Brain Dump 5/3/2011 (the sporadic internet access edition)

As you can tell from the title, I haven’t had much Internet access lately, at least, not enough to take advantage of any blogging time.  So here’s an update on Dave’s current events:

-  First of all, unless you’ve been living under a rock, I’m sure y’all heard that BIN LADEN IS DEAD!!  (cue Kool & The Gang’s “Celebration)  Many thanks to the men and women of our armed forces and especially the US Navy SEALS that finally made this happen.  And blessings to all the victims and their families of that terrible day nearly ten years ago, that they may finally have some closure.

-  Managed to dodge the worst of the storms that’s taken such a toll on the south, but did watch a funnel cloud go past my previous workplace last week.  And until today, have dealt with nearly Biblical deluges of rain day and night.

-  Internet service due to be installed at new address tomorrow, but have yet to unpack router, so it may be a little longer before I have reliable Net access.  Unfortunately the unexpected monsoon the past week has kept us from transferring very much from storage into our home, so that’s slow going as well.

-  Adding to our unpacking woes is the fact that I managed to wrench my back Easter Sunday picking up AJ.  Toughed it out for three days at work before I went to an urgent care clinic (two days before I quit and my benefits expired) and got two shots in the back and a myriad of prescriptions that succeed in making me want to sleep all the time.  Doing somewhat better now, but it’s still painful staying in one position for any length of time.

-  I started orientation at the new job today.  Despite the fact that my BIL, sometimes referred to as the Reichmarschall, works there as well, I’m determined to stake out my own career and reputation there without the help or hindrance of anyone else, family or not.  Besides we won’t work in the same departments, or shifts, anyway.

-  Did I once mention the new job is only five minutes from the new place?  HUGE plus, considering the cost of gas right now.

-  As I feared, my SIL is driving Yes Dear crazy, thinking she’s a free taxi service for her and her family, and PBJ is a free babysitting service.  We’re not ungrateful that she’s put us up the past couple months, but the time has come where she has to manage her family and we have to manage ours.

-  Will try to stay in touch more as things settle and we get our net service.

Brain dump 3/17/2011 (the St. Paddy’s Day edition)

-    Currently staying in a myriad of hotel rooms close to my work, while looking for a place with a cheap weekly rate, while Yes Dear, PBJ, and AJ stay with SIL.  Drive the 60mi trip over the mountains once a week to see them.  Hopefully in about another month Yes Dear’s cashed-out retirement will come in which will be enough, along with what I’m bringing in from the ridiculous amount of OT I’m working, to get our own place.

-    So far the arrangements at the SIL’s are working out, but the marked difference between Yes Dear and her sister do cause some stress.  Yes Dear is very organized, likes to plan things out and follow through, while her sister is extremely disorganized, chaotic, and flighty in a lot of ways.  They earn their room and board by running errands and shuttling the kids (JJ and twins ThingOne and ThingTwo) around, but all too often things are rushed and last minute, which drives Yes Dear crazy.  Plus things are a little hard on AJ, whose world has been uprooted and he’s trying to get used to all the disruptions, with mixed results.  Most of the time he’s a good kid, but has trouble sleeping at night, which in turn keeps Yes Dear up and stressed out.  Also I have to sleep in the living room when I’m up there.  because the bed in the spare bedroom (actually laundry room) is ridiculously inadequate for two adults.

-    AJ has developed an, uh, interesting habit.  While changing him, he tends to grab his little boyhood and say, “tickle, tickle, tickle”.  Not quite sure what to think, other than “weird kid”.  Not for grabbing himself, but the tickle part.  Hmmm.

-    Hate to say this, but ThingOne and ThingTwo are bonafide brats.  At four years old they have a bad habit of backtalking and arguing with everything you say, and constantly repeating questions to you long after you’ve answered them five times.  Oh yeah, and they like to hit while playing too, especially me, something which I have a serious problem with.  If you haven’t figured out already, I love to get down on the floor with the kids and roughhouse, tickle, and wrestle with them, but as an adult I draw the line at any hitting, even in play, especially towards adults.  The older kids (JJ, Mark, Bea) and even 2 ½ yo L’il Buddha understand this concept and pose no problems, but the twins can’t get it through their heads, no matter how many times they get whacked by the SIL and hubby for it.  They pull the same on PBJ, whose as fed up with the behavior as I am.  I hate having to describe any of my nephews in such a way, but my patience with them is far more limited than with the others.

