Dec 14

It’s been a few very busy days since I posted, so this might be a long one. Let’s start with the Broncos. It was another embarrassing loss. It was a game of turnovers. Unfortunately, it was us turning the ball over. There are only three games left and there doesn’t look like we can do anything except prepare for next year. I still have tickets to the last game of the season against the Chargers. So, even though it doesn’t look like they’re showing up, I hope the Broncos pull themselves together and take a stand on these last three games. We can’t end our season with only three wins. On the bright side, Baseball season is just around the corner. I was looking up the schedule for spring training. The Rockies play down in Scottsdale Arizona. I’m going to try to make it out there for the week of the 6th through the 12th. It looks like there are more home games that week with a couple of away games in the middle. The wife and I are pretty big Rockies fans, so we were thinking about making it an early 20th anniversary. The kids are old enough to take care of themselves and even go to school without us hounding them. It would be nice to have a whole week to ourselves. But, then we were thinking about driving down to Tucson or Yuma and jumping across the border so we can buy the girls Prom and military ball dresses. They’re much cheaper down there, and we could make a day of it. But, if we were going to do that, we would have to take the girls with us. If we did that, it wouldn’t be much of an anniversary. But, we would still be able to go to the spring training games. I guess we’ll see when the time comes.
This was my first whole weekend off in a month and a half, and I spent way too much money on Christmas presents. I always go a little overboard, but it is fun so I don’t plan on stopping. We should have planned it a little better. We bought the baby a bunch of stuff, but we had to take back three of the gifts because the kids already got her the same things. We had even wrapped one of them before we realized we duplicated it. I worked a day shift on Monday so that I would have the whole day off today to sneak out while the kids were at school and Maria was at work. But, we still have a few gifts to get everyone and I know I would have made some more duplicates. So, I held off and will arrange another sneaking out later.
I’m still waiting on Createspace to ship my latest two books. If I want to get them out to everyone before Christmas, they better hurry. I put the order in early last week and they still haven’t shipped it. I’m getting a little worried. It usually takes about a week after they ship it and with the holidays, they’re cutting it very close.
My eldest daughter found out she could graduate early. So, she was thinking about joining the Army and being out of boot camp by the time high school ends. But, that would mean that she would miss her prom and the military ball. So, she’s going to stick it out. On the 20th, she gets to take her placement test to see what types of jobs she is qualified for. All of the teachers at her school are helping her study for the ASVAB. Her only problem is that she has to lose 6 pounds before that Monday or they’ll have to reschedule it. She has to be fewer than 122 for her height. Everyone is trying to help. There isn’t any visible candy or cookies anywhere and everyone is giving her advice on what to eat and how to exercise. We even went to a barbeque on Saturday where there was chocolate cake. It looked like she wanted some, but she didn’t even try to sneak a taste. We’re trying to keep her from burning herself out, but she’s exercising like crazy. We bought her a scale and she lost two pounds over the weekend. I’m sure she’ll make the weight by Monday.
My niece had a birthday on Friday. I had to work all day, so I wasn’t able to go. The wife and the kids were going to go, but I’m not sure if they did or not. There was a little confusion about whether she was going to have a little party or not. The kids said that her boyfriend sent a text saying it was on, but my wife received one from her saying that it was canceled. Either way, no one knew where it was. She moved in with her boyfriend recently and no one knows where he lives. Either way, Jen, if you read this, Happy Belated Birthday. Speaking of parties, we’re going to have a Christmas party with the family on this Saturday, the 18th at my brother’s house. I don’t think that there would be any way to get us all together on Christmas. So, it works out better. We’re going to try something different this year instead of a Secret Santa. My brother called it a White Elephant. He explained it to me, but I’m going to have to give you the details on Monday because both of us came away with different ideas of what it was. I think my brother is just trying to confuse us.
I had a miserable day at work on Monday, so I didn’t do anything then or over the weekend. But, I finished chapter 13 on whatever day I worked on it. I’m going to work on 14 today, to get my mind back on track. I need to stop slacking off. It isn’t going to be a long book. But, I haven’t been putting my all into it. I’m blaming Christmas as a distraction.
Well, I told you it was going to be a long one. I better get to work, so until tomorrow…
-Thom

Dec 09

The new company that bought the contract at work isn’t instilling much confidence. Their pay period didn’t line up with our old company, so today was our first payday and it only covered two days. Well, they managed to mess that up. Most people didn’t get their correct pay rates and several others didn’t get a check. I didn’t get a check stub so I don’t know for sure if I got paid correctly or not. The money seemed pretty low, but they might have taken out the first installation of insurance. So, I’m going to have to wait until tomorrow when the stub comes in the mail to find out what’s going on with me. Of course with everything that was going on, my boss felt it necessary to wake me up again in the middle of the day. That’s two days in a row. I’m never going to get a full day’s sleep.
I brought my eldest down to the army recruiter. Everything went really well except for her weight to height ratio. She’s only 4’9” so she is really close to the cutoff and she needs to lose 6 pounds before the 20th when she goes in to take the job placement test. On the other hand, she took the pretest just to see where she’s standing and she received a 42. The recruiter said that the average score is 31. So, she should be qualified for the jobs she’s looking for. (Psychology and engineering) My wife went with us and she had a good time. The recruiter showed her a table of army stuff and told her to take what she wanted. Well, she came away from there with a huge bag of stuff. I wasn’t paying too much attention when we got home, but there were at least eight or ten shirts and some ball caps and knickknacks.
I didn’t get anything done on chapter 13 yesterday, so I’m definitely going to get it done today. And, speaking of which, I better get going.
-Thom

