Tuesday, September 30, 2008

Tuesday Morning

Well, it's pretty quiet around the house this morning. Rachel had a work event that she had to attend at 11:ooam and wasn't going to get done with it until about 1:30pm. That's about when I have to get going to work, and she wasn't going to get home in time, so she had to take the kids to my mom's house. So I've had all morning to myself. It's been weird, having a quiet house all to myself. You'd think I would be getting a lot of stuff done since we are still trying to get the house ready to sell, but no... I slept. And it was great.

Thursday, September 18, 2008

Here At Work

I am on a break right now at work. They called me in early today to help get the entire reload setup, since the lady who normally does it is gone today, and I'm really the only other person who is not a manager that knows how to do it. And since I came in early, it means I will be working over the hours allowed without taking a break, so here I am, bored out of my mind, taking a break, typing on my blog at work. Did you see how many commas I used in that sentence? And the kicker is, I got it done in the same time that she usually does, so they really didn't have to call me in early. But the pm boss plans for the worst, and hopes for the best. Anyway, I ony have a half an hour break, so it really isn't enough time to go do anything. I've got my music on, and am wishing I had brought my laptop, instead of using these dumb computers they have here at work. They are from the 1980s I am pretty sure.

The Economy and the Stock Market

I was listening to the news today on my non-hd radio. All I heard was, "Economy, Stock Market, Banking, Oh my!" Here's my take on the whole thing. And this coming from someone who knows at least one thing about all that stuff: it sure doesn't help when politics gets involved in hyping up the problems inherent in the system. I know that most of these politicians know that the stock market , and indeed most of our economy is based on consumer confidence. If people "think" the economy is going to take a dip, it will. If people "think" the economy is doing just fine, then they have no problem spending money and keeping the whole thing rolling along smoothly. But when stupid politicians get involved in scaring the American public with garbage like "Oh no! This is the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression!" you just have to stop and think to yourself, "Self, why are the politicians doing this? Are they in the game to really help me? Or are they in it to help themselves?" One can only conclude the latter. I mean give me a break! This is nothing like the Great Depression! Unemployment is at 6.something percent. Most people who know anything about economics will tell you that 6.something percent is great. Even necessary. It means that there are people available to hire, and that the economy, and businesses have some room to grow. If unemployment gets much lower, we will HAVE to let all the illegal immigrants stay, just so that there are more people to hire!
While I know that there are some people who are suffering as a result of the housing market and the recent drops in the stock market, the vast majority of Americans will not be adversely affected to any great degree, as long as consumer confidence remains solid. That is where the politicians can do their best work: reassuring the American public that things are going to be fine, that the economy will resolve it's issues as it has in the past, and that we don't need to be running around like chickens with our heads cut off, screaming,"The sky is falling, the sky is falling!" Of course if we were chickens, we wouldn't be screaming anything, especially not in English, and most especially if our heads had been cut off.

Saturday, September 13, 2008

Friday Night (AKA Saturday Morning...)

So the trend continues. Here I am, up at the crack of dawn and I finally find time to post. No new pics yet, mostly because I'm too lazy right now to go get my camera and upload them. Let's see- so today at work I officially applied for the full time swing driver position; or in other words, I have just sold my soul to the devil. Now Fedex really owns me. No longer can I hide behind the excuse,"Sorry, but I am part time, and I don't want to do that." You see at Fedex, part timers can opt to not work anything beyond their schedule. If I don't want to do anything extra, like make any extra deliveries or run late shuttles to the airport, as a part time employee, I can just say no. But no longer. It is a necessary step (read EVIL) that I have to take on my road to management. So hopefully I don't have to do it for too long. Maybe a year or so. And since this is a swing driver position, it means that I could be thrown on any route at any time, without any warning even if I have no idea how the route is structured. I just have to find a way to "Git'er Done!" And the hours are not going to be very pleasant either: 6:30am to 7:00pm, probably with a 2 hour lunch break somewhere in the middle. That's the thing I am not looking forward to, is being gone ALL DAY LONG. I'm sure Rachel is not thrilled about it either. But it won't be forever, and honestly, with the money I'll be making as a full time swing driver, Rachel wouldn't have to work at the bank anymore, but I think she wants to anyway just in case. Also to get out of the house and to have some real adult interaction during the week. She'll be working Thursday, Friday and Saturday, and I'll be home most Saturdays, so we will only have to worry about getting the kids to my parents house two days a week instead of four.

Thursday, September 4, 2008

No Sleep

See what time I am posting? DO YOU SEE WHAT TIME IT IS? This is crazy, I'm not getting any sleep these days. Noah has decided that the hours of midnight to 3am are his "awake and crying" hours. And once Noah starts crying, Ammon wakes up and starts crying too. And before you ask, no they are not sleeping in the same room. In fact they are not doing much sleeping, period. I think last night I got 3 solid hours, and tonight I am on par for about four. And then I have to go to work and drive big trucks in small streets in Seattle. Oh, there's Noah, TTFN.