I can’t leave my work behind me at the office.  I wish I didn’t have to bring it home with me, but I have too many projects to complete.  There’s the keyword research I have to do for our Internet marketing campaign, then there’s those copywriting assignments I have to edit, get rewritten, and then sign off on them, and there’s all those marketing statistics and surveys I have to go through to compile the information we need on current trends in the marketplace.  It’s our busiest time of the year and I’m not up for a promotion or anything, but I’ll look bad if I start lagging behind everyone else at the office.  We’re not really competitive with each other, or at least I’m not, but at the very least I need to keep up with everyone else.  I’m not paid per project or anything like that.  I get paid on a salary, which means that its not hourly.  I get paid the same every week no matter how much I work or don’t work.  The thing is that if I don’t work hard enough to impress the brass they won’t renew my contract whenever it’s up and I’ll have to go find another job, which isn’t easy these days.  

 There's nothing like seeing the Chicago Cubs from a roof top deck.  It gives the whole game a different perspective.  However, that aside, you would like to believe that what happened against Cincinnati could never happen, but it did.  I just couldn't believe Lieber!  One inning and he gives up four home runs.  Four!  I couldn't believe it.  And they sent Rich Hill off to do some farming.  This was Leiber's first start since last year, and I'm thinking it should be his last start.  What are those guys thinking at the Cubs?  Well, that's just it: they aren't thinking.  What a route, 9-0.  Why show up at all?  Why not just phone it in?  Unbelievable!  But typical.  That's why you just can't let what I call the "Cubs Experience" get to you.  You have to just enjoy the over all experience and remember that baseball, especially as it is practiced in Chicago is just that — a diversion.  Still, would you like to just see it all come together and have the Cubs win the whole deal?  Like the White Sox managed to do in 2005? Just once.  Whole generations have come and gone.  Two world wars have been fought.  Man has landed on the moon.  And yet… the Cubs can't win the World Series.

When I was younger, I always wanted to live on one of those roomy Chicagoland lofts.  Of course I wanted to live there by myself.  And most of the ones that I saw on TV and really liked are completely different from the ones in real life.  My friend Nate moved here from Boston back in the fall.  His girlfriend Bliss and their friends Jordan and Hutch all live together in a loft.  The living space is huge, but the bedrooms are small.  Also, the building’s old so the hardwood floors aren’t that great.  There’s no laundry in the building either, which can be really frustrating, especially during the winter.  No one wants to drag a bag full of laundry through the cold and snow.  From what they’ve told me, the building was going to be used for commercial purposes.  The leasing agent kept saying she would get back to them, but they kept telling her it was what they wanted and that they were going to take it.  So the leasing agent let them sign the lease for however long they’re going to stay there.  It’s good enough for them now, but one day they’re going to want something nicer.

My friend has a whole bunch of servers that run all of his internet companies and other computer related businesses. He lets me use some of his server space for offsite data storage for my blog. His servers also host the blog, which has been a huge money saver for us. The photos that we have on the blog are pretty big files, and it would be very costly if we had to pay for all of the hosting for them. He also helped us set up our e-mail addresses to go with the domain name. That way I can keep my business related e-mails sorted, and separate from my personal e-mails. Getting the blog started and flourishing has really been a struggle, and it is nice to have people like him on your side. I have had other friends helping me with other aspects of the blog too. One of my friends helped me with all of the graphic design for it. Another friend helped me do all of the web design. I have also had one or two of my friends be contributing writers for the blog. I cannot get to everything to cover, so it is nice to know some other people that can write.  

Today was my last day of working with the carbide end mill. The supervisor has us all moving on to other projects now. It looks like the factory might be getting some new employees. I guess there are some preliminary interviews being conducted right now. It should be exciting to see some new faces around here. It keeps things interesting! Speaking of keeping things interesting, I've got a bit of drama going on in my romantic life. I haven't really shared too many of my issues with my buddies, but it looks like I have some competition for the woman I like. We're not dating exclusively or anything. We only started dating just recently, but I found out through an acquaintance that there is another guy who is going out of his way to take her out. I was a bit upset by the news. I really like her and I wasn't aware that I had any competition to worry about. She didn't say anything about it, so maybe it's nothing. She's polite to everyone, so maybe she felt like she couldn't say no or something. Anyways, I'm going to try not to worry about it too much. I just want to enjoy my time with her. We've got some other dates planned this week already!

We ended up filing in Austin Bankruptcy was a terrible ordeal.  It cost us physically, mentally and emotionally.  We both ended up crying.  We saw our whole lives dragged out and put on sale to strangers.  I was physically sick, and so was Michelle.  We were not even going to attend the auction, but we did in the end.  And what a good thing it was that we did.  We were sitting off to the side, then Michelle stood up and just went kind of crazy.  She told the auctioneer to stop, then told the crowd there to get out.  Everybody was stunned.  Here was this crazy woman kicking everybody out.  The auction company lady stormed over and started shouting at us.  This was more than I could take.  I started yelling at her to quit and get out.  I couldn't bear it.  It was our lives that was being sold off piece meal to strangers.  We were being beat, and we didn't want to be beat.  We were fighters.  This couldn't stand.  We wanted our lives back.  After we kicked everybody out we sat in the house and were really quiet.  We knew then that we would fight back and keep our home and leave or not leave on our own terms. 

I was shopping at the mall the other day with my daughter because we couldn’t go shopping at garage sales since it was rainy and a little chilly. I wasn’t really shopping; I was really just browsing through the stores. As I look at the merchandise in the different stores, I realize how much of a bargain hunter I really am. I couldn’t find one thing that I was willing to pay the money they were asking for. I think everything is way overpriced. I am not into consuming just for the sake of parting with my money. I watched a man and his two sons trying on sports jackets. They already had a

Dallas Mavericks

jacket in their cart. Those jackets are very expensive and I just can’t see myself buying my kid (if I had a kid, that is) one of those jackets. My daughter says they are called starter jackets, and it may not be a good idea to walk around in certain areas wearing one. It seems they can attract trouble if you happen up on the wrong people. She has heard of kids getting their jackets taken right off their backs. That’s very scary to hear.