Catching Up A Bit

Hey everybody!  It's me, Randy!  Remember me?  Yeah, I'm still busy as usual.  Hurricane Earl came by, but I didn't even notice, really.  We had a little rain and a few good, hard gusty winds around 2 a.m. or so, but I slept right through it.  Actually I got up around 1 a.m and again around 3 a.m., just my usual waking up.  It drives me crazy, actually, but that's a whole other post.  But I didn't really hear any rain or wind.  The chickens were all fine this morning, and the three baby pigeons were okay.  One of the pigeons has feathered out, and I think will be a pretty white color.  The other two were born yesterday and the day before.  They're still pretty tiny.  But we survived Earl just fine.  We were lucky, really.  If that thing had come straight onto land, we'd have been hurting in a bad way.  Hope you faired well, Linda, by the way.

I have also applied for another job, within the same company of course.  I don't think it's the ideal job by any means.  And it will certainly mean more hours, and being on call every other weekend.  But it also means a good bit more money.  My boss was NOT happy about it at all, either.  But it was either this, or take a second job.  I had a second job at one time.  I was working 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., going home to change and maybe grab a bite to eat, then going to my second job to work from 6 p.m. to 12:30 a.m.  I was getting home at 1 a.m. and getting back up at 6 a.m. to get ready for my day job.  I felt like I was staying at a motel rather than my home.  I really didn't want to do that again.  I explained that to my boss, who incidentally, put in my annual review that he'd recommend me for a management job.  But that sort of job may be available in 6 months or 10 years.  It's a gamble really.  I am hoping that he will make it worth my while to stay rather than change divisions.  My new job would be delivering liquid carbon dioxide to customers.  That's going from a cushy office job to working a truck in the field.  Sounds pretty dumb, doesn't it?  I think it does.  I'm afraid it could be a dead end job.  But my dad said it would be wise to go where the money is.  And not to hesitate to take a job elsewhere if that was where the money was.  But being a loyal employee and a hustler at getting the job done, even if it is more work than there's time for, it's a tough call.  I haven't had my inteview yet, but I have heard from a couple of guys in the CO2 division that the job is mine if I want it.  It certainly makes for restless nights.  It also means that blogging could very well have to go away, at least for a while.  I don't want that either, but I suppose we will have to see what comes of it all.

Anyhow, my aunt is coming to visit from Texas.  She lives in Temple, Texas and is going to New York to visit some long time friends of hers.  But she is stopping here in North Carolina to visit her sister for a few days.  She'll be here on Wednesday, the 8th, through Monday the 13th.  I'm taking Friday off to spend a three day weekend with her.  She was like another grandmother to me growing up.  She's my great aunt, my grandmother's sister.  My grandmother passed away in 1998, so she's really the only "grandmother" I have now.  I haven't seen her in five years, so it should be a nice visit.

I want to thank each of you for your words of encouragement on my last post.  Sometimes life just gets a bit confusing.  It reminds me of when I was driving a 18-wheeler with my brother.  I think we were in Alabama or Arkansas when our directions said to "turn at the light".  My brother got so angry and frustrated.  Do we turn left or do we turn right?  He turned left, and it was the wrong way.  We then had to find a place to turn around and go the other direction.  If you know anything about 18-wheelers, they are notorious for not being able to turn around very easily, especially in the city.  I'm hoping that if I'm not going in the right direction I will be able to turn things around fairly easily.  Hey Ho! as John would say.