The way leads ever on....

Mainly because I'm a little tired of having to tell the story I'm going to relate why I suddenly find myself job hunting again.  It all started on Wednesday when I came back from vacation.  I was feeling very relaxed and quite magnanimous towards my fellow man.  When around 4o'clock I was informed by someone using them that my training room sign ons had all stopped working.  So I called IT and was told that my training program was moving to New Jersey.  Needless to say I was quite shocked about it this not having heard a word about it from my boss the mostly absent VP of the Learning Center (who just happened to be in New Jersey).  Now most of you know that I really hadn't heard from our talked to her more than 3 times since I was told I was reporting to her in July.  As opposed to my former TL from Canada who was always keeping me in the loop and was a fantastic boss.  But I digress, so I confronted the newly arrived Retail Leader, whom I had just met that day, as to what was going in regards to my job.  Well we had a private chat where she did confirm that yes the had planned on moving the training and she was quite surprised to find out that no one had told me.  We had a discussion about what position I could possibly fill but the only thing that was really an option would be for me to be a consultant again.  Well that was not ideal for me or for the poor TL that I would be working under.  Well she was going to look into some options and see what could be done about this.  The next morning I received my first call from my boss (that's right she actually called me, it was a miracle) apologizing for the way things went down.  She claimed that this was not how she normally did things.  She didn't want to tell me until they had figured out what position I could move to.  I am very skeptical that was her intention at all.  Well I got a call from the poor Retail Leader who had been thrust in the middle of this without any just cause asking if we could meet the next morning and discuss our options.  I readily agreed as I had some ideas I wanted to run by them as well.  So the next morning comes and I sit down with my meeting and before anything else comes out she is explaining my termination papers to me.  They decided I was redundant (their word not mine) and gave me a severance package to go away.  So basically they decided the fact that I had been doing three peoples jobs myself without so much as a compliant was not worth keeping around.  Never have I felt more betrayed by a company than I did right then.  I can understand if they made a business decision to move the training program but to go about it in such a sneaky underhanded way is just despicable.  I'm sure in the long run this will lead to better things but its hard to say goodbye to a job that I really loved.  Not many people get to do their dream job so I should be grateful that I got to do it while I could.  Is it better to have loved and lost or never to have loved at all....

Well after a long three week interview process I can officially wave goodbye to retail.  I've just been promoted to Recruiter/Novice Coach/HR Rep.  Basically what that breaks down to is I do the hiring process then I do shop visits after they've been classroom trained to maintain the newies.  Then of course answer any nonpay related HR questions.  I'm back to a Monday - Friday 9-6 job. I get weekends off and once a quarter I get to spend a week in the Chicago shops.  I'm very excited.  I don't start until February so as to make sure I leave my new shop in good condition.  I can't wait.

These are the top one-hundred-six books most often marked as “unread” by LibraryThing’s users. As usual, bold what you have read, italicize what you started but didn’t finish, and strike through what you couldn’t stand. Add an asterisk to those you’ve read more than once. Underline those on your to-read list.


Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell
Anna Karenina
Crime and Punishment
Catch-22 
One Hundred Years of Solitude
Wuthering Heights
The Silmarillion
Life of Pi
The Name of the Rose
Don Quixote
Moby Dick 
Madame Bovary
The Odyssey
Pride and Prejudice
Jane Eyre
A Tale of Two Cities
The Brothers Karamazov
Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies
War and Peace
Vanity Fair
The Time Traveler’s Wife
The Iliad
Emma
The Blind Assassin
The Kite Runner
Mrs. Dalloway
Great Expectations
American Gods*
Memoirs of a Geisha
Middlesex
Quicksilver
Wicked : the Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West
The Canterbury Tales
The Historian : A Novel
A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man
Love in the Time of Cholera
Brave New World
Foucault’s Pendulum
Middlemarch
Frankenstein, or, The Modern Prometheus
The Count of Monte Cristo
Dracula*
A Clockwork Orange
Anansi Boys
The Once and Future King *
The Grapes of Wrath
The Poisonwood Bible : A Novel
1984 *
Angels & Demons *
The Inferno
The Satanic Verses
Sense and Sensibility
The Picture of Dorian Gray*
Mansfield Park
One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest
To the Lighthouse
Tess of the D’Urbervilles
Oliver Twist
Gulliver’s Travels
Les Misérables
The Corrections
The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time
Dune
The Prince
The Sound and the Fury
Angela’s Ashes : a Memoir
The God of Small Things
A People’s History of the United States : 1492-present
Cryptonomicon
Neverwhere *
A Confederacy of Dunces
A Short History of Nearly Everything
Dubliners
The Unbearable Lightness of Being
Beloved
Slaughterhouse Five
The Scarlet Letter
Eats, Shoots & Leaves
The Mists of Avalon
Oryx and Crake : A Novel
Collapse : How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed
Cloud Atlas
The Confusion
Lolita
Persuasion
Northanger Abbey
The Catcher in the Rye *
On the Road
The Hunchback of Notre Dame
Freakonomics : A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything
Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance : An Inquiry into Values
The Aeneid
Watership Down *
Gravity’s Rainbow
The Hobbit *
In Cold Blood : A True Account of a Multiple Murder and Its Consequences
White Teeth
Treasure Island *
David Copperfield
The Three Musketeers  


I didn't do the strikeout thing or the underline one.  This is a very odd list.  Why is a lot of Neil Gaiman's books on there.  I know he has a bit of a cult following but those are some of his most popular books.  It's just odd....

