Wow, what a difference a week makes! A week ago Rina and I were chilling in sunny South Florida. Sunday - first snow of the year in Atlanta and we got hit with about 4 inches.

Florida was great, we spent time kicking it on the beach in Fort Lauderdale, cruised down to Key West for a day, and spent time hanging out on South Beach in Miami. Weather was great, though a little cool at night. Got caught up on sleep and chilled out a bit from this work stress. Here is a pic of us in Key West:

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Speaking of work, still looking for gainful employment. I have probably another 2-3 months at HD until I'm out. The Savannah position didn't work out, the pay cut was way too much. I'm considering other HD offers in Redlands, CA and Birmingham, AL....I would probably spend the first year or so by myself if I did go. We are trying desperately not to move the family.

My girl turned 12 last week, she's getting so big!! We got her the present she asked for, a clock radio with iPod docking station. Ryan is next, he turns 14 this Friday. Rumor has it he's planning a party on Friday with 8 other kids. Wow!!

School is kicking my butt this semester, had to knock out a 5-pager and a 10-pager this weekend. I feel like I'm trending behind constantly, barely keeping my head above water. Oh, well, it's almost over.

Went to see Slumdog Millionaire last night. I think it was very deserving of the Oscars it received. It was a captivating picture, if a little sobering given the reality of the Mumbai slums.

Heading to New Jersey tomorrow, I guess they are supposed to get over 10 inches of snow today. Maybe I won't be going afterall. Anyway...hope you all have a good week, hope to hear from you soon!!

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"You deserve what you accept"
 

Happy Birthday to me!!!

Yesterday was my birthday....42. Double 21. I'm two times an adult. Or whatever.

Thanks to those who have inquired of my whereabouts. I've been extremely busy and probably a little checked out. I've been on the road alot lately, every week. Spent last week in LA and San Fran, the weather sucked in both places. California should be better than that this time of year. I was in New Jersey the week before and it snowed 5 inches when I got there. Joy!

I'm really looking forward to this week. Rina and I are going to Florida Wednesday through Monday. I'm working on Thursday, so she's taking the opportunity to visit friends all day. Saturday morning we are driving to Key West. Friday and Sunday are open for now, but I'm sure we'll come up with something to do. Our hotel is about 3 blocks off the ocean in Fort Lauderdale. I really, really need some mental downtime right now.

Jobwise, I got an offer for a position in Savannah within the company. It's a step down and a paycut, but right now bird in the hand might be the best way to go. I'm also looking at a couple of other things. The only issue is that I won't move my family right now. Wherever I go I will have to go alone and come home on the weekends, unless it's an offer that Rina can't refuse and we need to go. Hopefully I can do that for a year and the economy will clear up enough to land an Atlanta job. I haven't really begun to look that hard yet, so probably should quit whining.

Not much else to report...work, eat, sleep, repeat.
 

Saturday. I have committed to not working today. I've been through a string of very long days, last Sunday being the longest. That was the day I had to let all the people that work for me know that they are losing their jobs. It was taxing both emotionally and physically, I worked from 5:30 am to 1:30 am, then had to be at work again at 6:00. Not fun.

So, this week much of the same. Trying to keep a group of people in the game working on liquidating stores and then our buildings. They are fantastic people, and most of what I've been doing is trying to get them placed within the company. I spent at least 20 hours of my week getting spreadsheets prepared with info that I then got in front of HR managers around the company in order to get visibility for the whole group. I have about 200 people that I am trying to find jobs for.

Ryan had his Halo party last night. Actually, it's still going on. I got up at 4:30 and they are still going strong. There's six boys down there with two xbox's connected all playing halo at the same time. Pretty entertaining. I wandered downstairs and pretended like their noise had woken me. Should've seen the looks on their faces, which only lasted a second when Ryan told them that I always get up early. Good group of kids, though. I told Natalie that she should play spin the bottle with all of them and whoever wins gets to give her her first kiss. She gave me the "my dad is an idiot" look. I'm getting used to that one!!

I started looking for a job outside the company, but stopped when they increased the size of my severance package. If I don't find something internally I get paid for seven months the moment I walk out the door, so I figure a full month off and then six months to find another job should be plenty. Hope the economy improves a little, if not I may be selling apples on the street corner in a year or so.

Alrighty...I may end up doing a double entry today if anything interesting happens in this fucked up head of mine...catch you later!!


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"You deserve what you accept"
 

Wow, it's been awhile. I spent last night catching up on some blogs (no time for replies, just reading!). Thought I better let you know I'm alive.

The news hit the press a couple of days ago that our company is eliminating 7,000 jobs, including the division I work for. I have had to spend the last few days communicating to the couple hundred people that work for me that they are now jobless. The good thing is that we have to shut down buildings for the next couple of months, and all of them get at least 2 months severance beyond that. I have also been spending time identifying placement opportunities and will likely be able to place half of them in distribution centers and stores. That's comforting...