-    Now that things have calmed down slightly from the chaotic move, Yes Dear & I are being somewhat more civilized with each other.  Got away from everyone else and had lunch together the other day that I wasn’t working, and have seriously discussed getting a motel room for a night together soon, letting PBJ watch AJ for the evening.  Okay, not trying to put out a lot of TMI, but quality time together is something we’ve been lacking for quite a while, even before our separation.  Nothing fancy, perhaps a movie and takeout Chinese, and whatever else may follow…

-    Another thing I miss – home cooked meals a la Yes Dear.  I’m getting tired of fast food and Chinese buffets (plus I disgusted myself getting out of the shower and looking in the mirror, need to drop some serious lard), and her sister can’t cook worth a damn.  Yes Dear actually had to take her cooking and surreptitiously season it up so we could eat it.  PBJ  managed to take over breakfast duties one morning and make a batch of  pancakes, and promptly became a hero with the kids for her culinary skills.  Poor kids, they’re deprived of quality cooking.

-    Thanks for all the support and prayers during these difficult times, but we’re making do.  And realize that things could always be worse.  Remember last year when I was staying with niece Stevie’s family and she also was rooming a mother with four kids? Well I just heard that the mom and kids got burned out of their home this morning and lost everything except for the clothes on their backs, luckily no injuries though.  I cannot imagine anything worse happening to a family short of terminal illness, critical injury, or death.  Such things make me appreciate the small things we do have, and the realization that we can always find and make a home, and stuff is always replaceable.

-    Up too late again, and need to work tomorrow.  Catch y’all later.

Brain dump 2/2/2011 (The Groundhog Day Edition)

- Desktop died earlier this week.  Has been spontaneously shutting down on occasion for a while and finally did so for good in the middle of a game of Resident Evil 4.  Now will start up for all of 5 seconds, then shuts back down.  CPU temperatures seem to be fine, but dust may be an issue.  So I’m using my venerable Dell laptop with the busted hinges which is adequate for internet and blogging, but not serious game playing.  Probably need new motherboard/CPU, but funds are hard to come by this close to moving.

- Visited mother-in-law in the hospital last week.  She’s perfectly coherent and doing better, but has profound weakness on her right side and it’s not known yet how limited she’ll be moving around yet, or what kind of extra care she may need.

- Work lately has been a lot like the movie Groundhog Day – every day is the same, no matter what I do.  A large part of my days have consisted of searching pallet after pallet for defective goods that are constantly being run by the night shifts, frustrating my boss and all the operators on my shift who have to clean up the mess.  Management could seem to care less, and I really expect the place to close down by this summer.  Desperately need a new job where I don’t feel like Sisyphus.

- Is there any lower form of life, without stooping down to the level of rapists and child molesters, than people who would steal a worker’s lunch?  I haven’t had this happen to me yet, but it has to a number of coworkers.  Especially maddening is the fact that many of these people will spontaneously offer you something out of their lunch bucket if it looks like you didn’t bring anything, stealing is totally unnecessary.  I hope to hear someday of the perpetrator being hustled out back and given a good old Arkansas redneck ass-whooping.  Or blowing chunks out of both ends from someone’s brownie stash made with Ex-lax and ipecac.

-  One last work rant:  me saying that I’ll work overtime does not mean at your whim, on a moment’s notice.  I can be a good sport and pull a little extra weight when needed, but not all the time.  Also, ask me if I’ll come in on my day off, don’t try to bully me into it.  All you’ll do is just piss me off and give me incentive to find ways to give you migraines without getting myself fired.  And never, EVER tell me I have no choice.  Bullshit, are you going to show up at my house and physically drag me to work?  I don’t think so.  I ALWAYS have a choice, and I understand there may be consequences for exercising my choices, but never think for one second you can take that choice away from me.  Don’t even go there.

-  Gotta go back to Georgia first week of March and help drive everybody and everything out here, once taxes come back.  There should be enough to put down on a place out here.  Hopefully another job close by will follow soon.  A couple nibbles last week, but nothing concrete.

- Thinking of taking JJ to the movies this weekend, if he behaves enough to be allowed out of the house.  A 3D movie would probably fit the bill nicely, I don’t think JJ has ever been to one (neither have I, for that matter).  Any recommendations for an imaginative and slightly hyperactive nine-year-old?

- Also thinking of adding a new semi-regular feature to this blog, random movie reviews of any time period that I’ve seen in my lifetime.  Some popular, some blockbusters, some obscure, and some “you have no life if you actually watched this”.   Sorta like my Musical Interludes.

