Mood:  down

Just when things seems to be peachy, a curve ball gets thrown at you. About a week and a half ago, Becky's brother Tom threw a wedding for his daughter Jennifer.  A good time, things went well.  But on Monday he an episode  of some sort.  At first they thought it was a stroke.  But now they are not so sure. Could possibly be a tumor.  He was able to dial 911.  When he first got there he could not use his right arm at all.

He is able to stand so that is a positive. He is going to Indianapolis for some more extensive tests.  As one can imagine, we are all concerned for him and hope for the best. Just goes to show how life can change in an instant.

Posted by christ77 at 8:30 PM EDT

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Mood:  crushed out

Does anyone else feel as used and abused as I do?  We kept on hearing on how the bailout plan had to be passed to save the economy.  The demopubs pass this over the protests of myself and others.  Then what happens???   The Dow has the largest loss ever.  My 401k becomes a 201k.  This is saving the economy?  

The plan is such a sham.  It started as three pages and grew to over 400 pages once every one finished eating at the trough.  

So not only do we have an economy going down the toilet we have saddled the country with over 10 trillion dollars of debt. I guess to ensure that future generations can enjoy the same economy as we now have...lets pass the misery on to our descendants!

The new job is OK over the first week or so. Some similiarities, some differences from my ex employer, lots to learn.  To quote a former secratary of war "We don't know what we don't know." The application we support is complicated. But feel confident that I will do well over time.

One odd thing with the facilities.  No one I had asked had an answer. But there is a chair in each mens room.  Rather curious I thought.  Plenty of stalls, never more than one or two people in them when I visited.  Maybe if a bunch of elderly gentlmen with bad prostrates used the facilities at once, then one could use the chair to wait I suppose. 

The apartment has been transformed. On Monday I had a HDTV on a cardboard box, a lawn chair, and inflatable mattress.  Perfect bachelor accomodations.  By Friday we had two nice chairs, a new mattress, entertainment center and it now looks civilized.  We bought most all the furniture used from a local thrift store.  

It is an odd feeling having two homes.  I guess that over time I will get used to this.  

Posted by christ77 at 10:51 AM EDT

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Mood:  celebratory

 Joe landed his first job at McDonalds.  He has completed the training and starts on Monday. Chelsea is currently being trained at Walmart.  She is not enthused about the position, but it's money.  I have a job - it is contract to hire.  The hiring company is Galaxy Systems.  I will actually be working for Medco - working with their web applications.  

It will require a move.  Initially I may have found an apartment that I can sublease.  The renter is moving to Northern Ohio.  So I may be able to take over their lease which runs out in February.  Hopefully by then I am working fulltime. Then I may see about getting a small home.  

One interesting development.  After I accepted the job, I did get an email from a former coworker who was still at LexisNexis.  Inquiring if I would have an interest in taking a contract position with them to help with some of the legal programs. Seems that infosys was having problems keeping up. Have to admit that I had a smile on my face when I replied back that I already had a job and would not be able to help.  I wonder if they regret getting rid of all the legal engineers...

Plan to hang onto the farm.  In the short run we are doing musical houses. Chad's mother in law will stay in his home; he is staying in our home and will watch over Joe.  If all goes as planned, then I will retire from Medco at some point and sell either the property in Columbus or the farm and sit back in a rocking chair.  With the housing market soft, I should be able to get a good deal on a home like Eric and Vanessa did.  We are selling off the cattle herd.

We survived the big wind storm caused by the remnants of Hurrican Ike.  Ran off of the generator for a few days, then loaned it to Eric and Vanessa - they were out for over a week. Oh, we did have one casualty indirectly caused by the storm. When we switched over to the generator smoke began to roll out of the entertainment center. The carberator was stuck full on. So the generator was putting out way too much voltage. It smoked the Dish network reciever.  I freed the stuck linkage and it ran well after that.  Saw some corn knocked down, could be a difficult harvest this fall - particularly if the already weak stalks get wet. 