For me...I'm going to be working on this project for 5-6 months. They bumped my severance to 7 months, so I'm sitting pretty good there. There's a real good chance I'll land inside the company, but honestly I'm not so sure I want to. I floated my resume out there and have already been getting healthy response in a down economy. I think I might be ready for a change to a smaller company with a better quality of life quotient. Picture this...if I time it right I could work out my time here, get another job with another company about 30 days after my last day and still get paid severance as I work my new job. Double pay for 6 months? I'll take it!!

On a lighter note, everything else is going good. My 14 yo son has a "Halo" party here Friday night with 5 other kids from school. Natalie, my 12 yo, is thrilled. She has crushes on two boys coming to the party. Boy crazy just like her mom was before I tamed her!!

School is a drag right now, I have been working 14-16 hours a day and getting behind in school. I quit caring about grades once my GPA fell below 4.0 last semester, so I just need to stay above a C in these classes to graduate. I'll be glad when it's over!! Michelle, I know you're probably reading this...I cringe reading your blog when you talk about idiot professors, I can relate 100%. Fortunately the two I have right now are pretty solid, which makes all the difference in an online environment.

Alright...there you go! You are now caught up in my life. If you see any job opening out there let me know, will work for food!!


 

OK...one day at a time, right? Made it through yesterday, now lets work on today...

I found out last May that I am Type 2 Diabetic. That was a huge shock as I don't fit the typical profile of a type 2...I am pretty active, adhere to a fairly decent diet, am not overweight (6'1", 175). I had been not feeling well for around a year and there were other signs that I probably was diabetic for 2-3 years. Anyway, I immediately went on a bunch of medication and started seeing positive results. Yesterday, a setback. I am on very high doses of oral medication and my glucose levels are still pretty high. As a reference, most of you probably run a normal 100-110. I never get down to that level unless I go through a crash, I am normally 150-170.

So, now I have to take insulin injections. A needle in the stomach every night. Also, my eyesight is deteriorating, which is a result of having high glucose levels for a long period of time. And I am being tested for liver complications. Dang diabetes!!

Wow...can I get any more whiny?? Let's go back to the bottom line...happily married...CHECK. Family healthy...CHECK. Still working....CHECK. Rina kind of laughed yesterday and claimed that I am trying to frontload all of the bad into January so we can enjoy the rest of 2009. Maybe so!!
 

OK, I'm back. Wow, what a rollercoaster ride of a night. I can't sleep. I have not been unemployed in over 16 years. Even though I am still working for the next few months I am in a position where I could be unemployed.

I feel betrayed. I was moved to a "safety" position that ended up being not so safe after all. And yet my position is so much better than almost all of my people, Conflicting emotions rule the night, that's for sure. My wife is on edge, my kids are definitely worried a little, and this is only the beginning. The next few months will be super busy (can't divulge everything going on, that will come in a couple of weeks).

And then I feel oddly calm as well. I have a great resume and a huge network of people inside and outside the company that will try to take care of me. What do I have to worry about?

The unknown, that's what...I fear what I don't know. I have lived in this comfortable little world lined in safety and security and suddenly it has been thrown into turmoil. And quite honestly it's new territory for me.

Wow...I'm changing my nametag to SuperLittleBitchMike!!! Please exit this blog immediately if you don't want to see what kryptonite does to SuperMike...it might not be pretty! This could be a wild ride for a few weeks.
 

Howdy! It's been a while since I posted, times have gotten pretty busy. School started up again for me. I have two classes this semester, Organizational Change which is pretty timely given the project I am working on at work, and Adult Learning and Diversity. Fun! These two classes have a ton of papers to write, I think I have something like 12 3-pagers and 4 that are 8+.

Yesterday was Rina's birthday. We started out the day by making her breakfast. The subdivision was pretty busy with house shoppers yesterday so she worked for awhile, then we went bowling. It was pretty fun, but unbelievably busy. I couldn't bowl worth a crap yesterday so was made fun of incessantly. Rina feels the need to compete with me. I made up for it later on the pingpong table.

Not a bad weekend so far, but I have to put some work time in today after church. Rina is working all afternoon so I should probably be disciplined enough to work while she's gone. Or maybe I'll go to her office and try. Doesn't usually work out that way since we tend to end up talking and goofing off when I visit,

Work has come to a standstill, People are speculating constantly about when the hammer is going to fall, I keep hearing week after next. The way they do it is they call you into an axe room in alphabetical order and give you the speech and the paperwork then walk you out the door. No chance to grab your stuff, they mail it to you. So, just in case, everybody takes their pics off the walls and takes some of their personal belongings home. We call it "spring cleaning". I'm pretty certain that I'm safe, but we'll know for sure in a couple of weeks.


