Brick Walls.

I seem to have a propensity for finding and hitting my head against brick walls. I'm not necessarily paranoid: the world really is out to stop me from doing what I want. Some companies won't call me back, and I naturally assume that it's because I'm a woman. That's not my imagination, it's (unfortunately) a reality in this business. When I opened my checking account, they offered me a line of credit for overdraft protection. I declined: saying I would never need it. Now, I ask for a small personal loan and they reject me, citing the bankruptcy in 2003. I inquired about a pink-slip loan on the truck-title and it was rejected because the truck is too old.
I partially feel that this is God's intervention. He doesn't want me to pursue the loan avenue, but to continue to make it on my piddling little paychecks. I don't disagree, but it would sure make things easier if I could catch up on my bills with a small loan that I could make payments on.

At work, the silly truck still isn't ready. Three weeks' worth of training pay. Gosh that just kills me. Nobody can make it on training pay.
Again, God just wants me to work it out. No pain, no gain. Struggling is good for the soul, and poverty looks real good on me; I'm losing weight from eating rice with fish and drinking black coffee or Koolaid.

Today is my 14,000th day of life. That's a cool mile-marker. I'm going to have a good day today. I really shouldn't worry so much about money. It's JUST money. They'll print more. Keep working, and things will work out. My DailyOM sent a timely message today:

Bad days contribute to the people we become. Though we may feel discouraged and distressed on our bad days, a bad day can teach us patience and perseverance. It is important to remember that your attitude drives your destiny and that one negative experience does not have to be the beginning of an ongoing stroke of bad luck. A bad day is memorable because it is one day among many good days – otherwise, we wouldn’t even bother to acknowledge it as a bad day. Know too, that everybody has bad days, you are not alone, the world is not against you. Tomorrow is guaranteed to be a brighter day.

Okay, well that's about right. I must agree and keep on "persevering".
You have a great day.
MsAmber

Fat Tuesday.

Final day of Mardi Gras is here.
I've got to go take a look at a place to move my RV this morning.
Also, since we haven't made it to any of the parades, we are definitely going to find one today.
Gotta go.

You have a great day.
MsAmber

Awww. Monday already?

But Mo-om, I don't wanna go to school!

Actually, the schools are closed. Most of the restaurants are closed. This is still Mardi Gras. Monday and Fat Tuesday are the big days. We still have to go to work, though. I wonder if the truck got the ladder rack finished?

A guy in Opelousas will set up another RV parking spot for me. I need to go look at it and see if I want to stay there. I should call him today and do that. I've been looking for a permanent place to set up and live. Opelousas is north of Lafayette, about the same distance away as Abbeville is south. There is a real lack of RV parking in Lafayette and I really need shade. I can't put this thing on an open parking lot in the summer- it would be too hot.

I took Tony on a driving tour yesterday. We went all the way across the Creole Scenic highway and I showed him all the damage from Rita. Had the darnedest time finding an open restaurant for dinner. Everything closes on Sunday. Not just this Sunday during Mardi Gras, but every Sunday. This is a very Catholic area. You would have to experience it to know what I'm talking about. Even the smallest towns have two Catholic churches. Usually one for the wealthy, and one for the rest of us.

Well, I have to get ready for work. Hopefully today is payday! Yay.
Have a great day.
MsAmber

Mardi Gras - Country Style

Tony came down to go to Mardi Gras with me. We looked through the local papers and found that St. Martinsville was having a traditional Grande Bouchiere (butchery). So, we went. There was food and live music, and a live pig which was publicly slaughtered (eww, gross). There was dancing and drinking, I took a bunch of pictures. I saw a couple of people dancing that just tickled me to death, so I took their pictures and asked them for their email address. I've already received a "thank you" reply.
Today we are going to find a parade to get beads!
I'm glad Tony came down. I wouldn't have made it to any festivities if he hadn't. I don't have the gas to waste. The lady who I sent the pictures to invited us to go to Henderson tonight for dancing. We just might do that, but first I have to convince Tony to get out there and dance. I'm fairly shy, but he's worse.
When we got back to the trailer at 6:00 pm, it started to rain. Perfect timing.
I cooked boudin for dinner. Oh that's some good stuff. Pork sausage with rice stuffed in a casing. You just boil it. We figured out that you can just squeeze it out of the casing onto bread and spread it like deviled ham and make a sandwich. You are supposed to be able to eat the casing, but for some reason I chewed and chewed and couldn't break it down enough to swallow. So I decided just to eat the sausage out of the casing. Works for me. I had no idea it was so good. I also ate fried alligator at the St. Martinsville festival.