Dec 08

Kidnapped and the Great Detective are finally live. I approved the proofs today and they are up for sale, just in time for Christmas. I haven’t updated my website yet. I was just starting when two of my nephews came over to use the computer to do their homework. So, I’ll do that tomorrow.
I finished chapter 12 yesterday, and I was going to start 13, but for some reason it was hard to stay awake. I didn’t want to mess anything up, so I stopped there. I’ll get to chapter 13 today depending on how much stuff I have to do.
Tomorrow is the big day for my eldest daughter. We’re signing her up for the army. She has been back and forth on whether she should join first and then go to college or to go to college and then join. Finally, she decided on joining the reserves so that she can get boot camp out of the way and then go to college. They’ll sign her up as an officer and pay for most of it and then she will go in as an officer. The only drawback is that she is required to sign up for six years. But, since it is what she wants to do, it isn’t really a drawback. I’ll let everyone know how it goes tomorrow.
The JROTC bake sale went well. The girls made enough money to hold their JROTC military dance. Now, I just have to come up with the money to buy their dresses. My eldest was asking about her prom dress today and after I agreed to buy it for her, she told me it would be about five hundred dollars. (Yep, my mouth fell open right then too) I think we might have to shop around on the dresses, especially since they both have two events, the prom and the military dance where they both need two dresses that they are only going to wear once. But, I’ll worry about that after Christmas.
Well, I have some actual work to do before I can get going so I better get to it. I’m putting some Boston, Chicago, and Heart in the playlist for background music tonight.
-Thom

Dec 07

Well, not much happened today. I had to stay over at work for an extra four hours. There was a big inspection and my boss wanted to have extra people just in case. So, I stayed. The thing was that he wanted me to be available and not do any of the regular work. Since nothing happened, it was a pretty long and boring four hours. But, they’re paying me for it so I can’t complain.
There was something good that came out of it. Since I didn’t get to sleep until after eleven, I slept until nearly seven. During that time, my wife and girls went to do laundry. So, I skated out of that for another week.
With the long day, I finished chapter 10 and 11 last night. So, I’m going to work on chapter 12 today. But, I did a dumb thing. I brought the last Harry Potter audio book to work. I keep telling myself that I’m just going to listen to it for maybe an hour a night at the end of the day. That way, I can work on what I’m supposed to be doing. But, that didn’t work the last few times. I ended up putting everything on hold and listening to the whole thing. And, since I went to see the latest Potter movie, I kind of have it in my head. The movie was pretty good. It hit on most of the major points of the book, but I wished it would have only been one movie instead of two. I hate it when they do that. But, if they didn’t, they would have cut it to shreds like they did with most of the others.
Well, time to get to work. I’m putting in some Night Ranger, Queen, and Eagles into the playlist for background music. It should be a good night.
-Thom

Dec 06

Well, they finally did it. The Broncos fired Coach Josh McDaniels. We lost by four points on Sunday against the Chiefs. I didn’t get to see the game, but I heard it was back and forth. The score was ten to six so at least it wasn’t a blowout. We’re officially 3 and 9, it’s the worst season we’ve had in I can’t remember how long. We have no chance to get into the post season, so we only have a month of football left. I don’t know who they are going to get yet, but we need to start working on next season right now. That’s pretty sad when you are looking forward to next season when it is barely December. But, what else is there to do. I still have tickets to the last game of the season against San Diego. It won’t mean anything, but I’ll be out there rooting them on.
Instead of watching the football game on Sunday, I was out Christmas shopping. It was my first day off in a month and a half, so I was anxious. Unfortunately, I was a little too anxious. I spent so much money it isn’t even funny. And, I didn’t really get all that much stuff. We did get two of the big presents out of the way. We usually get one big present for the kids and then a few little ones. I’m in charge of the stockings, so I got them out of the way with first. But, even when you are putting in the little dollar candies and two or three dollar trinkets, when there are seven stockings you have to fill, those things add up. Don’t get me wrong, I wouldn’t trade it for anything. But, I nearly blew my budget in one day. I’m going to have to be much more careful during the rest of the month.
I didn’t work on chapter 10 on Saturday. I had to do some things at work and I had to proof read my boss’s homework. But, I was also really tired. Switching from graveyard to days is difficult. And, sometimes it’s hard to sleep at night. Friday night was one of those nights. Then, I was called in early so I didn’t get any sleep until Saturday night. But, when I crashed, I crashed. The baby stayed over and I tried to stay up until she went to sleep, but couldn’t do it. She was lying between me and my wife watching cartoons on On-Demand. I tried putting her to sleep, but she really wanted to watch Mickey Mouse’s Clubhouse. I could feel myself dozing and she did her best to keep me up. But I didn’t make it. When the show ended, she woke up my wife who was finally able to put her to sleep. But, I was already gone.
So, I’m starting chapter 10 today. I’m just going to put the radio on in the background, because I don’t want to go through the playlist and choose things. I could just save old playlists, but I never know what I want to listen to until I start. See you next time.
-Thom