The quote of the month is by Jay Leno: "With hurricanes, tornados, fires out of control, mud slides, flooding, severe thunderstorms tearing up the country from one end to another, and with the threat of bird flu and terrorist attacks, "Are we sure this is a good time to take God out of the Pledge of Allegiance?"

I'm partcipating in the Walk for Autism on Nov 17th. Please help by sponsoring me. Every little bit helps. Thank you in advance for your generosity.


https://www.kintera.org/faf/donorReg/donorPledge.asp?ievent=214843&lis=0&kntae214843=FD39EB740EDD4F79BD6F83EE997CD1BA&supId=188036405

I finished the last Harry Potter book last night. It was was quite good but I find myself depressed. I feel like a good friend, who only recently appeared in my life, has moved to some far off country never to be had from again. It's odd, seeing as how I only started reading these books about two years ago and on a whim at that. I had a couple of weeks off for vacation with nothing to do and was understandably bored. I'm not even sure now where I got the first book but I read it in about two hours and was hooked. Over the next two days I went out and bought the remaining volumes and devoured them as well. What I perceived as just a kids book turned about to be a well written engrossing story. Thankfully I never fully succumbed to fandom. I've never dressed up as a character or stood in line for anything. Also I don't own a piece of merchandise other than the books nor have I ever attended any type of meeting. But even though I never fully immersed myself in Potter Nerdom, I find I'm missing him already. This is not to say that it was not a fitting goodbye. By all means it was an excellent read, one I managed to read in two days spaced between work and sleep. And now that I've finished it I'm left to wonder, now what? I've become so attached to these characters that I don't seem to know what to do with myself anymore. The ending was great although if I may make a suggestion don't read the epilogue, it seemed a little tacked on. But I'll let you make the final decision on that one. Either way this sad muggle is really gonna miss it. The magic and wonder that I somehow felt a part of....

We do love to have you guys over on monday nights, and we'd love to keep the tradition going but I do have to make a disclaimer. The Ducks are now in the Stanly cup playoffs, and game 1 is Monday night. So while you are all welcome over, most of the evening will be devoted to the game. Usually its over by around 8:30, so I have no problem watching a movie late. If you want to reschedule for another day I'm more than willing to do so as well. Let me know what you guys would like to do.

As usual we will be happy to host Heroe's monday night. I though we might want to organize it a little better and if you guys want to volunteer to bring stuff. Or if you want to go out to dinner before hand. Let me know. Also if you don't want to drive all the way home Erin will be home and I should be home around 6-7.

Gingerkids.org

Here are some pics from our honeymoon down under...

Our Honeymoon in New Zealand

It's just a taste. More will be updated when available...

I just wanted to take a moment to try and head off any hard feelings. I'm not gonna be the greatest friend for the next month or so. With all the wedding things and working, I have very little in the way of a social life. So what does that mean for all you wonderful people out there? Well I'm gonna be pretty hard to reach between now and when we get back from the honeymoon. It's not to say that we don't still love you but momnmy and daddy just need some time to ourselves. Once I get back I will most definitly regale you with stories and pictures until your ears and eyes bleed. But until then please understand.....

GEORGE CARLIN'S NEW RULES FOR 2007:


New Rule: Stop giving me that pop-up ad for classmates.com! There's a reason you don't talk to people for 25 years. Because you don't particularly like them! Besides, I already know what the captain of the football team is doing these days -- mowing my lawn.

New Rule: Don't eat anything that's served to you out a window unless you're a seagull. People are acting all shocked that a
human finger was found in a bowl of Wendy's chili. Hey, it cost less than a dollar. What did you expect to contain? Lobster?


New Rule: Stop saying that teenage boys who have sex with their hot, blonde teachers are permanently damaged. I have a better description for these kids: "Lucky bastards."

New Rule: Ladies, leave your eyebrows alone. Here's how much men care about your eyebrows: Do you have two of them? Okay,
we're done.


New Rule: There's no such thing as flavored water. There's a whole aisle of this crap at the supermarket, water, but without
that watery taste. Sorry, but flavored water is called a soft drink. You want flavored water? Pour some scotch over ice and let it melt. That's your flavored water.