Yesterday we took the dogs on the nature trail. Everything was going fine except that I had to keep untangling the dogs. They are on separate ends of the same leash. So finally I just took Megabyte off the leash and let Spot drag the leash around. That worked good until Spot decided to run and play a little game of "can't catch me". I chased his scrawny little butt all the way back to the trailer. I couldn't even get close enough to step on the leash. Little Shit!
From now on: they are staying tethered together. At least Meg minds, so he can keep Spot from running off.

Well, gotta get ready to head downtown for the parades.
You have a great day!
MsAmber

Had a dialogue with the boss.

I asked the boss for some time and I drew my diagram of the alarm/dialtone/backfeeding issue. He actually listened. Wow.
He told me that the guys admitted that they didn't understand the instructions given before about backfeeding, and asked me to give a little class on Wednesday.
My Pleasure! That makes me so happy that he understood what I was trying to tell him. I was so worried about being shot down that I almost didn't speak to him about it. I'm glad I made myself do it.

Well, it's officially Mardi Gras weekend. I didn't get paid on Friday. Some stupid little problem at corporate. They fired their payroll company and decided to issue checks which will be fed-exed to the office by noon on Monday. This put a hurt on everyone, but it really messed me up. I don't have any gas in my truck and no money to do anything at Mardi Gras. At least the parades are free. I asked the campground host if I could borrow a bicycle. He's looking for one to loan me.

I have plenty of rice and coffee though! lol

Have a great weekend.
MsAmber

Yaaay. It's Friday.

I did four jobs yesterday. I wasn't fast. The first job was running a two pole span, then afterwards a big big house with phone. The big house with phone is the one that gave me the most challenge. The thing that concerns me is that we aren't doing backfeeding with alarms correctly.
The alarm jack is designed to bring in dialtone on the r/g pair and then send it through the circuit board and feed it back out to the bk/y pair to feed the rest of the house. We put a modem in a bedroom and feed dialtone onto the pair which is out of the alarm. So essentially we are sending dialtone after the alarm instead of before it. It seems to work, and the alarm test comes back fine, but I know in my addled little brain that it isn't correct. I wonder how it will affect the alarm in the future? What side effects will it have? I'm speaking of houses that are wired 'daisy-chained'.
I think I will have a dialog with an alarm technician about this.
Maybe I will apply to an alarm company for a job to work for a while when I'm done playing with cable tv. The problem is: I can't prove that it will affect the alarm negatively, and the technicians I work with can't grasp what I'm trying to explain, and in their opinion it works, so why am I "overthinking" it?
I must research this a little more. I can't even go to my boss over this, he wouldn't listen, and there really isn't anything he would do about it anyway. I would simply be frustrating him (as I seem to have a knack for).
When I go to the alarm company, I won't tell them who I am, I will simply ask for an engineer and then a white board to draw on. I will explain the situation and ask for his opinion.
Yeah, maybe I will stay out of trouble?
Then again, maybe I will stir up a hornets' nest. That could be fun too, and there's no shelter for the fallout.
Ah.
Have a great day.
MsAmber

It's Thursday. One more day.

...till payday.

