Dear Diary

Wow. I am surprised I still know how to write an entry on OD. I guess writing on OD is sorta like riding a bike. Once you get the hang of it, you never forget how to do it – no matter how long it’s been!

I miss this place. And I still blame it on work, which is only getting worse by-the-way. I miss the olden days when I had time to write an entry or catch up on my friends at work. Those days have been loooong gone. Now I work solid during my time at work, and then come home and do even more work; nights, weekends, it’s all fair game.

I don’t remember where I left off, and you probably don’t either. But I remember ranting about my position being eliminated, applying for a new position, and getting hired –  but not really wanting the job. Well, I am still in the job I didn’t want and I am still not wanting it. I tried to have faith that it wouldn’t be as bad as I thought it would be, but it is every bit as bad as I thought it would be, and worse. I won’t go into too many details, but apparently a lot of people were really upset about the changes, and the company is worried about being sued for the way things were handled. HR seems to be calling me regularily these days because everyone else that was laid off and then re-hired into a different position has now left the company and accepted employment elsewhere. I am the only one left. Out of like 17 people. There aren’t only 17 people in the company BTW (more like 1,200), but 17 effected by this last round of changes.

The last one left. What is wrong with me? That means everyone on the Marketing/Sales team is new. And I have worked at the company longer than anyone on the team by a factor of five. I am the old man on the block. And the youngest one on the team. I have looked half-heartedly for a different job and probably sent out six or so resumes in the last 4 months. 

But I blame the wedding. I have more than enough PTO to take time off before and after the wedding and to take time off here and there to do things like dress shopping. If I switch companies now, even if I were to get hired tomorrow, I would likely not have time to earn the vacation I need to get married and go on a honeymoon, nor would I have the flexible schedule to come and go as I please to handle wedding things.

So I am considering myself stuck until after next January 22nd.

Yep, the wedding is a little less than a year away.

Plans are coming along nicely. Reception/ceremony site is booked, invitations have been chosen, DJ hired, bridesmaids dresses picked out, etc. I am not stressed yet since I still have about a year, but talk to me in the fall and I will probably be raging lunatic.

Chewie found a really sweet song we are considering using for the 1st dance at the wedding. Its called January Wedding by the Avett Brothers. (Appropriately titled, eh?) But the whole song seems as if it were written just for us and our January Wedding. I love it.

Isaiah is still having trouble in school. His mom is still a bitch.

Ruby is still a crazy dog. After Christmas I had thrown about 40 leftover cookies that Isaiah and Madaya had made and decorated with mounds of frosting. The dog got into the garbage, ate every cookie she possibly could (which was about 30) and hid the rest around the house. She stuffed cookies in the cracks of the couches, under the entertainment center, under the pillows on our bed, etc. It was quite the ordeal to clean up since the kids had lots of fun piling mounds of frosting on each cookie. She was sick for a few days but is much better now. It was kind of funny how she hid the cookies everywhere so she could save them for a rainy day.

I just got back from southern California yesterday morning. I was there for work and spent time in Santa Monica, Malibu, Newport Beach, Long Beach, Costa Mesa and La Jolla. For a few nights I stayed at the hotel that was hosting the PGA tournament over this last weekend. I saw Phil Michelson and Ernie Els and a bunch of other famous golfers. No Tiger.

Travelling for work isn’t much fun. We were working from 8:00 am to 10;00 pm most nights visiting treatment programs, hosting dinners, and attending a conference. I didn’t have time to see my friends in LA. I also heard one of my faves lives in the San Diego area where I was the last couple days of the trip, and I didn’t even get to look her up and meet her!!

I went to Hawaii in November for a different conference and will be going to Vegas in April for yet another conference. Vegas should be good. Chewie will come with me there and we will stay an extra few days to have fun. These other trips I couldn’t stay longer to relax due to bad scheduling.

Madaya spent the two weeks over the Holidays including Christmas. It was a lot of fun to have her. I hear her mom is back in the state living in some Christian Halfway House for ex cons or something. She gave birth not too long ago to a baby that belongs to one of her pimps in Texas. The baby is in foster care right now, but evidently if Madaya’s mom stays on the straight and narrow for 6 months, she will get the baby back. I don’t think Madaya has seen her mom yet. But Janelle’s oldest daughter, Angelina, is pregnant with a little boy. Angelina is 16. So at 32, Janelle will be a grandmother, and have a grandchild about 6 months younger than her youngest child. Madaya is going to be an auntie.

Well I suppose that does it for an update. Sorry work doesn’t allow me the free time to be more faithful. Maybe my goal should be to get on here once a week. That should be doable. I miss you all, and for those of you still around, thanks for not forgetting about me!