New Rule: Stop screwing with old people. Target is introducing a redesigned pill bottle that's square, with a bigger label. And the top is now the bottom. And by the time grandpa figures out how to open it, his ass will be in the morgue. Congratulations, Target, you just solved the Social Security crisis


New Rule: The more complicated the Starbucks order, the bigger the asshole. If you walk into a Starbucks and order a "decaf grande, half-soy, half-low fat, iced vanilla, double-shot, gingerbread cappuccino, extra dry, light ice, with one Sweet-n'-Low, and one NutraSweet," ooh, you're a huge asshole.


New Rule: Just because your tattoo has Chinese characters in it doesn't make you spiritual. It's right above the crack of your ass. And it translates to "beef with broccoli." The last time you did anything spiritual, you were praying to God you weren't pregnant. You're not spiritual. You're just high.


New Rule: No more gift registries. You know, it used to be just for
weddings. Now it's for babies and new homes and graduations from rehab. Picking out the stuff you want and having other people buy it for you isn't gift giving, it's the white people version of looting.


New Rule: And this one is long overdue: No more bathroom attendants. After I zip up, some guy is offering me a towel and a mint like I just had sex with George Michael. I can't even tell if he's supposed to be there, or just some freak with a fetish. I don't want to be on your web cam, dude. just want to wash my hands.


New Rule: When I ask how old your toddler is, I don't need to hear "27 months." "He's two" will do just fine. He's not a cheese. And I didn't really care in the first place.


New Rule: If you ever hope to be a credible adult and want a job that pays better than minimum wage, then for God's sake
don't pierce or tattoo every available piece of flesh. If so, then plan your future around saying, "Do you want fries with that?"

I'm really outa sorts here, and not knowing how to express myself I turn to the inspiration of others

"I'm going back there someday"
written by Kenny Ascher and Paul Williams

This looks familiar, vaguely familiar,
Almost unreal, yet, it's too soon to feel yet.
Close to my soul, and yet so far away.
I'm going to go back there someday.


Sun rises, night falls, sometimes the sky calls.
Is that a song there, and do I belong there?
I've never been there, but I know the way.
I'm going to go back there someday.


Come and go with me, it's more fun to share,
We'll both be completely at home in midair.
We're flyin', not walkin', on featherless wings.
We can hold onto love like invisible strings.


There's not a word yet for old friends who've just met.
Part heaven, part space, or have I found my place?
You can just visit, but I plan to stay.
I'm going to go back there someday.
I'm going to go back there someday.


"The Show Must Go On"
By Queen

Empty spaces - what are we living for
Abandoned places - I guess we know the score
On and on, does anybody know what we are looking for...
Another hero, another mindless crime
Behind the curtain, in the pantomime
Hold the line, does anybody want to take it anymore
The show must go on,
The show must go on
Inside my heart is breaking
My make-up may be flaking
But my smile still stays on.
Whatever happens, I'll leave it all to chance
Another heartache, another failed romance
On and on, does anybody know what we are living for?
I guess I'm learning, I must be warmer now
I'll soon be turning, round the corner now
Outside the dawn is breaking
But inside in the dark I'm aching to be free
The show must go on
The show must go on
Inside my heart is breaking
My make-up may be flaking
But my smile still stays on
My soul is painted like the wings of butterflies
Fairytales of yesterday will grow but never die
I can fly - my friends
The show must go on
The show must go on
I'll face it with a grin
I'm never giving in
On - with the show -
I'll top the bill, I'll overkill
I have to find the will to carry on
On with the -
On with the show -
The show must go on...

I'm pretty sure I was only there like 40% of the time

RULES: Each player of this game starts off with 10 weird things/habits about yourself. And since I'm not going to "tag" anyone I deleted the last part of this.

1) Although my job requires me to talk to people on a daily basis for long amounts of time, I've never fully overcome my shyness.

2) The main reason I grew my mustache is I hate shaving my upper lip. I used to cut it all the time.

3) I still want to be an author but have never worked up the courage to start a full novel

4) I find myself liking cats more and more as I get older

5) I will put hotsauce on anything, yes I mean anything

6) I hate the dentist because of the feeling of metal on my teeth.

7) I cut my own hair (Not that's its hard)

8) I have high blood pressure

9) I love to cook, its a stress reliever for me (probably the reason for #8)

10) I've striven as long as I can remember to be considered "The funny one"

I'm hoping no one got any text messages or calls but my phone was stolen on Sunday. They were able to shut it down but before they could some people may have recieved some disturbing messages. I'm sure most of you know me by now to know that I wouldn't do it. Once the phone was shut off they were able to lock it so who ever has it can't access my phone book anymore. I have a new phone now but I don't have any of my numbers so please call me soon so I can begin filling up my phone book.