, and in the evening, I have the poetry group meeting. I'm sure I'll sleep in some, too.

The weather forecasts are calling for another snow storm on Tuesday or Wednesday. I am so sick of snow, and I see another overnight stay at work in my future.

Some Day (And Night)

So all of the hotels in the area were booked last night when I called them. I again ended up on my cot in the conference room here at work for the night. I slept alright, sort of. I've had better sleeps. I'm now so used to having Bosco cuddled up beside me in the bed that I really missed it last night.

Today has been the day from hell. My boss picked me to supervise in Shipping this afternoon and evening. I haven't worked in that department in years. It's been rough. I was basically on my feet and running from 1:30 p.m. until 11:30 tonight. I'm exhausted. It's 1:00 a.m. and I'm still here. I have to work until 2:00. I'll get home a little after 3:00 and I have to be back in here at 1:00 p.m. tomorrow for another twelve hours. Maybe this is payback for taking Monday off. I need the weekend.

I have no plans for the weekend except for a poetry group meeting on Sunday night. I plan on sleeping in very late on Saturday morning. I'll pay my bills and hit the grocery store and gym in there somewhere.

Billy should have gotten to Miami safely this morning. I haven't even had a chance to call him to make sure. He'll probably be there working for another two or three week stint this time.

Everyone have a great Friday.

A Real Mess

Well, we are really getting hit. This snow storm has not acted like the forecasts said it would. We had several inches on the ground already when I got up at 9:00 this morning. It was not supposed to start until lunch time. By the time I left for work at 11:00 we had 6-7 inches on the ground and it was coming down heavier. It never turned to rain like it was supposed to in the afternoon. It turned to drizzle, then little iceballs that fell constantly until 7:00, when it started snowing again. It's almost 8:00 and everything is aslippery, icy mess.

The good news is I came prepared to stay over again. The better news is my boss got me approval to stay tonight at a hotel around the corner from work. That will be nice. My son is at home and taking care of Bosco for me. For now, I'm here with about ten of our employees who did not want to leave work early. When we are done, I'll head over to the hotel, shower and watch some TV before hitting the sack. We are really supposed to get dumped on with the snow overnight, so it's a good thing I will be very close.

The weekend was good. I did everything I said I was going to do in my Friday post, just the way I said I was going to do it. The Saturday afternoon nap was great, except I had some pretty weird dreams. And I was really happy with the new books I found at Barnes & Noble.

I wasn't feeling that well yesterday, so I took the day off of work. It wasn't a problem, as I have plenty of vacation and comp time built up. I stayed in bed until aobout 2:30 in the afternoon. I got up and layed around on the couch with Bosco.

Well, we are in for some more snow tomorrow night. They are saying 6-10 inches will fall tomorrow night while I am at work and there will be sleet and ice mixed in. I may just spend the night at work again. I haven't totally decided yet. It would probably be for the best if I did.

I have to find a good clothing repair place. I spend most of the winter wearing my Perry Ellis leather coat. I think it's called a car coat. I've had it for years and it's my favorite coat. While I was getting ready to leave work on Friday night the zipper broke on it. Now I'm wearing my old navy pea coat, which fits a bit snug. I'm wondering what having a new zipper that long sewn into a leather coat will cost me. It sounds like something that would take some doing. I have no clue about these things.

I hope that everyone is having a good night.

Some Down Time

Well, the weekend is here, and I am dog tired thanks to the overtime. It doesn't help much that it is freezing cold outside, like in the low 20s with wind. And the weather reports say this will continue, and we will have another, bigger snow storm on Tuesday or Wednesday. The spring just can't come soon enough for me. Anyway, I really need the down time right now.

I have my plans for tomorrow. First, I will get up to take my dog to the vet at 11:30. Then, a nice nap. After that I'll work on my next poetry podcast, which is long overdue at this point in time. In between I'll be playing around on the computer, facebook mainly, and trying to get my printer issue resolved. For some reason, when I print a page, it only prints every fourth line and leaves three empty lines between every one it prints. Strange. For dinner I think I'll try and get Billy, my son or both to go to the diner with me for "breakfast for dinner".

I have no plans for Sunday other than going to the gym and to dinner with the kids. Maybe some football on TV. I'm sure I'll sleep in, too. I do need a new book or two, so maybe I'll hit up Barnes & Noble on my way to dinner.

The weekends always go way too quick for me. I need a three or four day weekend. Maybe next week. Have a good one.