I've got to rant a little. It's not really my style to publicly complain about my boss but this one's a real gem.
On Saturday, my day off, he called and asked me to come to his office. I drove to the shop, thinking it was important, and found that I was there to pick up my two roses that he had bought for us female employees for Valentine's Day. So, it cost me $6 in gas to pick up two roses. This guy doesn't even know how I feel about roses, and it cost me a full round trip's worth of gasoline during a time when I can least afford it. Yesterday, Wednesday, is usually the day off except soon we will start working on Wednesdays. We all had to come in dressed for work just to attend a meeting and get the serial numbers off our company-issued tools. Then go home. Every morning that we DO have work, we must arrive at 7:30 and wait, and wait, and wait until we are dispatched. Usually not leaving the shop until between 8:30 to 9:00 to go do our tickets. It seems he has no regards for our time.
I was in "training" for the first week. Basically there is no training. Just ride around and work with somebody to see how it's supposed to be done. Paperwork and such. My truck still isn't ready to roll, so I'm on my second week of "training". Besides it's killing me financially - I've spent as much on gas as I have earned - I signed a contract stating that if I don't work for them, I owe my training pay back to them. I've signed so many things explaining their fines, penalties, and reasons to take money away. Then I'm told that the handbook is for the Atlanta employees. They don't do drug testing, the pay scale as described is for the Atlanta employees, we are on the "point" system: but there is no document to explain what the points mean as far as pay. Our best techs are making only about $700/wk and our weakest techs are making about $300/wk.
I've been yelled at twice by the boss for nothing. I told him that the truck I have been issued is 6700 miles overdue for it's oil change. Later I mentioned it in front of his boss and he yelled at me that I've told him that already. Well, that was last Friday and the oil still hasn't been changed. Yesterday during the meeting, I asked where Jherric was and he yelled at me that he "doesn't need any help", and looked me straight in the face and repeated himself again - loudly.
I was still so mad when I went to bed last night that I had all kinds of violent dreams. Not only is yelling at me inappropriate and disrespectful, but I haven't actually started working there yet. I'm still just hanging around waiting for my truck.
I guess I'm used to working with professionals. People who can eloquently get their point across. This guy's gonna drive me to drinking. He's a big, random-headed bully, that's what.

Well, I've got to run through the shower.
Have a great day.
MsAmber

Wednesday in Lafayette

They put a new windshield in my Ranger (company truck) yesterday.

I rode with Leon and we got our jobs done just fine. There was no ladder work, it was two apartments and a great big house. Pretty easy day, except for the waiting.

Gosh, I can't wait for Friday - payday. I'm so broke I can't pay attention. Though I'm sure this first paycheck will be quite disappointing. Minimum wage X 44 hours.

I made fried potatoes, eggs, bacon and toast for dinner last night. Invited over my new friends. They are a transient couple in a tent two spaces down from me. They walked in carrying their tent. The guy goes to the day-labor place every morning at 4:00. I don't have much, but I'm willing to share what I do have. Tonight I'm making sloppy joes and cool-aid.

It's time to run through the shower, I gotta go.

You have a great day.
MsAmber

Ah, it's Tuesday.

I got my new company truck yesterday. It's 6,700 miles overdue for it's oil change and the ladder rack is broken. I got it all organized and put my tools inside. I'm ready for some tickets! I got a Blackberry issued to me also.

I was wondering which truck I would get, and then yesterday they fired a kid. Apparently on Saturday, he got into an accident in one of the other trucks; that sealed his fate. I always feel bad when somebody loses their job. He was a nice kid. So I got his Ford Ranger and phone. It's shorter than the rest of the trucks, so I won't need a ladder to reach my ladders. Ha ha ha.

I exchanged my Tom Tom for a new one that has a pre-loaded map. I'm just going to use it this way until I can take my laptop to work and hook up to the network to download the newest map. I attempted the download three times with my Sprint Mobile Broadband (broadband my ass), and each time the file was corrupted. I still need the newest updates, but it will have to wait. I need the GPS working now.

I gotta finish getting ready for work and walk the dogs before I go.

You have a great day.
MsAmber

I bought my Tom Tom . . .

I was downloading the newest maps of the US and Canada. It had 16 hours left to go and I went to bed. Sometime in the night the power went out. I am hoping that it has a "resume" feature, otherwise it will take 26 hours and start all over.
So, I need to get off this computer and let it do it's thing.

Have a great day!

MsAmber

Urg. It's Saturday and I gotta go to work.

Please don't make me go to work today...

I had asked Nate about letting me have today off to take care of some business, since I'm still just a trainee and I have no real responsibilities. He never answered me. I just called in and left a message. If he really wants me to come in, I will. If not, I won't.

Hey, it's Valentine's Day. I'm going to go buy a GPS today and do my laundry. (That is: IF I have the day off.) I also have to find the campground manager and force him to take my money. (yeah, right!) I should also check the fluids in my truck today. It was running a little hot when it was dragging the trailer up here.

