It’s been a long time since I last posted anything not WoW related, and even though this will have a bit of that, too, I’ll try to limit it a bit. But, it’s good to be back and writting a little something. Most of my time, these days, is spent working many hours at both Parthenon (full time) and Lowes (part time). The hours, which are usually about 70-75 a week total, aren’t really that bad. As long as I’m schedule for both jobs on the same day, I’m good, but it’s the lull in the day when I only have to work at one or the other that throws me off track. Seriously, it’s better for me to have a full day of work than a half one.
Parthenon is still an iffy deal. We were busy right before the one week of shut down. I attribute the bustle to a few customers wanting to build up stock before the holiday, but we’ll see come next week. As far as any more layoff’s go … pardon me, the term for 2009 is Riff … so as far as any more riffs go, I’d dare say things still aren’t on stable ground. I still worry for my job. I say MY job because it has gotten to the point where it is every man for himself. I hate to say that, but yeah. If someone else gets the boot, that means I’m more likely to stay, you know? That may be bad karma or whatever, but it is the truth, my friends.
At Lowes, my part time seasonal job seems to have been expanded. I was promoted from Loader to Building Materials (Lumber) and now have been moved on to the sales floor as an OPE (Outdoor Power Equipment) team member. The HR director assures me that she’s received nothing but awesome reports, so I’m a tad bit happy about that. I’m just there to do a job, you know? And if I happen to make some friends along the way, all the more the merrier. The only downside of the job is the early hours and the 2 week pay periods. I’m a little spoiled by the weekly pay at Parthenon, but it’s all good. At least, at Lowes, I get pretty much straight pay – no insurance or other unnecessary items get deducted.
Of course, there is always a downside to everything, and the part time job is no exception. This particular downside is: my son misses me. He asks me how much longer I’ll have to work two jobs, when I’ll be able to quit and come home. I explain and he seems to understand the reason why I’m working two jobs, he just doesn’t like it (any more than I do, I’ll admit). Even though I’m worn out and tired, I try to make the most of my days / half days off and spend time with him. Sometimes it just doesn’t work out that way, though, as there are chores to be done around the house. My wife is doing a pretty good job of keeping things tied down here while I’m at work, but even she can’t do it all and babysit, too. Yes, she does work from home, and as such much of her attention during the day is focused on that and keeping our son entertained. So, it’s not like either one of us is out busting our chops expecting the other will hold down the home front. In todays times, I still say that, while I’d be proud to have my wife stay at home and take care of our children, it does still require pretty much two incomes (two and a half) to make a middle-class lifestyle work. We could rely on only my income, but we’d have to make alot of cuts in our expenses, and not even my wife would want to do that unless it was necessary. We’re spoiled that way – use to our car payments, cell phones and cable television.
And finally … in my small attempts to keep some sanity in my little world, I seek entertainment and gameplay. As I like to say, videogames are my hobby. Working two jobs and maintaining a family is no small task, so the few wee hours I have left that aren’t spent sleeping, are spent relaxing with a good game. True, I do need to catch up on my reading, but I already own the videogames and they aren’t taking up any more room. Ahem … now if I had a Kindle, perhaps I’d find a little more time to read <wink,wink>
I’m still playing the same two games … aren’t I always? Fallout 3 on the 360, which I’ve downloaded the Broken Steel expansion for. Broken Steel sort of eliminates the end of the game so that you can continue to play after completing the main storyline. I’m still enjoying the Fallout 3 world and badly want the other expansions. And of course, on the PC, I’m playing World of Warcraft. I’m doing a fairly decent job of sticking to my guns and leveling only my warlock. With this week off from Parthenon, I’ve managed to work him up to 50 (almost 51) and upgraded my gear a bit. I’m wanting to find some nice spellpower enchants to boost my damage, but haven’t felt like bartering with the various folk. Actually, I’m waiting for my pal to come online and hook me up for a small fee. B, if you’re reading this, get your butt online! I’ve also been playing my hunter main, working on some dailies, here and there, and doing alot of Icecrown quests I skipped over leveling up. Making some decent money on there, and that makes me a happy camper since I’m 80 and still don’t have my epic flying skill.
Movie-wise, I’ve broken down and actually been to a few movies this Summer. First was Star Trek, which I reviewed awhile back. We went to see Disney/Pixar’s UP, which was a fantastic movie. The best Pixar movie to date. I can’t wait to get that one on bluray when it comes out. And last but not least, I saw Transformers 2 this past Thursday. I’ll try to talk more about it later in a different post, but yeah, it was typical Michael Bay action.
So that’s it. That is my life in a nutshell of the past few weeks/months. Not much to tell, not much to share … but there you go. I’m a working fool who dreams great things in the common threads of the now. Maybe I will be able to pick back up my blogging again, too. I need to get those fingers banging out some text every now and then.
Til next time chiiiiiiiiildren … This is Three Dog …