- Only Mel Brooks or the producers of Monty Python could have dreamed this up:  Text Message Blows Up Suicide Bomber.  Maybe this is how Achmed The Dead Terrorist came to be?  (swiped from Leslie)

-  Okay, I’m ready for winter to end.  Anytime.  Now?

Brain dump 11/20/2010 (The weekend edition)

Been either too busy or too lazy to post, so here’s another brain dump.  Though I’m wondering why I called it the weekend edition, this is my three-day work weekend so right now weekends mean nothing to me…

-    Good news:  I got a raise at work.  Better news: I got retro pay back to last month for my raise.  Bad news: the raise amounted to the princely sum of 22 cents.  Frigging cheapskate company.

-    Worse news:  I have to work a full shift Thanksgiving Day.  7 to 7.  Company thinks what they do is so important they can’t shut down for a holiday with family.  Better news:  I’m scheduled for the next three days off, and my shift isn’t scheduled to work Christmas weekend.

-    Y’know, I believe I do have a pretty lively sense of humor and love to laugh.  But when I’m focused on something important, trying to get things done (particularly at work), and not taken seriously about something I’m serious about, my sense of humor takes a marked plunge downhill.  Also, I do not consider humiliation funny, to myself or anyone else.

-    Ever have to work with or deal with a person who can annoy the living hell out of you, only to realize that such person tends to think and act an awful lot like yourself?  Yep, I work with such a person.

-   And while I’m beating a dead horse about work, I might add that if you want me to come in on my day off and work overtime, come talk to ME directly.  Don’t ask my partner to ask me, it’s not right to put such things off on him since I’ll pretend he didn’t ask and I didn’t hear him.  At the very least, ask my immediate supervisor to ask for you, she gets paid more to deal with the crap that people like me put out.  You never know, I might even say yes.

-    Interesting, I find store-brand Kroger pop tarts and even Dollar Tree pop tarts better than the original brand name.  Too bad I forgot to pick up milk…

-    Been sleeping way too much on my days off.  A few days have consisted of little more than sleeping until late in the afternoon, interrupted only by eating, bathroom, and the occasional computer game.  Think the cooler weather is triggering my hibernation instinct.

-    Y’know, I really do get a lot of good ideas for blog posts.  Trouble is, all to often by the time I sit down in front of my computer the ideas either desert me, or look like a big pile of crap, or I get distracted by the TV, or a computer game, or dinner, or another nap…

-    I’ve come to the realization that I make a much better uncle than I did a dad.  Probably because as an uncle you can always hand them back to their parents, or step back and take a break.  More likely because you can swear to yourself that no matter how trying they get, you will NOT yell and verbally rip them apart like you used to do with your own when you got fed up, and actually be able to keep that promise.  Even if it means you sometimes have to disappear without a trace briefly to keep your churning frustrations under control.

Brain dump 11/4/2010

-    Finally, the 2010 mid-term elections are over.  And the Repubs and Tea Party won a major victory, but not as complete a victory as they could have by failing to take control of the Senate.  Probably not enough to reverse the damage already done by O-Hole, Reid, Pelosi (*cough BITCH C**T cough*) and Co., but hopefully enough to prevent any more ruinous policies to be passed over the will of the people (cap and trade, anyone?)  Now it’s up to the people we voted in to prove their worth and not self-destruct and hand O-Hole a second term in office in 2012.  A significant battle has been won (one that HAD to be won), but the war is far from over and a great deal of work has to be done to ensure this victory isn’t squandered.

-    A piece of news that I’ve kept my eye on, but my mouth shut about:  The Arkansas Supreme Court has ordered new hearings for The West Memphis 3, thus paving the way for a very possible overturning of their death-penalty verdicts and new trials.  Now I haven’t studied this case in great detail and I’m not totally convinced of their complete innocence.  But I am convinced that they were railroaded by small town justice that demanded someone, ANYONE, pay for the brutal murders of three little kids, even if it meant using flimsy and incomplete evidence.  There is a veritable mountain range of reasonable doubt in this case, and on that basis alone they should absolutely get a new, fair trial.

-     It’s only been a couple days, but I think I’ll like my new job working in quality control, even though it means more accountability without any pay raise.  I’m doing enough different things to make the twelve-hour grind go by easier, and actually getting a chance to use my head.  I work with a more experienced partner, who previously had to do all the QA duties on shift, so splitting the workload will benefit both of us.  Just hope that I can still get occasional overtime, especially on my short (36 hour) weeks.