I stood up from the bent-over position next to a door-knob, and somehow I got my hip caught under the door-knob and it bruised me pretty good. I'm still not sure how I could get my hip (butt) under a door-knob, but I assure you that's what happened. Hurt like hell, it did...

The attitude I'm getting at work is that I have been labelled: "Cool, for an older lady." The boys have warmed up to me pretty good, and they've been fairly receptive and helpful to me. They are all good boys. A little rough around the edges sometimes, but I see good in all of them. There are no poison apples in this bunch, which makes me feel better and not so intimidated. I'm used to being a project manager and a teacher, now the kids are teaching me. It's cool. I like it. I told them to talk slowly to me like I'm a foreigner, because I need to tune my ears to the french accent. They laugh about that. One of them has been to Oklahoma before and he exclaimed that he couldn't deal with that place.
On that same note: besides the accent being so heavy, I've noticed the cadence of speech is like reading run-on sentences. You can't tell when one sentence has ended and the next is starting. I'm having quite the time learning to listen.

Well, I gotta go run through the shower.

You have a great day. I know I will.

MsAmber

A good day.

I had a pretty good day yesterday. I went to work with Jherric, he's a nice young kid who had the highest score on his QC's (quality controls). It got real interesting at our last install which had a huge ant mound inside the pedestal, and the undersides of the trailer were torn up and there was garbage underneath. I got filthy. Jherric got stung by a yellowjacket on the back of his head. It was a funny way to end the day. We cracked up and just had a good time working all day.

I was feeling a little crampy all day, couldn't figure it out. It's not my time of the month... or is it? Yep. It is my time of the month. Two weeks early by my calculations. I guess hard work brought it on. It also explains my grumpy demeanor.

Jherric was also nice enough to compromise on the music selections. He played Reggae all day. We started out listening to Ludacris, and I mentioned that I have a hard time making out the words, so he changed the cd to reggae and we listened to that all day. That was sweet, and pretty cool in my book. He's got a daughter on the way next month, I must remember to send his wife a baby present.

Gosh I still have a hard time with the extension ladder. Carrying it and setting it up and taking it down. They are damn heavy. It's going to take me a while to build my upper body strength. I got up on the line and changed out the connector, added the tags, and torqued it back on. I wasn't shaky, so that's good. Isn't there some other cheap alternative to a 28 foot extension ladder? No, climbing gaffs aren't appropriate, most of the connectors are three feet from the pole on the span. I wouldn't be able to reach. I just hope the messenger wires are strong enough, and the hooks in the poles are in good shape.

My my my.

You have a great day.
MsAmber

I got moved to Acadiana

Rent was due at the Abbeville park, so I had some decisions to make. It cost me $10/day to stay there plus $16/day to commute. By moving up here it will cost $13/day rent plus $5/day commute. So, I just saved $8/day or $48/wk.
Now I need to buy a GPS. I need a good deal on one. The cheapest one I can find, actually. Maybe the pawn shops would be a good place to go. I'll look. I understand I can buy a TomTom 1 for $128 at Wally World.

The dogs have been doing real good while I'm at work. They hold it all day. I need to decide when is a good time to start closing up the house and running the air conditioner versus letting the breeze blow through. I don't want them getting overheated in here, but it's not quite hot yet.

Spot had his first seizure on Tuesday night. It was very odd and worrisome. His seizure is like a full body cramp. His body was so tensed up and he was hard as a rock, like rigor mortis, and it lasted a full 5 minutes. Afterwards he shivered and shook, I just held him and petted him. The only information I can find on doggie seizures is epilepsy.

I gotta get ready for work.
You have a great day.
MsAmber

Putting in some long days.

