Really I am a loyal employee

OK so I know that some of you think that I jump jobs a lot...but really I do not.

Well ok to be honest since I came to Pensacola I have. Before moving here I think that I had a total of like 3 jobs. Each of those I left because of better opportunities or moving here to Pcola. I mean I worked at DTree for like 4 years and 2 years at the newspaper.

I guess I just haven't found a job that I really like here. Most of the ones here I have good reasons for leaving. Like scheduling conflicts, or better job opportunities, better pay, or the boss is a drunken alcoholic. (The worst kind of alcoholic, like there is a good kind)

So I guess what I am leading up to is that I am doing it again. I just got hired at a place here in Pcola doing telemarketing type stuff, well I am going to turn in my resignation like 1 week after being hired. I had a company in Gulf Breeze approach me about coming to work for them. I will be working for a towing and wrecker service. I will be dispatching and also doing accounting type work. IN addition this is a fairly new company (only about 2 years old i think) and the owner says there is the opportunity to do some of their advertising work as well as promotional materials and help them develop their corporate image. It pays a little more than what I am making now and the hours are real flexible. Not to mention the people there seem really great.

So all of you out there that get on to me about job jumping go right ahead and lay into me. This is a smart move for me. Plus I think that I will keep this one for a while.

Pain of Friendship

I know that those two words are not normally accociated with each other. I also know that I am not going to associate them the way that some of you are thinking I am (You know who you are).

I have said it before friendship is one of the most amazing gifts. I can't even begin to understand it. Friends choose to continue to be there regardless of how many stupid jokes you tell, or when you are having a bad day and bite every ones head off, or no matter how much of a fool you make of yourself when you go out, or even when you do stupid little ballerina twirls to keep from falling and then act like nothing happened. It is just hard to rationtalize the fact that out of the billions of people in the world your friends choose you to spend their time with you and to talk to you when they need a shoulder. Friendship is wonderful.

The drawback to friendship is that it can be oh so painful. No I am not talking about the pain of dealing with their issues or driving to BFE to pick them up. I am talking about the Pain of having to sit back and watch. Watch them make decisions that will hurt them, watch them in pain, and being able to do nothing about it.

I can't stand to watch my friends go through the horrors of life. It is physically painful to me. I hate having to watch them make painful decisions or when life hands them a plate of brussel sprouts when they ordered steak.

I face the same things they do in life but for some reason their trials always affect me with twice the magnitude that my own do. I can understand why the world craps on me but my friends don't deserve this. They are good people...They have to be to be able to put up with me.

Friendship is the answer to so many of life's dilemas. When you think your alone, somehow your friends always find a way to let you know that you are not. (Just so all of my friends know...YOU are not alone!! I love each and every one of you and would do anything for you) Each of my friends are unique. They each bring something special to the table. I see a lot of what I would like to be in them. IF only some of them would realize that! I am no one special. I am where I am in my life because I have an amazing support behind me. I just hope that I can be that support for them too.

I want a magic button so that I can make my friends happy!

Out of Practice

I took the job as business manager for our student newspaper because I wanted a break from the high stress, deadline driven newsroom atmosphere. I got to relax for a few weeks...then I did something stupid.

I had an idea!

My philosophy for ideas has always been if it is such a good idea and you came up with it then you get to do it. It really is a deterent for people coming in with the grandiose ideas and dropping them on the boss to deal with. UNfortunately I have to play by my own rules, less I be deemed a hypocrit.

I had been brainstorming ways to improve the visibility of the Voyager and garner a stronger readership base. I realized that many students do not realize that we have a student newspaper until they are juniors or at least been here a couple of years. I thought hey why don't we get them hooked on us during orientation and then again for the returning students during Welcome Week. My big plan was to create a special section for the Voyager to give students that come to New Student Orientation. This section would contain cool things about what UWF and Pensacola has to offer.