 When I took my drug test for work, I did stop by Jungle Jim's Grocery Store on the way home.  I had heard so much about it that I wanted to check it out. To give an idea about the size - picture this: Most stores have an oriental food section in one of their aisles. In this store this an entire aisle devoted to Japanese, an aisle to Korean, an aisle to... well you get the picture.  Their oriental food alone section was the size of some stores. Their lobster tank had a lobster in it that was just about as long as my arm with pincers the size of my hands - it was immense.

 Their wine selection had to be the best in the area. From the $4.99 stuff to the $349 per bottle.  They had a cooking school inside the store. To ad to the ambience they had full size displays. Where the hot sauce was, they had a full size real fire truck.  Seafood - a real 30 foot wooden boat.  A full size plastic elephant.  Penguins in frozen food.  Outside there is a real working monorail.  It's worth the trip just to check it out.  

Posted by christ77 at 9:32 PM EDT

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Mood:  chillin'

Well fall has arrived and the youngsters are going back to school.  Joe seems to like his teachers this year.  He feels like he is going to do well. He capped off the summer with a friend of his - Zack King.  He was back from bootcamp in the Marines.  Zack is like a major ADD kid.  I guess the marines are going to make him a bomb dispoal specialist.  Scares me, seems like you would want someone calm and cool.  Not a guy with a mind that races 5 different directions at once. Also Joe has been seeing a girl from Edgewood, Megan. She likes to hunt, so that is something that they both have in common. 

 Chelsea just started back up at Sinclair.  First week seems to have gone fine.  Vanessa is thinking about attending a technical school to become more proficient at repairing electronic medical equipment.

 Went on the Poker Run sponsored by the historical society. Chad drove the Star Chief and I drove my motorcycle.  Saw all the covered bridges in Preble County.  Nice day for ride so it was a good time.  Finalist for another position, there are three of us that they interviewed.  

Posted by christ77 at 8:54 PM EDT

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Mood:  irritated

Well three members of the family are job hunting.  Incredulously it may be Joe that lands a job first.  McDonalds in New Lebanon has an interest in him.  He has a work permit and physical and will go back in and talk the manager a second time.  Not bad for a rookie.  But then Joe has always been a smooth talker.

 Chelsea may have a cherry job as a librarian lined up.  Part time, second shift, almost like they designed it for a college student.  Pays OK too.  She has experience from working the library at Sinclair College, when she spoke with them they were definitely interested and she is the only experienced person that applied so far. 

 With my job search I have to sit back and think to an episode of the Simpson's.  There is a scene is which Homer says, 'I know that there is god because he is mocking me.'  And boy, that is the way I feel right now.  Have had two seemingly home runs that curved foul at the last instant. One was for a developer/application administrator position in a small 9 person IT department.  But the guys calls back after the interview with good news/bad news.  I was the leading candidate, but the managment changed in the last 30 days since the positon posted. With the economy, they aren't doing anything until maybe this winter. I told the guy thanks, but I hoped to have another job by then.  So that was a whiff. 

 The second position was as a software engineer with a subsidiary of LexisNexis in Boca Raton. With the hurricane zigzagging across the state, it was difficult to get back with the manager. They closed early one day, opened 2 hours late another. We finally got in contact.  No hiring now because of the recent merger with the other risk company - choicepoint I think is the name.  They have to wait and evaluate what positions are still needed, etc.  Again I was the leading candidate, so another long ball curves foul.  

Have had some other interviews.  By now I should feel like an expert.  But I am getting weary of the process.  I identify with the olympic athletes.  Their careers are a life's work and in a few seconds or a few minutes - a life's work is decided in an instant.  Gold, Silver, or someone left lying in the dust.  All the work leading up to that moment is not accountable, it is how you perform at that instant.  Mess up an interview, stumble over a few words, give a wrong answer and 18 years of experience amounts to nothing.  

Posted by christ77 at 9:29 PM EDT

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Joe starts school today. Yesterday he was moaning was a lousy summer he had. We were scratching our heads - he spent 90% of his time playing World of Warcraft online, only baled hay like 4 times, and when he wasn't on the computer he was sleeping.  If only we all could be so lucky.

 He is getting serious about getting a job. He is putting in applications left and right. 

 Becky entered Elaina in a baby contest at Derby Days in Lewisburg.  First and second place went to babies that were around 3-4 months of age - hard to compete with that.  Still I think that grandma had fun getting her all dressed up so it was worth the effort. 