This company is confusing.
It's not a 7:30 to 5:30 job. It's 7:30 till whenever you get finished.
I went with Jake yesterday and we did 6 jobs and got finished at 7:15 pm.
The work is not all that cerebral, but it is physical. I desperately need a GPS if I'm going to find my way around this new town. I'm still worried about my capability of handling that big extension ladder. I need to lift weights or something. I just don't have the leverage to pull it back when it's fully extended, especially in the wind.
I found out that we generally work Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and have Wednesdays and Sundays off. Until this week: now we are working Wednesdays and only have Sundays off. A six day work-week. Dammit. Did I mention that I'm not a 19 year old boy any more?
The one thing I'm going to have to get used to is not letting the customer talk me out of any work that is not billable. This work is also not for perfectionists like me. I need to have a dialog about that with the boss. It's ok to have the cables laying on the ground under houses, instead of securing them up like we always had to do in telephone work. I'm told that my work is supposed to be quick and dirty because I get paid by the job and I need to be fast.
That was one of the things I hated at my last job. I was forced to lower my standard of work at a couple of places and it irked me something fierce.

I called Tayla and made sure she was ok. I saw on the news that a tornado tore through Lone Grove and killed 14 people. So I called her at 6:45 this morning to make sure she got out ok. She went to her Mom's, so she's alright.

I gotta go to work now.
Have a great day.
MsAmber

Darn the extension ladders.

Ah. Yesterday was a long day. Didn't get done until 9 pm. I found out that the majority of these service calls I am to use a BIG yellow extension ladder, and hook it on the span. Yep.

I haven't done much work on extension ladders since my fall. I've done some, just to try and "get back on the horse", so to speak, but not extensively. Those muggers are a bear to move around. They weigh probably 80 pounds and they are huge. (sigh)
I'm going to get quite the workout moving it around and setting it up and taking it down, not to mention actually having to climb it while it is hooked onto spans of cables. Yeah, this is going to be fun.

This company has some strange ways. They don't issue a gas card. They act like they don't trust their employees. Currently there is an issue because they need to change the locks on all the truck beds - they are all keyed the same. Apparently that's a big deal, because techs steal from each other. This is a completely different culture than what I'm used to. I'm used to trust, and responsibility. All the trucks are new, but most have big dents and dingers in the bumpers or sides. They are being beat-the-hell-up.

Hmmm.

Have a great day, I gotta go to work.
MsAmber

I'm going to work!

Oh yeah, I'm going to work today!

I had a headache, so I took the benadryl with sinus headache stuff before I went to bed. It not only kicked my headache, but I slept like a baby.

Here's to hoping that Spot can handle himself during the day while I'm gone.

Got to run through the shower and get ready.
Have a great day.

MsAmber

What a night.

Sharri and I went out last night, and I ate raw oysters, stuffed shrimp, and a stuffed catfish roll. Really good stuff. I was so full, I could barely waddle. As soon as I got home I went to bed.

I had some of the weirdest, most vivid dreams last night.

I dreamed that my ex-husband came out of the bathroom completely naked. He put his hands on my shoulders and told me to sit down, he wanted to talk to me. I sat down. He squatted down in front of me - totally naked - and I was trying not to look. Because, you know, we're not married anymore. I was embarrassed and kept averting my eyes, and I have no idea what he was saying because I was so distracted by trying not to look.
Weird, huh? It was so real, that I woke up thinking he was here. I actually felt his hands on my shoulders and smelled Irish Spring soap.

I guess that's why the old timers tell you not to eat seafood before you go to bed.

I just got a picture message from my friend Mark, it shows a huge fire under a lot of trees and the subject says: "Help!" It's a great picture. I'm not sure how I could help. Blow on it maybe?

I've got to get dressed and go to the store. I need a few things.
Lunchmeat, bread, cheese, chips, potatoes, canned dog food, and TST for my septic.
I'm going to pack my lunches this week. Since I'm only making minimum wage for the first two weeks, I've calculated that it will cost me: 2.5 hours/day for gas, 2 hours/day for my lot rent here, 1 hour/day for taxes, which will leave me with only 2.5 hours/day for pay for the next two weeks. Yeah, packing my lunch is a necessity right now. I have to pay for Meg's dental care and my insurance is due again the first of March. Money will be tight, but not impossibly so.

Okay, got to get moving.
Have a great day.
MsAmber

I found a J-O-B.

Yesterday Atlantic Cable called and scheduled an interview for 1:00.
Then JB (the electrician) called me and said he has a cabling job for me on a weekend.

So, it looks like I've found an "in". I'm staying in this area after all.