Pound Sand?

Just when we had a couple of days in the mid-thirties and the snow was starting to melt away, we are getting more. Another 3-5 inches tonight, and of course, it is supposed to start around the time I get off work. My car is just no good in the snow. I don't know if it's the aerodynamics of it or what, but it is terrible. The car looks like a box, and drives like a box in the snow. I'm not as afraid of going off the road as I am of hitting someone or something. I can't afford to be paying out that $250 deductible right now.

Work has been pretty crazy the last few weeks- very busy- lots of meetings and projects going on and just general mayhem. I'm hoping it settles down some next week. Our incoming shipments will taper back off to normal next week, so hopefully everything else calms down with it. January always seems to be about the busiest month of the year for us.

Do you ever wonder where certain sayings come from? I was wondering today about telling someone to "pound sand". I wonder who the first person was to say it, and what exactly the circumstances were. Just something else to ponder in the dark when I can't sleep, I guess.

Rough Day?

I'm working overtime again tonight. I am so tired, but we have things to accomplish here that we can't get done in eight hours. People don't necessarily like it, but as an old manager of mine is fond of saying, it is what it is.

I was so tired this morning- I set my alarm to get up an hour earlier than usual so that I could run a couple of errands before work. That didn't happen. I slapped that old snooze bar countless times during that hour. I got up at my regular time and spent the next two hours rushing around. I think that Bill gets annoyed when I do that with the alarm, but he doesn't say anything. He's a good sport and a good friend.

I got really pissed off at the clerk at the neighborhood 7-11 today. I stopped for coffee on my way rushing to work. I gave him a twenty. He handed me back a single and some coins. Long story short, he short-changed me big time and refused to admit it. I know I was right. I walked in there with only three twenties in my wallet. We argued in front of waiting customers, some of whom stood there shaking their heads. I won't be going back there anytime soon. I don't ever need an $18 cup of coffee.

Some Boss Talk

Tonight is one of those nights when I have people at work mad at me. I have one lady who works for me who is upset because my boss and I had to give her a final written warning this afternoon for lack of productivity. One guy who works for me is mad at me because I wouldn't let him work just one hour of overtime tonight instead of the mandatory two that everyone is expected to work. Another guy is mad at me because of a situation with a workplace injury that I won't go into here.

These things are all part and parcel of being a supervisor, so they don't bother me. Here's why: You are supposed to be many things to the people who work for you: leader, provider of tools and supplies, cheerleader, traffic director, defender, planner and also fellow employee. What you are not supposed to be is a friend. Trying to do that can get you into a lot of trouble. Yes, you can be pleasant, open, even friendly, but you are not the employee's friend, and vice versa. There is a certain fine line there that should not be crossed in the relationship between employee and boss.

It's always easy to spot supervisors or managers do cross that line and try to be a friend to their employees. You will hear others complain about them playing favorites. You will hear or witness that they have an inability to be fair, impartial and consistent in making all kinds of decisions.

I always try to be a good boss in that I am firm but also fair and consistent. I feel that I would do my employees (and the company) a disservice by conducting myself in any other way. I believe that we have a big responsibility as members of management to everyone we come into contact with at work to be the best we can be at all times.

Fried Egg

I'm glad the weekend is here. It's been a long, stressful work week. Tonight has been just as hectic as last night. I have the same old complaint as everyone else, though: the weekends go by too quickly. Something is not right when I've been back from vacation for two weeks and am wishing I could take another one already. Of course, I do have a couple of days of comp time I could burn off. That would be nice.

It is sincerely cold in every part of this building. Tonight the thermometer says it is 63.4 degrees in here. I agree with trying to be green, and save on the heating bills, but I think this is too much. At home, I pretty much keep the thermostat at 70 degrees all year and I do just fine. My son must not agree with me on that though, since he put Bosco's sweater on him yesterday. Laying on my bed last night in that sweater with the heated mattress pad going, that dog was panting half the night. The sweater will be coming off tonight before bed, I think.

I'm getting ready to refinance my house to get a better rate. I always hate dealing with things like this. The paperwork stuff is almost overwhelming to me. It was the same when I went through the legal separation with my ex. It was the same when I first bought the house. I'm just not good with all the legal nonsense. I'm just hoping the whole thing goes through quickly and smoothly.

Everyone have a great weekend. Enjoy the time.

