Anyway , spring will be upon us before you know it . This has been a mild winter in eastern PA , I guess about 4 in a row now . My temporary job is almost done . While I was glad to have it , god was it boring . Basically doing a inventory of frozen plasma samples , most in test tubes or small cylindrical bottles . And we did more than 1 million . I generally don't mind boring work . So this was not a bad thing . Best part was there were only 4 of us doing the work , and we're all atheists . Never thought that would happen . But it did .
Now I need to start searching for real again . Not looking forward to that . All I expect to find are jobs where I'm on my feet all day , again . I seriously am getting too old for that .
Hate to be such a downer with my blogs . It just never seems to get better , ever . Always tired , never have sex , no real job , very few friends . I'm not suicidal , but I am sick of life .
One thing I'm happy about , the new Steven Wilson release - The Raven That Refused to Sing . Just a fantastic cd . I had doubts that he could better his last one , but I believe he may just have done that .

Just sitting here , waiting for the weather to start for real . We've had showers last night , but nothing to talk about . According to the animated maps , it's just south of us now . I already took off work , figured about the time I got there I'd just start worrying about coming back home . Not really worried about much other than wind damage , or the power going out . We have candles and tons of books if that happens . Maybe it'll give me a reason to read that other Anno Dracula book I picked up a while back . Anyway , everyone be safe & see ya on the other side .

So , I will probably hear about some kind of job this week . I should be hearing from the folks I did a interview with . In the meantime , I probably have a temp job lined up . It'll just be for a couple months & with no benefits . But it will help me pad the time between unemployment running out , so it's good .

I give to you my favorite beer in the world . I see it's been months since my last post . How does that happen when you're not working ? Weeeell , I'm not a very social person . And I plain haven't felt like sharing much . So , let's see .
There aren't many jobs out there in the field I've been working in the last 10 years or so , unless you have a degree . And I don't . And at 49 I don't see me getting one any time soon . And no one's really going to change my mind about that , so don't try to tell me I can still do it . Not going to happen so save your time .
Anyway , I'll just open up my search farther & take something else if I have to . Really don't want to go back to a " manufacturing " job , but that may have to happen for now .
One nice thing has been having time off to just goof around . When I'm working I never take real vacations . I just take a day here & there . I've had way too much in the way of great beers . We took a couple days & drove up to Selin's Grove PA . Visited the brewpub there twice & I can honestly say if you ever get a chance , please go . It's very small , and their kitchen is tiny . But the beers are all very tasty & the food was pretty damned impressive for what it was .
Also discovered a " new " place in Lancaster PA called The Fridge . It's basically a bottle shop , that also does pizzas & has about 6 taps . The bottle selection is pretty phenomenal , especially considering where it is . I'm talking Lagunitas , Ommegang , Clown Shoes , Founder's , Southern Tier ... just awesome . And , nothing mundane . No Bud , Miller , Coors . Hell , not even Yuengling . Just a great place . Also very small .
So yeah , I've been enjoying my time off , for the most part . And honestly I don't miss the job at all . I especially don't miss the over a hour drive each way through down town Philly . I miss being in Philly . I did like being there for food & beer related issues But I really miss maybe 3 people from work , so it's not killing me not being there anymore .
That's probably enough for now . More soon , maybe .

Yep , it's one big roller coaster here . Up , down , get thrown off the tracks & burn .
I've been unemployed for a week . Just didn't feel much like posting it cause it's such a downer . Except for some reason I've felt very "up" since it happened . I did like the actual job , but hated several things about it . It was probably the most frustrating job I've had . It should have been a very easy job , but the fact is that about 40% of the people in the lab didn't want to work , actively avoided work every chance they could , and the supervisors never held them accountable . And then you add me driving about 150 miles each day to that & all I can say is , is it any wonder I was burned out ? Is it any wonder I feel relieved ?
So I'm looking forward to a new job . And for some reason I feel very positive about finding one this time . First time that's happened . Also I already got ok'd for unemployment , which was the one thing I was slightly worried about .
So , life goes on . And so do I ...