I start my new job Monday morning at 7:30. I have to be in "training" for a couple of weeks at minimum wage, to learn how they do things and paperwork, but it's going to be fun. I'm going to be doing residential work again. I'm a little worried because of the energy level I will have to expend. This is the kind of work that I used to say: "I work like a 19 year old boy". Then a few years later I'd say: "I'm not a 19 year old boy anymore". Now I have to say: "I'm worth 2 19 year old boys". Yep, time to quit smoking if I'm going to keep up. It's all good. I'm in pretty good shape now, but I'll be in great shape by the end of the summer for sure!

My truck insurance has gone up $48.00 per 6 months. I called them and fussed about it, since I've never had an accident or made a claim and my truck is old, I don't deserve the rate increase. According to them: insurance rates in Louisiana are some of the highest since they've had so many claims to pay out. Well, what kind of sense does that make to have the highest rates in the poorest state? That means that people are going to start running without insurance because they can't afford it. I really wish the insurance companies would take a long walk off a short pier. At the very least, since insurance is mandatory, you should be able to write off your premiums on your taxes. I pay $908/yr on the trailer and $780/yr on the truck (minimum coverage). That's highway robbery!

It's that magical time of the morning when the sun comes up and the birds are singing. This morning there is no mist and I see a few clouds up above, but it's starting to get daylight. This is what time I must leave for work starting Monday. I'm going to miss sitting here watching the sunrise.

I will start looking for a place to park this rig in Lafayette. There aren't many RV parks in Lafayette, and most of them are booked up through the 23rd because of Mardi Gras. I might just stay right here for another month. The problem is that I have a 50 mile round trip just to get to work and back daily. That's a lot of gas in my truck, actually it will be about 8 gallons a day. Yeah, really. Wish I could write THAT off on my taxes.

I just had a thought: an invention. For mail carriers and utility workers and others who are at risk for dog bites. A protective sheath for the calves that send out an electric shock if a dog bites you. Like a neoprene sleeve that you pull on over your calves, under your pants. When it's punctured by a salivating dog, it will zap the shit right out of the dog.

Okay, it probably wouldn't work. But the idea of it just makes me laugh, imagine the surprise on the dog's face when it realizes it just bit into an electric eel.

You have a great day.
MsAmber

Good news:

I got my check today. Woo Hoo.
I made my trailer payment, I have two full tanks of gasoline, and I've done all my laundry (except the sheets and towels), and I'm ready to r-u-n-n-o-f-t.
I'm still going to hang around here until the 11th, but I'm feeling good about it.

Poor Spot was coughing all morning - starting at about 4:00 am. I took the boys for a walk at 6 and he's settled down now.

I've sure got the toots this morning. I'm just about ready to tune it up and play a fart song. Wa ha ha. (We all know how much I like fart jokes.)

Today I shall shampoo the carpets, change the sheets, and get kosherized for the Sabbath. There's not much left to organize, I've just about got all my ducks in a row finally. It sure would be nice to win the lottery, but unfortunately you have to play to win and I'm not spending any money...

Use it up,
wear it out,
make it do, or...
do without.

I like my life. It's a real hoot (or is it a toot?).

I borrowed the movie: Team America, World Police. It's a puppet movie and it's rated PG13, but it probably should be rated R. Gosh it was hilarious. There was a puppet sex scene that just killed me. I laughed so hard that coffee came out my nose.

It's so beautiful here in the morning. My desk faces East and I get to watch the sun come up through the trees, while I blog with my cup of coffee to my right and my ashtray on the left. The window is open and the curtains are pulled back. It's perfect for stimulating the imagination or giving one a sense of belonging with nature. The birds are singing just for me at this hour. I don't see anyone else usually, maybe a stray dog walker here and there, but mainly it's just me. The squirrels are playing 'round and 'round the trees, and everything is surrounded by a light wispy mist. I think I shall always try to make this window face the East from now on. It has brought me a lot of pleasure. It's also probably the reason that I'm blogging so much, I enjoy sitting here in the morning now.

It's supposed to get near 70 degrees today, I'm opening up the house to air it out and enjoy the day.

You have a great day.
Toots.
MsAmber

Could you hear my nickles screaming yesterday?