 

I'm feeling kind of pissy this morning. That's not good because this is going to be a long freaking week. I think the two four-day weekends and slow holiday weeks got the best of me, I've lost my momentum. Worked sucked yesterday, I was literally in back-to-back meetings for almost 13 hours. Not a way to come out of a long weekend,

I guess I shouldn't complain, at least I'm working, It looks like I'll be picking up two classes for school this semester, which starts tomorrow, I'm on the waitlist for the two classes but the registrar told me that I'd get a priority waiver since I'm only a couple of classes away from graduating, After I finish these two I only have my exit board to go through this summer, I was hoping to get done in under 4 years but that will put me right at 4. I guess not bad considering working and going to school almost full time,

I got busted lying to my twins yesterday, I was playing with them outside Sunday and we killed off a couple of fire ant hills, I told them that I knew a kid once who pissed off a bunch of ants and they went into his house and ate him down to a skeleton, then formed words on the wall that said "We told you not to mess with us". Alex was walking through the neighborhood with Rina and she went by an anthill and he told her the story, BUSTED! They also like to play by this drainage pipe near our house and I told them about the time that a wolf jumped out and ate a kids head off, His mom tried to scotch tape it on but should have used a stapler, Busted on that one too. They think my stories are wildly funny but still don't know whether to believe me or not. Rina pretty much told them to never believe me,

Alright - time to head to the timesuck vortex known as work, Blah!!!
 

Haven't been able to sleep much the last few nights with Rina gone. I've learned to adapt while I'm traveling, but can't sleep a lick without her in the bed. So, last night I was feeling kind of drowsy early and decided to turn in early. I went upstairs about 6 and watched TV until 7:30-ish. She hadn't called much all afternoon and I didn't call her before falling asleep. She called about 8:15, but I was already asleep so told her goodnight and seeya tomorrow.

About 9:00 I was woken up by someone standing over me,,,I woke with a start and almost screamed. For a second I couldn't figure out what day or time it was, RIna had come home early!! She didn't let me know she was coming home, and it almost scared the chocolate pudding out of me when she woke me from my deep sleep!! Great surprise...

So, I got up and hung out for awhile and she mentioned twice that we should go to a movie. That's what we did. We saw "Four Christmases", which was hilarious, albeit a little close to reality for both of us, She had seen it in Kentucky with her friend, and didn't mind seeing it again,

I'm just happy she's home. I really enjoy our Saturday mornings together, so this will be a good day....


 

Alrighty...I intentionally didn't post yesterday as it was the first day after the contest. I posted religiously for the full month of December, all prompt driven. Today I'm going to get back to general observing...translation, bitching and moaning.

Rina has been in Kentucky with Ryan since Tuesday. They're coming back tomorrow afternoon, but I may not see them til late because I'm going to the hockey game with a bunch of buddies. Nat stayed the night with a friend Wednesday and is leaving with friends for an outing today and won't be back until sometime tomorrow. It's been mostly me and the twins this week. They're pretty low maintenance, kind of fun still. But it gives me a touch of sadness to know that one day in the not-too-distant future this house will start emptying. Ryan and Nat will be 14 and 12 in a couple of months and are starting to really build their social lives. It's kind of sad. I'm sure Rina is sad too, knowing she'll have to spend more time with my dumb ass.

Turbo is really pissing me off lately. He's our puppy, a Yorkie-Poo. He really is one of the best dogs I've ever seen, very well trained. Too well trained. Whenever we eat anything he sits very still in front of you and just stares in hopes of getting a treat. We made the mistake of only giving him human food when we are at the table, so he sits like a statue and waits. I don't mind once in a while, but....he sits there for fucking ever and makes me feel guilty and irritable. I'm going to kick him today.

Work sucks these days, I have to lay off about 15% of the people that work for me. What's really tough is keeping the names off the list and just deciding positions. Seniority will ensure that some people stay that deserve it less than some that get cut. I know someone above me is making decisions on my position and those of my friends here. I'm 90% sure I'll make it through this cut, but...who knows? Two weeks.....

My one resolution for this year is to be more organized. I have hit a lazy streak on the weekends. I'm so used to working 10-12 hour days on the weekends, but since I've been out of school this semester I've become lazy. I end up doing nothing, especially since Rina started working and works most Sat and Sun afternoons. I've got a garage that needs organizing, and my office becomes a junk collection area. One day at a time...today I am going to dedicate at least 2 hours to working around the house on non-housecleaning stuff.

Alright, this feels good!! Blogging without a prompt to drive creativity....I guess I have mixed feelings, but I think I'll like the flexibility more.

Party on!!