I am so out of practice!! I have been a manager and editor for way too long. As the editor in chief, what you primarily do is manage the staff, do PR work, and direct the weekly news content of the paper (more like put your stamp of approval on it). Well I had section editors that bring me story ideas and writers that do the same. I would take those add my ideas (the ones that I got from being in contact with some of the movers and shakers on campus) and come up with a budget for the week. When all you do is news there is really not a lot of planning or organizing that can be done. Either the news happens or it doesn't.

This is not the case when you are involved with special sections or publications. I have not had to plan a special section from concept to completion since I worked at the Floridan. Normally I could rely on my editor to lend some assistance, however, she is a newbie at this as well. I will have to coordinate with 6-10 different departments across campus to get the cooperation and content that I need for this New Student Guide. I have virtually no staff during the summer so I will bear the weight of most of the writing and editing, as well as the page design.

I know that it sounds like whining but really it is not. I am actually kind of excited about it. I love doing this and will love the positive impact that it will have on the Voyager and UWF.

I do expect you guys to remind me of this post when I do start whining about the deadlines and being overworked (because we all know that eventually I will). Remind me that it was my good idea that got me here in the first place :-)

Remember that's what friends do...tell you to shut up when your whining gets to loud. :-P

I never knew 8 o'clock could get here so early!!

I started my new job yesterday. It is as I predicted more than just a little boring. Fortunately I am not going to work to be inspired or meet people, or even have a good time for that matter, I am going to work so that I may be able to do those things AFTER I get off work. Oh yeah and the money too. I am really only working this new job so that people don't come knock on my door and try to take body parts in the form of payment for the money I owe them. LOL

Since I have started this new job I work from 8 a.m. until 10 p.m. with only about 45 minutes between jobs and all of that is primarily spent driving. So needless to say I am exhausted. Normally that would not be a big deal because I am a night owl anyway. BUT...

Yesterday was evidently old friend day. I got off from work after an excruciatingly drab day (at both of them) called a friend of mine and arranged to go to McGuires. Well I had a pretty good feeling that it was going to be a short night because I knew that A) I was tired B) He would chicken out (He was supposed to go to another establishment and ask one of his co-workers out on a date.) and C) I have work at 8 a.m. Well on the way home to change after work I got a call from a friend that I had not talked to in forever. Of course being the overly social person that I am i proceeded to have a long phone conversation with him. He told me that he is moving back into the area (P.C. to be exact). This is great because I have not seen Andrew in probably 2 or more years. We try to keep in contact via the phone but it is kinda hard with his job and mine too. Andrew used to be my sports editor when I work at the newspaper in Marianna. He is a complete nut and always entertaining to be around.

Well of course Andrew's call delayed me from getting to McGuires at the pre-arranged time. Already behind schedule and the night has not even started.....UGH! I knew then I would not be getting enough sleep. So I head over to the Irsih Pub (good food too!) and about 2/3 of the way there Daniel calls me to tell me that McGuires is packed and only standing room left was at the bar. Not really my scene so we had to punt the ball. We ended up on the beach at a restaurant called Flounders. Good food, great people, sometimes a local band, and it is open right out on the beach...perfect place to relax after a 14 hour work day.

I was not so lucky! Sometimes my stomache does this wierd thing where I will be starving and then when I get somewhere to eat or get my food it feels like I am completely stuffed. Yup you guessed it, the affliction struck that night. In addition, there was a local band playing that night. So that is a good thing right??? Normally, yes. In this case, no! OMG the band literally caused physical discomfort to my ears. I was appalled. I was speechless.----------Well OK we all konw that is not true but metaphorically speaking I was! :-) The band was so bad that I ended up wrapping up there in about 1/2 the time we normally do. It was only about midnight...not too bad for a night out with friends and that still gives me like 6 1/2 hours of sleep. (That is pretty good/normal for me)

Again as I am getting home for the second time that day ANOTHER old friend calls me! Normally this would have made my night but considering that I was exhausted and ready to go to bed, this was not the case. ------Oh BTW Daniel did chicken out. I knew that he would. He is hopeless ;-) back to the story------The second friend proceeded to tell me her life story that i had missed and considering it has probably been 1 1/2 years since I had seen her it was long. Don't get me wrong I was very glad to talk to her and the guy she is shacked up with (i think they are engaged now) who also happens to be a very close friend of mine, but just wish it had been some other time. She kept me on the phone until about 3:30-4 a.m. That leaves right at 3.5 hours of sleep left before I have to be up and get ready for work. UGH!