Dec 2

I can’t believe my old company. They’ve only been my old company for one day and already they’re giving me grief. After the big switchover, I knew they were going to hold our last check until we turned in our uniforms. But, today was a regular payday and our last payday is on the 16th, for only three and a half days. Of course, I get a call from another former employee in my same boat and she says that the deposits didn’t go in. I check the bank and the direct deposit didn’t go through on mine either. Very upset, I call down there and they say that it was a banking error and all of the direct deposits didn’t go in for the whole company. They are supposed to be in tomorrow. Well, that doesn’t do it for people like me with internet banking. Normally, I have bills going out as soon as the payroll goes in. Luckily it’s nearly Christmas. I got ahead of my bills this month expecting this check to be my Christmas gift check. I could have been over-drafted and then the bank would charge me a fee and I would already be behind without buying anything. Well, all I have to say is it had better be in there tomorrow.
I finished chapter 8 yesterday and I’m going to work on chapter 9 today. I probably shouldn’t have wasted so much time listening to the audio books, but it was nice to have a little break. I have submitted both Kidnapped and the Great Detective for proofs. They should be here in a few days and if they’re ok, they should be up for sale sometime in the beginning of next week.
My youngest daughter is heading up the Toys for Tots charity drive at her school. They have collected a bunch of toys and are looking at the Children’s hospital to donate them. She was on the phone with them all late afternoon trying to schedule a pick up or a delivery. My eldest daughter on the other hand got a ticket in the mail for failure to stop at an intersection while turning right on a red. The pictures they sent us showed a car coming. I know she’s a careful driver, but she’s going to have to be much more careful than that. I had a few good words with her and so did my wife. At least she didn’t get in an accident. My son made it to court earlier in the week. He has his license suspended and if he is caught driving one more time they are going to lock him up for a mandatory 30 days. My granddaughter came over today and yesterday. She’s very smart, and we had a major discussion on Christmas cookies on the way to her house as I was dropping her off. She is still confused a little bit about how Santa lives at the North Pole and is also inside the malls, but she is all set on the cookies. All we have to do now is go out and buy the stuff to make and frost them. We’re probably going to do that over at my son’s house. It will be their first Christmas on their own. We’re going to get a video camera, but we’ll have plenty of stills too.
Well, I better get to work. I’m putting Duran Duran, Rush, Cars, and Men at Work into the playlist for background music.
-Thom

Dec 1

Today was the first day of the new company that took over. There was a representative from our old company and a few from the new one. The big boss came down and a member from the management office. They brought doughnuts and coffee. It was a very well planned conversion. The only problem that came up was kind of a funny one. The new company took over at 0600. (That’s six in the morning for all of you non-military types) In order to convert, two of us had to get off work and two people had to start work. Everyone showed up on time. So, as we were leaving I looked at all of the head honchos. They were all standing around looking like they were lost. There wasn’t anything for them to do, so they just stared at each other. I’m sure it was great moral support seeing them come down and supervise the change over, but all that happened was two guys came to work and two guys left. I don’t know what happened to the doughnuts, because I didn’t get any. But, I’m sure after half an hour or so of standing around looking at each other, someone said “Well, that’s about it, see you later.”
I was really looking forward to having Saturday the 4th off. It would have been my first day off in about a month and a half. But no, I have to work that day. My first day off is going to be Sunday the 5th. Well, at least it probably means that there is still going to be overtime available with this new company. But, the world better look out. I’m going to have a paycheck in my hand and I’m planning on doing some serious Christmas shopping.
I put both the Great Detective and Kidnapped into the self publishing app at Createspace. I’ve ordered the proof for the Great Detective, but as soon as I did, I found a mistake. I was so angry. Now, I had to resubmit it with the correction and wait until it is approved before I can order a new proof. Oh well, at least I saw the mistake. (It was pretty obvious)
I’m going to start working again on Cutie Pie, Baby Pie. With all of the training and the audio book I was listening to, I didn’t get a chance until today. But I’ve been putting a lot of good thinking into it and I should be rocking and rolling on it. I’m going to put in some Christmas music for background music tonight. So, I better get going.
-Thom