-    Halloween was a bit of a bust this year, since it fell on a Sunday and many people around here split between doing trick-or-treating on Sat or Sun evenings.  Went out with SIL and nephews Sat night (JJ, Mark, twins ThingOne and ThingTwo) and found only a handful of houses handing out candy.  Did find the local fire department handing out candy and giving brief tours, including a chance to sit in the driver’s seat of the fire engine, something that Mark immensely enjoyed, the highlight of his evening.  Speaking of Mark, he’s expanded his vocabulary somewhat: he called older brother JJ a “jackwagon”.  Someone’s been paying attention to the Geico commercials.  Thank you, Gunny Ermey.

-    And speaking of jackwagons, JJ went on a rant (privately, to me) about his papa, the Reichsmarschall.  Something I could see building in him for a while, and he finally poured out his frustrations nearly to the point of tears.  I kept my mouth clamped shut as he vented about the insensitive unloving SOB, and at the end all I could say was, “It sucks when you feel like no one listens to you or tries to get to know you”.  It was all I could think of, but JJ nodded mightily to my comment, so I must’ve said the right thing.  I refuse to foment rebellion by the children in someone else’s household, but I find myself inwardly cheering for JJ.

-    Want to hear Dave’s definition of a beautiful day?  Waking up yesterday morning to dreary skies and a cold, wind-blown rain tapping at the windows.  And going back to sleep, because I had the next two days off from work.  Priceless.

Gotta work the whole weekend after today, so TTFN.

Brain dump 10/11/10

- After having worked six days straight (8hrs last Wed and Thu, the rest 12 hour days) I finally get a day off.  And I can’t tell you how much I love the idea of getting a Monday off and sleeping in, while the rest of the world has to start a whole new workweek.  Makes life just a little more bearable.

- My trip to Georgia last weekend was too short.  Yes Dear had to work a good bit of the time, and AJ took a little time getting to remember me.  I have to soon become a permanent fixture in his life, not just a guy that shows his face every few months around him.  It’s getting harder and harder to leave every time I go back.

- PBJ needs to get her own life real soon.  She’s tragically bored right now, and spends much of her time caring for AJ while her mother is sleeping (remember she works nights).  Unfortunately there are no jobs close enough by that she has any transportation to, there’s only one car, and she only has a permit, not a full drivers license.  Her boredom and frustration is starting to cause clashes between her and her mother.  She wants to go to school and do something with herself, but she also needs to learn how to live on her own and rely on herself.  Not that we want to kick her out of the house (not yet, anyway), but she can’t stay at home forever and not better herself.  Hopefully once they move out here we can find more opportunities for her and encourage her to take advantage of them.

-  During my trip to Georgia last Friday, I made a stop at a local Atlanta mall for a bit to kill a little time while afternoon traffic cleared.  Managed to get myself a 20-min chair massage while I waited.  After ten hours of driving through three states, the experience was heavenly.  These guys could make a killing if they were to set up shop in truck stops.

-  I swear that cruising the interstate at 3:00am, sharing the road with only truckers, other night travelers, and the occasional state trooper, is a spiritual experience all by itself.  My mind (the part that isn’t focused on the road) tends to go deep and ruminate about all sorts of things about life, death, and everything in between.  If I drove long enough (without falling asleep of course) I just might achieve total spiritual enlightenment, much like Buddha did.

-  Possibility coming up of some movement within my job.  I put my name on a sign-up sheet to work in the QA (Quality Assurance) department.  Probably won’t mean any more money, and I’m sure it’ll have it’s own share of headaches, but I figure a position in a QA department would make good future resume fodder.  Plus any movement within a company looks good, something I was unable to do at the last job I held for eleven years.  Interviews are next week, so stay tuned, and cross all proper body parts.

-  TMI of the month (possibly the year):  Found this article on ESPN.com about certain, uh, challenges that professional athletes face that the public doesn’t think about, and for good reason.  Warning: I’m not kidding on the TMI, so don’t read while eating or enjoying your favorite snack.  Consider youself warned.

-  Does anybody know how to keep from dreaming about work and your coworkers?  I swear there are some nights when I go to bed and feel like I’ve never left work.