Alarm clock rings I throw it! I am exhausted! I could go into my new job and put in some extra hours but I would probably fall asleep on the phone and end up fired so that is probably not the best idea. I think I will go home and go straight to bed. I think I can hear my bed chanting my name. :-)

Upgrade from spawn to actual

OK it is official I think that she can be upgraded from spawn of satan to satan himself!!!!! I left early on THURSDAY to take care of somethings and help a friend of mine move some furniture. I cleared it with her and told her that I could not guarantee a time that I would return but I would try to be back by about 3 p.m. Well she thought that she was being slick and asked when I arrived and told me to make sure that I told the dept chair when I returned. Hmmm??

Well needless to say moving the furniture took much longer than I expected and it was about 4:30ish when I got finished. Well by the time that I would have made it back to campus it would have been almost 5 and it made no sense for me to waste my gas, as expensive as it is.

Well I knew right away that she was trying to catch me lying on my timesheets. Well I did not!! I did over estimate by one hour on that day but I made it up by not taking a lunch break on Friday.

Well satan was so over zealous to catch me doing something wrong that she screwed my timesheet up!!! ON Monday when timesheets went in she went to the department chair and siad that I put in the wrong amount of hours on my timesheet and that she needed to change them.

Well if she wanted to adjust that hour...not a problem. That was my mistake and not that big of a deal. WELLLLL she lost her mind! She somehow decided that Friday was the day that I left early. BZZZZZZZZZZZZ wrong answer!! I worked a full 9 hours on Friday...even though I was exhausted and bored out of my mind. What was even better was that she did not even try to call me or get in touch with me at all!!!!!!!!!!!!!! So instead of losing 1 hour (more like 30 minutes!) I lost 5 hours!! UNACCEPTABLE! OMG I think that I am very glad that I got that other job because if this keeps up I will tell her to stick it! I refuse to deal with this. I will not have another job like i did at someplace I will not name where someone constantly tries to get rid of me because I don't follow them like a blind sheep!

I like my department chair a lot but he doesn't understand just how important those 5 hours are to me and why it is such a big deal that I am not getting that $40 on this check but instead 2 weeks from now. He makes a lot more than I do! He probably doesnt even notice $40. I mean come on he owns a house in Gulf Breeze!

Sorry that this turned into a kind of rant session but I had to let it out or you might have finally seen my name in the news (and not in the good way). ARRGGHHH!!!

Ugh early classes are crap

It is 8 in the morning and I woke up to make sure that I would be into my class, that was SUPPOSED to start today, on time. Well that was a collossal waste of good sleep! The class did not even start today. It starts on Thursday! That is ok though because if Financial Aid doesn't get off their duffs and decide if I am going to get any funding then I won't be able to stay registered for the class. That is unless you can pay for classes now with good looks (OH wait I am still in trouble there...guess that one is out of the question). No but seriously as usual the state and federal governments are taking their sweet time to review my case and provided me with funding for the summer term that is more than half over now. I am going to have to go to talk with them and see if they will let me work out a payment plan for the class (They do this sometimes).

On a more positive note, I got tired of sitting around being broke all the time so I decided to get a third job (Well really more like second since the first two are at the same place and both are half time on the same paycheck.) I am going to be doing telephone work again. Yes I know that some of you think this makes me evil but hey they pay good and the job is pretty simple. I will be calling people and trying to get them to let me sign them up for a free insurance quote. NO sales involved but still I am annoying people for a living. This should aleviate some of my monetary issues but then again it will be 2-3 weeks before I see a paycheck from there.

At my current job the spawn of satan continues to try to cause me problems. I do not know why she hates me so much?? Maybe it is because I am the only person in the entire department that does not bow down to her. Or maybe because I refuse to let her patronize me and treat me like I am 4 years old. Or maybe because I am the only person that doesnt treat her like she is the supreme commander for our department. In fact she is fussing so much that my dept. chair (the person I consider my boss) is starting to have to listen some of what she says.