Things are starting to percolate on the job front.  I got a feeling that I should have something by the end of the month.  Was contacted by a large company in Redmond, Washington.  Plus some firms that do contracting have been in contact.  Two sound very interested.  Nothing in Dayton though - one is in Columbus, one in Cincinnati.  So whatever I get, it probably won't be local. 

Posted by christ77 at 7:50 AM EDT

Updated: Tuesday, August 19, 2008 7:53 AM EDT

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Mood:  celebratory

Young Cash celebrated his first birthday at our farm this past weekend. Had a nice turnout on a pleasant Sunday. It was actually just a bit cool for August.

Really got a kick out of his cake. A John Deere tractor design on the top along with a chocolate hammer and screwdriver. He was a meticulous cake eater. Most times a one year old is grabbing globs of cake and just making a mess. He grabbed bite sized pieces and slowly ate his fill.

He got a lot of presents - and the older kids gave him a hand opening them!

Posted by christ77 at 8:44 AM EDT

Updated: Tuesday, August 12, 2008 8:48 AM EDT

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Mood:  happy

One of the nice things about being a grandparent is looking at the world thru the eyes of a child once again.  Went with Elaina, Vanessa, and Chelsea to the Preble County Fair on Friday.  Thru my jaded eyes, it is the umpteenth visit over the years.  Same old midway, livestock, food vendors, etc.  But for Elaina, it was a fasinating world that she saw for the first time.

 She rode on a pony and had to be pulled off.  "more horse, more horse!"  We next got her a ride all day arm band and went to the different rides.  First ride was these boats that went in a circle.  She was a little scared, riding the ride all by herself.  The first lap she had that uncertain, what am I doing her look on her face.  A lap later a whimsical, hey this is kind of fun look crept into her face. And by the end of the ride she had a smug, this is kind of cool look.  

Next the three of them rode in a twirling bear ride.  Too small for the little roller coaster, and she cried when she couldn't ride that.  But I think her favorite ride was the big truck ride.  She held the steering wheel as though  driving and had that look at me, I'm all grown up and driving bearing as she circled the track. The ride operater was very nice.  Elaina was the only one on the ride at the time.  And let her go some extra laps since she was having such a good time.

Chelsea and Vanessa did get to ride on some of the big rides.  Becky and I took Elaina for another round while the two "big kids" had some fun.  We did have one close call when a 4 year kid went back thru the exit of one ride and turned it back on when Elaina was trying to get off. Fortunately, no one was hurt. She did fall onto the ground, but I think she was more scared from the other kids yelling that anything else.

Ended up the day at the Merry-go-round.  Everyone went for one last ride. We got some typical fair food - sugar waffles, lemonade shakeups, and cotton candy before heading home.  I am sure that some day she will be thirteen and the fair won't be a cool place to go anymore. But for one afternoon, it was a magical place to be and it was fun to be part of that. 

Posted by christ77 at 8:23 AM EDT

Updated: Sunday, August 3, 2008 11:32 AM EDT

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Mood:  accident prone

Joe had a close call this week. His friend Cody was driving, Dustin, Cody's brother was in the passenger seat, and Joe was in back. Cody was going a little faster than he should have on a back country road. Went over a culvert and went airborn.  Joe remembered the car bottoming out.  From the skid marks he went left onto the shoulder, over corrected and left the road. Rolled thru a corn field and the car ended up on its side.  The car was a good 100 feet off of the road.

They all had seat belts on, thank goodness. Joe said when it started to roll that he put his hands over this head and curled up.  He was the least injured. Cuts on his hands, shin, and a couple on his head.  We didn't take him to hospital.  Cody and Dustin were both taken to the hospital.  They kept them overnight and released them.  They both had mild concussions and got some stitches.  I think that they all learned a lesson.  I joked with Joe that the next time he drives, he will probably go like 35 mph.  

My shoulder surgery seems anticlimatic after that.  So far so good. Repaired the rotator cuff and removed a couple of bone spurs.  The nurse told me that they did a nerve block that will last for about 36 hours, after that I will be loading up on percocet(sp) for the pain.

Posted by christ77 at 6:31 PM EDT

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