Crazy

It's been one of those kind of evenings. Things at work have been batshit busy from the word "go" tonight. I'm glad there are only two more hours of this insanity to go. The good news is we are getting caught up, so we will probably not have to work overtime tomorrow night. No one likes having to work overtime on Fridays because they all want to get to the bar after work. The other news is that next week will be a repeat of this week. This continuing pattern is a sign that the economy is picking up, at least as far as the automotive industry is concerned.

Believe it or not, my kids, my ex and I have not yet exchanged Christmas presents. This is due to my being in Ohio over the holidays, and their busy schedules since then. We will be doing this on Saturday afternoon. You may think it's odd for my ex and I to exchange gifts, but we are on good terms and I'd like to see it stay that way for the kid's sakes.

I got a good deal for hotel stay while I'm in Hawaii for my daughter's wedding in May. An aunt of mine has a time share on the same island as the wedding, and my parents and I are getting to use it. It is going to cost a grand total of $40 for the three of us for the four day's stay. Now I should be so lucky in procuring an airline ticket. I hear that Travelocity has a 50% off sale going on right now. Sounds too good to be true. I'll have to check it out.

I'm more than a little interested in this Ted Williams character. First he's a homeless guy with a "golden voice". Then he is on the news and gets several job offers, one with a house included, which he takes. Then he is reunited with is long lost mother. Then he and a daughter get picked up by the cops in some sketchy domestic dispute thing at a hotel. Eight more kids pop up out of the woodwork. Now he is apparently in or going to rehab for drugs and alcohol. I almost can't wait to see what happens next with him. He's certainly more interesting than Snooki.

Incidentally, I find Jersey Shore to be a complete sham. It is no real reflection on, and has nothing whatever to do with, what I have in the past 22 years come to find as a wonderful place to live.

All Done

The snow is all over. I'm glad I spent the night at work. The snow was coming down fast and thick and was pretty slippery by the time I went to sleep. I wasn't bored. I spent the time after everyone else went home watching Family Guy episodes on Hulu on my laptop. The cot was pretty comfortable, and I actually got pretty warm in the sleeping bag. It was a bit sweaty when I got up this morning.

No state of emergency was called and everyone actually made it in on time this morning. The only bad thing was I got woken up at 6:30 a.m. by one of my fellow supervisors for some operational thing. Luckily I was able to go back to sleep right away. it took a bit of doing to get my car dug out this morning. Since I was parked overnight I got plowed in.

Tonight my boss has told me to go home at 6:30 p.m. since I was here all night. I am gladly going. It will be good to sleep in my own bed with my heated mattress pad and Bosco!

Yes It Is...

...coming down like crazy right now, and it is slippery. I made the right decision in staying here overnight. My boss thinks that the township here is going to call a state of emergency before morning, in which case we will be closed tomorrow Wednesday. It will just be me here and the security guard. If that happens I'm not even going to try to travel home until after the evening rush hour time.

I got a nice long email from my good friend Natalie tonight. It was really good to hear from her. Her emails always lift my spirits. She is from here in NJ, but is currently loving life out in California. It's nice to see people you like happy.

Not much else is happening here. I'll post again tomorow morning to let you all know how bad it actually gets overnight.

And Still More Snow

We are supposed to get hit again tomorrow night with another 7-14 inches according to NOAA. The roads are supposed to be pretty bad so I don't plan on driving the 50 miles home in it. I'm going to stay overnight at work. I'll bring a change of clothes, towel, toiletries, sleeping bag and pillow. I'll sleep on a cot in the conference room. I have had to do this before, so no big deal. I'll just spend the day on Wednesday before my shift reading and watching TV shows on Hulu on my work laptop. Yes, I have two laptops.

The weekend was a 50/50 proposition. On Saturday I slept in until noon. I got up and went to Rachel and Donna's. It was snowing. We exchanged Christmas gifts. They made me some really cool tree ornaments, which I have put away for coming years. After that, Rachel and I went to Borders to write. We were there until about dinner time. The snow had stopped by then. We went to Dunleavy's for dinner and Donna met us there. After dinner I went home and played with Bosco, watched some TV and dinked around on facebook. I went to bed and fell asleep while reading.

Sunday was the sucky day. I got up and thoroughly cleaned the house. I went to the grocery store. I did several loads of laundry, including the folding. I paid my bills. The only good part was I had a nice conversation on the phone with SWG for a while. In the evening I tried to watch the Eagles/Packers playoff game, but couldn't stay awake. I drifted in and out of sleep in my chair. I had a late dinner of tacos, then talked to my parents on the phone for a while before going to bed.