I am going to be keeping a cat for a friend of mine for about 3 weeks until she moves into her new apartment. This will be cool because I was contemplating getting one myself...guess this will be like a trial run.

Life is much simpler with a road map

Today is father's day. I called my dad to wish him well. I started thinking about father's day and specifically my father. While I despise holidays for the sake of having a holiday and some retailers in the world being able to sell a couple hundred more ties or fishing poles or ice chests, I do agree with the need to honor our fathers.

Growing up I never realized just how much my father taught me either directly or through example. In fact growing up I just didn't understand him. Somewhere along the way my perspective shifted. I now realize that I am in fact much like him and I am extremely proud of that. The more that happens the more I realize (and accept) the fact that I couldn't have any better person in the world as a role model.

Daddy if you read this let me say that I know raising a son is not the easiest task in the world and more importantly putting up with me for 22 years is definitely not any easier. But one thing is for sure...I am glad that you did.

My father is a simple man. Something that I have come to admire and respect in him. He taught me how to be a man. Now I know this doesn't seem far fetched, that is kind of in the job description of being a father, but my dad took it a step further. HE taught me that there is more to being a man than being tough or chasing girls, or all of the other crap that most sons are force fed from day one. HE taught me so many things that I don't have the time or the energy to list them all...but I will list a few of the most important ones.

He taught me that no matter what the consequences you should always do the right thing. Family is more important than anything else in this world. HE showed me honesty and integrity are the foundation for any relationship, whether it is business, friendship, or romatic in nature. He clued me into the importance of being consistant in todays everchanging world (NO matter what I could always count on my Dad to be consistant, even if that meant that he consistantly told me no.) He showed me that when life gets you down then it is time to stop your whining and do something about it. He showed me that there is more satifaction in doing something the right way than trying to do something the easy way. He also showed me the value in working hard for everything that you got.

I know that it wasn't easy on him or me at times, but I do know that we are both better people for it. I look back and realize that God didn't bless my dad with a son...he blessed me with a father!

Thanks Dad, I love you and I appreciate eveything you have done for me.

Death, Taxes, and computer technicians

It's Friday again! At least this week I can enjoy a nice relaxing day of nothing. Good news is that I have a new book (so no sleeping for Marcus!). It is the 3rd book in the Emporer series by Conn Iggulden. The series chronicles the life of Julius Caesar. I have read tons of stuff in the last 5 years about Caesar and these books are thus far the most captivating and true to life books out there. I have become addicted to books, movies, and the history of Rome. I can't wait until someone realizes just how well written these books are and turns them into a set of movies. I heard somewhere online that they have already signed the rights over to some company that I have never heard to do a movie if one is ever done.

Speaking of movies...I went to see Batman Begins last night (YAY for student discounts!). I really enjoyed the movie. It started kind of slow but so do a lot of the movies. I really thought, at first, that it was going to be one big continuous montage of the stuff that we already knew,but they really worked to flesh out the plot. I was worried about how bad they would mess up the story line with this one being a prequel, but suprisingly they did an amazing job. They even added in a final scene that shows him moving onto conquering the joker (which was the first villian in the movies) If you are a fan of Batman movies then I strongly suggest that you see this one.

There is an old saying that everyone has probably heard at one time or another "The only things certain in life are death and taxes." Well I am going to start a petition to officially add something to that line. I would like it to read something like this: " The only things certain in life are death, taxes, and that computer tech guys will lie and screw stuff up!" I have had a brand new computer sitting in my office for almost 4 weeks now. It is still in the box waiting on a technician to come set it up and put it on the network. Now IF ITS was not so over protective of their precious network (which never works right by the way) I could have set the machine up the first day that it came in. No instead I have to sit here without a computer waiting for him to decided to come do his job. I got tired of waiting. I went to my other office (newsroom) and "borrowed" one of those machines. Now all of the data is on the other machine but at least I can do things like check my email and waste time writing in my blog. WOW I feel much more productive already! This is a never ending project with our techie. He is the worst I have ever dealt with. I have thousands of dollars worth of equipment that is sitting around serving as my new paper weight! I mean its great!! So to make a long story short I think that computer tech guys rank right up there with death and taxes. It is something we all have to deal with at one time or another in our lives and most of had rather contract some sort of horrible communicable disease that do it.