So much for positive posts . This one will be a bit of a downer . A bit .
So , new car right ? Very happy & excited , right ? Haven't even made a payment on it and a guy swipes the back of it with a dump truck . Pretty much knocks the bumper off & dents the trunk . However , no one is hurt & his insurance is paying for everything ( as they should ) . In a rental until it's healed up . I only hope it doesn't take as long as my last accident to fix ( shouldn't , no damage to anything important this time ) .
Things like this are why I feel a affinity with Loki ( the god , not the Marvel character ) . Loki is all about chaos , and we all know that life is too . Unless you're in the 1% who can afford to be chaos free . I'm not so lucky . The thing most people don't know about Loki is he did almost as much good for the other gods as he did bad . Hell , he's the reason Thor has a hammer . Odin's 8 legged horse ? From Loki ( literally ) . But when he felt as if the other gods always remembered his mischief and never his good offerings , he turned on them .
Another thing about his turning though . It's all preordained . It has to happen so Ragnorok can happen , and things can be restarted again . So maybe he's not as chaotic as first thought , eh ?

Christ , that was a long time between posts . Let's get more positive , eh ? Good thing #1 , I got a new phone . I had a Palm Pre Plus & by the time I got rid of it I was ready to throw it through a wall . It was ok as far as function went , but it would run out of power within 8 hours , sometimes less , for no good reason . And the screen was messed up by the end because I didn't care anymore . Now I have a Android Bionic & am loving it . And to top it off , I found out yesterday I get a 25% employee discount through Verizon for working @ the Red Cross .
Good ( and even better ) thing #2 . I got a new car ! It's a Kia Rio sedan & I am in total love with it . It doesn't look or feel like a cheap piece of crap in any way shape or form . It;s got heated , folding side mirrors ! It's got a back up camera !!! Seriously , I think Kia has some of the best looking cars going today . And I have the 10 year 100k warranty too , which I am happy about .
So maybe life is taking a upturn for me again ? After last year , I could cure use that .

Been a long time since I posted , so here goes . First things first . We had to say good bye to our big Newfy Strider yesterday . He was 12 , which is beyond their normal life span . He had a good , long life full of fun & games . But the had gotten to the point that he couldn't get up off the floor without help . He basically laid around the living room all day until one of us helped him get up to go out & do his business . I know I wouldn't have wanted to live like that , so hopefully it was the right thing to do .

I'm still driving my moms old car , despite how badly I want to trade it in for either a new Focus or Civic . The stupid car doesn't have power windows , and it's a hatchback but it doesn't even have a rear wiper ! GAH !!! Only a 80 year old woman would order a car like that . And that would be my mom .

Now . I have been in a relationship with the same person for about 13 years . We never have sex . She's obese and on anti depressants constantly . The last couple of times we've had arguments about something , she has basically told me to get out . So I'm planning on doing just that . Hopefully , in the near future . I have someone else who is seriously into me & is also in a bad relationship that is dissolving . As soon as I can I am out of here . I honestly think it will be better for both of us anyway . I just don't want to rush this in any way . I want it to flow with as little drama as possible . I guess we shall see if this happens .

Thanks to all for your well wishes / advice . I had the meeting with the credit counselor & my lawyer and it went well . He says now I just wait 6 weeks & if no one contends it it's all over . He doesn't think anyone will . While waiting for my meeting , I got to stop in at a local brewpub in downtown Lancaster called Springhouse Brewing . Had a tasty oyster stout , one of my favorite styles of beer that not many breweries make .
Now , after my car got repossessed , my mom gave me her old car . It's a 07 Hyundai Accent . It's not as bad as you may think . It's got less then 50k miles on it & is in really good shape . One thing it did need was new tires . I was going to replace them next pay check , but on my way home last night one of them blew out . Fortunately my GF bought me a new set of tires as a early Christmas present . And the car does feel much better on the road now .
I take my GF for granted way too often & I want to say here that she's too good for me in many ways . Why she puts up with my f'd up life I'll never know .