This week, it's mandatory overtime every night due to very heavy work volume. Between that and the snow storms, I will be more than ready for this coming weekend when it hits.

More White Stuff

Well, we got the three inches of snow early this morning. Luckily, the roads were all clear by the time I had to leave for work. We are supposed to get another three to five late tomorrow morning or early afternoon. I'm supposed to go to R's house to hang out and to Borders to write later in the afternoon, so I hope it's not too bad. We'll see what the weather actually brings.

Next week we could get another snow storm on Tuesday or Wednesday. I'm hoping not, especially since I have to work overtime every night next week.

Other activities for this weekend include paying my bills and taking down the Christmas decorations and the tree. I always hate doing that. It's sad. I do leave the wreath on the front door until about March, though.

I can't wait to get out of work tonight and home. I just want to crawl back into bed with my new heated mattress pad. I've felt like this all day, just lazy.

Everyone have a great weekend.

Have You Ever?

I'm feeling terrible right about now. I'm just realizing that I forgot to call my mother on her birthday, which was Tuesday. I'm sure she is hurt or at the very least disappointed. I know I just saw her on Saturday, but still. I just got so tied up and side-tracked with work issues this week that it got away from me. No excuse, I know. Have you ever done this? I never have before. I'm always good about remembering people's birthdays. I'm going to call her tonight after work, fess up to being a first-class jerk-off and hope she forgives me.

I have to call my doctor's office tomorrow. My blood sugar levels are higher than usual and I can't figure out why. I've changed nothing with my diet or exercise routine, and nothing has changed with my meds. It makes no sense to me. In the almost two years since I was diagnosed with type II diabetes I have done very well with the numbers. In fact I have done so well that six months ago my doctor reduced the dosage on my meds by half. Now this suddenly happens, and I do mean suddenly. I can pinpoint the exact date that they started to be higher. They aren't dangerously high, or even close to it, but they are elevated above what they had been.

And weird things are happening with the numbers. Tuesday the numbers were higher than normal. Yesterday I ate exactly the same things for each meal as Tuesday and exercised the same amount, and the numbers were lower. Strange.

Anyway, we are supposed to get another snow tomorrow. One prediction is 1-3 inches. Another is four. Another is up to nine. I don't know who to believe. I think I'll check out the NOAA web site, as they always seem to be the most accurate. Of course, I hope we get the 1-3, since it's supposed to hit here while I am at work. I do not want to have to drive home in more than a few inches of snow in my car, which is more like a sled in the stuff.

Everyone have a great Friday. I can't believe the weekend is almost here already.

Hello Again

It's been a long time. I am back here temporarily, as KCL is having problems, and I really need to blog.

Where to start? Well, the holidays were good to me. I went to Ohio to spend the time with my family there. I drove out on the night of the 21st and stayed until the night of the 1st. I like driving at night like that. There is very little traffic to deal with, I can fly down the freeway, and I like that. I was nowhere online during the holidays. I didn't blog, and only got on facebook once for a short while one night. I came back from the trip with lots to write about, only to find KCL down again. That was dissappointing.

My son moved back into the house with me the weekend before I left for Ohio. I'm glad to have him home, but he was not happy at all about having to move back in with me. He liked having his own place, which is understandable, and he is upset about the break-up with his girlfriend of three years. I try my best to leave him alone and stay out of his way so that I don't annoy him.

Speaking of girlfriends, I still don't have one and would still like to have one. I gave up on the dating web site I was on. I think I may never find what I am looking for in a woman. If I did who knows if she would even have me? At this point I'd even take a "friend with privileges". It's hard fighting the lonelies all the time. I have become one of those people who can feel lonely in a room full of people. I wish that wasn't so.

I found out yesterday that my work hours may change drastically in the near future. I won't bore you with the details, but after three plus years on the night shift I could very well find myself suddenly on the early morning shift- 6:00 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. With my hour commute, I would have to get up at 4:00 a.m. at the latest every morning. That's rough for someone like me who is definately not a morning person. Sure, it would be nice to be home at 3:30 or 4:00 every afternoon, but I'd be so tired by then. Oh well, nothing I can do about it but deal with it if and when it happens.

I hope that everyone has had a happy Hump Day.