Not what I meant by corner office

Today has been the longest day I have ever seen. I work out of two offices here at my lovely job. For part of the day I am in the front office where people walk in and make copies and the phone occasionally rings or my department chair will come in with a really corny joke. So even though my direct supervisor could quite possibly be the spawn of satan, it is not that bad. Well the other part of the day from 10-2 I work in my own office as the business manager for our newspaper here on campus. Well first the office is in the most remote corner of the building. Literally the directions that people get when they are looking for me is to go all the way down the hall take a right and go all the way down that hall and it is the last office on the right. So literally it is in the back corner of the building. This means that I get very little traffic except for the people coming to see me or passing through and going out the back door. Well with it being summer no one is on campus and add to that the fact that the newspaper does not publish during the summer.

So basically what I am saying is that I am lucky if I see anyone at all in my little corner (back corner) office. I get so bored sometimes that I have to find ways to amuse myself. Today I wasn't having much luck in the amusement department. The funniest thing happened...I actually, quite literally, fell asleep at work. I don't mean that I did the bob your head type sleep for a minute, I was out like a light! I woke up looked at the clock and was ashamed!! Well ok part of the shame came from the fact that stickey notes from my desk were plastered to my face but hey that's not the point. You know you need a new job when it drives you to sleep on the job.

I haven't seen anyone in hours and I am starting to think that I am the last person left on campus. Wait I just heard someone...no wait that was the voice in my head again ;-) Just kiddin!

Life proceeding as normal...Chaotic

You know I find certain things in life absolutely baffling. I mean There are somethings that just do not add up.

It's Friday I should be looking forward to the weekend and all that it entails. You know the usual, no work, extra sleep, laundry, socializing, and maybe if I played my cards right earlier in the week a date. But alas I am not looking forward to any of these ok well maybe the last one just a little ;-)

Let me shed a little light on the reason for my lack of enthusiasm for this weekend. I show up to work (all be it 1 hour late...Man I love my boss) assuming today would be a laid back slightly boring day to finish off the week with. That was my first mistake assuming anything in my life would happen as planned. I am sadly wrong and find myself facing a completely chaotic situation.

I have lived in this area (well 2 hours east of here) all of my life, so somethings that are scary to most people, I have come to terms with and find the alternative frightening. I have a friend who is originally from California (L.A. I think) and we were having a conversation about this very thing the other day. She explained to me that the prospects of hurricanes frighten her. I launched in to my normal routine about how they are completely natural and not really that bad. Well then I asked her about earthquakes. Ok so yes I know that they are not nearly as frequent and they do not have a season but that makes them all the more scary to me. I mean come on how do you deal with the entire earth shaking and moving underneath your feet?? Not me...no thanks I told her I will take a little wind and rain any day.

In light of that little conversation I think that I might just become a mute. Never opening my mouth again (Yes I know that is unbelievable and not possible for me). Less than a week after this converstaion I am having to eat my words. Pensacola is facing Tropical Storm Arlene. It is only a tropical storm but this early in the season and coming straight for us...it scares me to death. They predict a Saturday afternoon landfall and probably a weak Category 1 hurricane. I think after everything that I went through with Ivan my perspective has changed a little (OK a lot) on hurricanes. I don't like them, I don't want them, and frankly they scare me. I just got the new roof on my home from the last one in Sept 2004. I have since decided that maybe I could live with that whole earth shaking ordeal in exchange.

So to tie it back into the original story dealing with my ruined weekend and horrible day at work, I now have to run all over my building putting plastic everywhere. I have to make sure that the precious faculty won't have anything get wet or we won't lose 5-10 year old archaic computers. (Might be good excuse to buy some new ones if we lost a few of those.) So no siesta for me.