-  Another great article from Single Dad Laughing about the curse of bullying, as well as an update on why we should love the bullies as well as the bullied.  Okay, I understand the concept of reaching out to the bullies as well, but it’s really hard when you or one of your kids are the victims.  Perhaps we should reserve our enmity for the parents of these bullies, who often refuse to do anything about them.  Definitely some food for thought.

- Speaking of food for thought, discovered that the local Moe’s Southwest Grill has a burrito, chips, and drink special for only $6.50 on Monday evenings.  I think it’s suppertime!

Fried

Sorry about all the chirping crickets around here lately.  Been working like crazy, and not getting home until 8:15 at night, eating dinner, going to bed, and getting up at 5:30am to drive 40 minutes to work, rinse lather and repeat.  Been picking up overtime on the other day shift, so I’ve been averaging three days on, one day off the last two weeks.  Looking forward to this three day weekend (Fri, Sat, Sun) but have to work Labor Day (at time-and-a-half).  This results in some nice looking checks come Thursday (I work at one of the few large companies left that still pays it’s workers weekly), but a very tired body.  And fried mind.  And sore feet.

But it’s employment, and (fingers and toes crossed) it looks like this one may stick around for a little bit, crappy pay and all.  At least until I can figure out what I REALLY want to do when I grow up.

Just haven’t had the time or the energy for a coherent post, let alone any good ideas.  Problem is, I periodically come up with good ideas at work or on the road to and from, but can’t stop and make notes so I end up forgetting them before I get to my  computer.  Just curious, do you sometimes make yourself notes as to potential blogging fodder during the day, or do you just sit down in front of the computer and try to come up with something?  Or do you have “aha!” moments where you run to the computer or open the laptop and frantically type, lest your muse desert you before you can get it into a notepad file?

Well, for no reason at all, this little ditty stuck in my head.  Not quite a Musical Interlude, though you may regard it as such.  But maybe an idea for a future career choice…

Brain dump 8/17/10 (and a Musical Interlude)

-  Interesting work schedule I got.  Twelve hour shifts, two days on, two days off.  36 hours one week, 48 hours the next.  Have to work every other Fri, Sat, Sun, but that means I get the following as a three day weekend.  Right now though, I have so little to do during the days off that they get boring really quick.  Noplace to go, nothing to do, and no money to do it with.  Still trying to dig myself out of the hole that over a year of unemployment has put me into.  Not to mention that in this 103 degree heat I’d actually rather be at work, because the AC there is so much better, even with all the machinery.  Also they keep you quite busy, resulting in the 12 hours going by surprisingly fast.

-  Last Friday (the 13th, no doubt) I was kneeling down cleaning out a machine when I suddenly heard and felt something go *riiiiiiiip*.  Yep, I managed to blow out the seat of my cheap pair of pants, with 9 hours to go in my shift.  Going home to change was not an option, being a 45 min drive each way, so I pulled my shirt down as low as it would go and spent the day either backed against the wall or sitting as much as I could get away with.  That’s what I get for being so cheap as to buy them at Dollar General.

-  I’ve had two flat tires in 10 days (different tires).  For some reason, flats happen in clusters with me.  So broke I had to bum money off of housemate to get it fixed, which will be my chore of the day.  And even though I can easily pay him back come payday, I don’t like asking too many favors of him, even small ones.  I don’t enjoy being indebted to him, monetarily or otherwise.  But I’d really like to know where these flats are coming from.  Don’t think I’ve pissed anyone off lately (except maybe The  Powers Above, but we won’t go into that).

-  Would like to go home to Atlanta for Labor Day (four day weekend) but not sure how I’m going to be able to swing it.  Car is not fit for any more long trips, and not sure if I can do an airfare.  Little Rock to Atlanta airfares are nothing short of atrocious, so would have to drive 2 ½ hours to Memphis and park to get anything even remotely affordable.  Would go completely bugshit stranded here for four days, and my tolerance limit for the inlaws is only a couple days tops.  Really could use another set of wheels right now.

-  Must be the time where all bloggers go on vacation.  Not that I’ve had a lot of interesting stuff lately, but pretty much all month my number of visitors have been in the teens, if not the single digits.  A couple of times the numbers spiked quite high, which I think were spam waves coming through since my spambox was collecting junk around then.

-  Just because you SOOOO wanted to know, the second bottle of honey BBQ sauce mentioned in my last post was consumed a few days ago and tasted great, with no ill effects this time.

Sorry I don’t have anything more interesting going on right now.  Maybe after the weekend.  In the meantime, I’ll leave you with a rarity – a Musical Interlude featuring a two-hit wonder:

And the next one, slightly truncated from the original but still good:

Brain dump 7/29/2010

-  Hotter than hell around here lately.  Luckily the AC on my car still works (most of the time), and my workplace is very well air-conditioned.  Just wish the house was as cool as everyplace else.

-  Speaking of work (and I’ll talk a little bit, because I think I’m past the jinx stage) seems to be going okay for now, meaning that I may actually be able to keep it more than a couple weeks.  Looks like I’ll get an extra week of training, but that’s due more to equipment issues preventing adequate training than any failure on my part (or any others in my training group).   Did ask for some direct feedback from my trainer, and she said that I was coming along fine, she just wasn’t quite ready to turn me loose on the floor, and any of us who she didn’t feel was coming along by now would’ve been cut loose.  Plus have been taking advantage of generous amounts of overtime (for now), which helps immensely with the bills that have piled up.

-  Thinking of looking for a place closer to work in the next couple months.  It’s a 40mi/45 min drive each way to work, which translates to about $10/day round trip for my car.  Adds up quick.  Luckily my regular shift (after training period) are three-to-four 12 hour days a week, followed by at least two days off, so that’ll help the gas situation a bit.  But still want to live closer, especially when rest of family makes it out.

-  Quite likely I’ll be looking for new wheels before the next month (August) is out.  Inlaws know of reputable cheap used-car lot in town that’ll work with limited budgets and destroyed credit (like mine), so may talk with them.  Favored candidates are: (1998-2005) Chevy Impala, Dodge Stratus/Chrysler Cirrus, Ford Explorer, Ford Crown Vic/Mercury Grand Marquis, Buick LeSabre/Pontiac Bonneville.  Around $7000 spending limit.  Prefer medium to large cars, minimum 20mpg (mostly highway driving).  Would love a Honda, but hard to come by at affordable price without lots of miles & wear.  Anyone have any experience with above list?

-  Now that I’m finally drawing a weekly paycheck (yay!) may go to inlaws this weekend.  Will try to see if I can spring JJ for a day and take him swimming.  Hopefully his Reichmarschall (papa, aka the grandfather) won’t find some trivial reason to imprison him in his room again.

-  About 2 1/2 more weeks and AJ turns one.  Hard to believe almost a year has passed since he entered our lives (a little more backstory for any new readers that care to follow).  Sadly won’t be present on his birthday.  Do have four days off for Labor Day weekend and am debating on going home to Georgia or visiting my stepmother in Houston.  (Keep in mind that it’s a good day’s drive to Georgia from here, slightly less to Houston, and I won’t see another four day weekend for quite a while.)

- Feet…hurt.  Despite New Balance shoes.  Now I find out that work requires non-skid shoes, so will have to hit up Walmart or maybe Payless.  And will have to get gel soles, or maybe invest in those $40+ customized soles from Walmart  that their foot machine tries to sell you (anyone know what I’m talking about?)

-  And will leave you with this before I say goodnight.  Anyone remember seeing this stuff for sale at Spencer’s Gifts?

G’night folks.

A(nother) brief word from your sponsor

Sorry for the moodiness of the past several posts but a lot has been going on, both in my mind and real life.  Just got a job lined up with about a 40 mile commute and mediocre pay, but decent hours (12 hour rotating shifts 3-4 days a week, no more than 3 days in a row worked with 2 days off in between).  Given my completely rotten-ass luck with holding jobs lately for more than a week, I’m stressed more than I should be, wondering if I’m totally washed up at age 41, unable to learn or pick up anything new.  I’m well past the failure-is-not-an-option stage, so we’ll see in the coming weeks how things go.  Also I’m flat broke and not expecting any money for at least three more weeks when I start getting paid (my unemployment ran out), so things are quite tight around here.  It’s going to be all I can do to keep gas in my car until my first check.

Okay, enough bitching.  Family vacation is over, and time to get to business.  I’ve gotten a few posts together which I’ll put up in the next few days, plus another protected one only because I got pics of a family member that I don’t want to leave out in the open.  Also when things get better I may get my own hosted site, which means I can put up stuff like advertisements and maybe a tip jar.  I’ve been offered suggestions of doing some paid blogging, but I’m not sure if I want to use my personal brain dump of a blog for that purpose.  Any thoughts or suggestions?

Hope everybody enjoyed their 4th weekend, is having a wonderful summer, and managing to stay out of the worst of the heat.

Catch you all later.