That is only half of the story...Karma strikes again. Well maybe not Karma just stupid people. I also found out this morning that we can put men on the moon but people here at UWF can't hit a single button to make sure that we get paid accurately. I thought using direct deposit was supposed to be easier and take the human error out of the process. Looks like again I was wrong. No one here at UWF got paid. Then they had the audacity to tell us...strike that send us a voicemail to inform us that if this was a problem then contact them and they would try to cut checks for those people. Heck yeah its a problem. Ummm do you think that I really like my job, or any job for that matter, enough to work for free??? NO...If I don;t get paid then I don't have any reason to be there. So now it will be Monday before I see any of my paycheck. Guess I can tell my bill collectors to give UWF a call when they ask me why I haven't paid my bills :-)

Ok well I have to finish wrapping the computers in plastic wrap for the day. The good thing is that once they are all wrapped then I have nothing to do and can't even pretend I am keeping myself busy. My boss pointed this out to me as a joke but then he thought about it again and told me to go home after the plastic cause that is what the rest of the staff was going to do. I started to balk and tell him that I had to stay so that I could get paid but that is when he told me to consider it a paid vacation. OH Yeah! I can live with that.

Power of the Written Word

OK so I know it is late and I should be in bed dreaming about God only knows what but like so many nights lately I find myself awake. I can't sleep...I try all of the remedies and like the last couple of nights I finally find something to read and wait out the insomnia.

Tonight, or rather this morning, I stumbled across something that really opened my eyes. I was reading a story about a young person's life and the things that they have faced. I realized by the end of the story that sometimes you need to be reminded that you don't have it nearly as rough as you might think you do in life.

This person had faced some trials in life that were very similar to my own. SO similar in fact that it was very frightening. It was almost as if I was reading my story. Yet despite everything they had gone through they were able to forgive. IF this person who has been through more than me can forgive then why can't I? If they can start over and put everything behind them, then why can't I? Why have I let something like this rule my life and my relationships with my friends and family? No more! I am my own person.

I have to let go of my inner demons and face this world with the gifts and strengths that God has given. I know now that maybe just maybe I may have bad Karma but I have the tools to overcome. Those tools are each and everyone of you. My friends, family and loved ones. I cannot go around in life thinking that I have the bad end of the stick. I have to face this world and I can't think of anyone else better to do it with than you.

Seriously Hitler in a past life

Ok so most of you have heard me say that I at least believe in Karma a little bit. Well whether we call it Karma or God or people just getting what they deserve I don't care the name for it...it still SUCKS!

I have also come to the conclusion that maybe past life Karma is real because honestly I know i can be rude sometimes and I know that sometimes I am not exactly nice to EVERYONE but come on I can't be that bad...

I mean seriously to have the kind of Karma that I seem to possess would mean that I was somewhere on the leve of Hitler or maybe even Ghengis Khan! I mean what did I do to deserve this kind of messed up crap.

For instance....I have been anxiuosly awaiting the results of my financial aid application to come back so that I can see what kind of funding I will receive for the summer. Well today I finally got some kind of notification other than the standard online response of "Application being processed."

I know your thinking great that means he got an answer....WRONG. I recieved an email that told me that my application had been selected at random for review in a process called VERIFICATION. Well I spent hours on the phone trying to talk to someone who is three buildings over but will not answer their phone! Well I could have walked over but then I would have to leave work. Gotta get paid so that is out of the question. Well it is a good thing I did not because a friend of mine told me that he went over there and stood in line forever because only one agent was working and the rest were standing around in the back. SO after waiting on hold for the on agent who decided that they need to work today they told me that this means that my application when it gets to them will go into a pile for a specialist to look and they will probably require that I bring in additional information proving that I am exactly as broke as my tax returns say that I am.

So what does this mean in the big scheme of things??? Well for a couple more weeks at least I will remain broke and that Raman Noodles will soon become like second nature to me. I won't even have to play mind games and pretend that they are some kind of Chinese delicacy.
I will simply accept the fact that I am broke and that somewhere in my past I was an awful person to have Karma this bad.