I ran out of propane and used up all my charcoal, so I counted out all my change. I had $16.95 (not including pennies). So I went to the propane place and the price for a 30# tank refill was $24. I asked the man there if we could just fill it halfway, because I have no heat and I can't even cook. Another customer who was in line asked the guy how much more I needed and he handed the man $10. I looked him straight in the eyes and said "Thank you, very much." Then I had enough change left over to buy a dozen eggs and a half-gallon of milk.

Gosh I hope my check comes in tomorrow. I'm doing alright. It wasn't the end of the world to run out of propane, but I'm very grateful to the stranger for helping me out.
That was really cool.

I emptied out and wiped down the cupboards yesterday. I made a couple of half-shelves and reorganized all the food. Then I sat down to check my email and a woodpecker flew in the door. I had to catch him before he hurt himself slamming into the windows and walls. It sure was a beautiful bird. I caught him up and let him out. He didn't sustain any injuries, thankfully.

It's so nice to be warm finally. It was 52 degrees in here this morning, so I got dressed in my longsleeve shirt, jeans, socks, and shoes. Then it dawned on me: Hey, I've got propane, turn on the heat. So I just did. It took all of 10 minutes to get it up to 65 degrees in here. Now maybe the electric heater can keep it that way. It dipped down to 30 last night, so I guess the electric heater did work it up about 20 degrees or so.

Spot still coughed most of the night. He's sleeping peacefully in here now. I wonder if it's the cold that sets off his coughing spells. It's settled down now that it's warm in here. Hmmmm. Interesting. Either that: or he's just coughed out for a while. Poor boy. He stuck to me like glue yesterday. Had to be touching me or watching me every moment. He didn't bark at passing vehicles either.

Well, I'm gonna get productive.
You have a great day,
MsAmber

Almost done organizing...

Today is the pantry. Maybe the closet also.
It's cold in here today, so I have both electric heaters running. I popped the outside breaker once already this morning, so I have to keep them both on low.

Spot is coughing this morning. It started at about 4:00 am. He coughs until he pukes then he settles down for a few minutes and then starts back up. Interesting though, when I took him out to walk, he didn't cough. He is only coughing while inside the trailer. I don't know what his problem is... but I'm glad Meg isn't doing it too.

I read in the news that Myspace and the Attorney General corroborated to match up the sex offender registry with Myspace accounts and 90,000 Myspace accounts were shut down. There are 170 million people with Myspace accounts and 90,000 of them were registered sex offenders. I think that calculates to 1 in 2000 pages. Mind you: that only includes Registered Sex Offenders. Most sexual predators have yet to be caught or incarcerated or registered. These are just the guys who have been caught in the past and done time for being a sexual predator. I'm betting that less than half of all the sexual predators have actually been caught and registered. That's a conservative figure, so you can extrapolate from that a number nearer to 180,000 sexual predators on Myspace. Yeah, scary. I'll bet I've run into several and didn't even know, what with games like "buy your friends" and "Mobsters" which make you have contact with people generally outside your circle. Also, having a public profile makes you searchable by anyone. "Hmmm. Let's look for a female, age 18, in Guyman Oklahoma..." (Knowing that all the little girls like to change their ages so they can have public profiles.) It's not just a risk for little girls either. Most adult women throw caution to the wind because they are confident that "it won't happen to them".
Okay, I'm done with my rant. I just got a little spooked when I read the news and saw the numbers. It's all a numbers game and the odds are getting worse every day.
How often do you roll a 6?

It's cold outside, but the sun is shining, so I just pulled back the curtains to let the sun shine in, maybe it will help it warm up in here. It's 58 degrees inside. I've already showered, blow-dried and put on makeup. I'm bundled up in a long sleeve shirt with a sweater.

You have a great day.
MsAmber

Dang, It's chilly this morning.

I sure made a mess in here yesterday.
I started out cleaning under the bed. I have that green tupperware tub I was telling you about - full of miscellaneous gels, lotions, hair potions, and old prescription bottles, etc. I sorted that out, then I pulled everything out of the cabinet under the sink, and sorted that stuff. Then I pulled everything out of the hatches that line the ceiling in the livingroom - made some files and sorted everything into files. Well, almost everything. I have a file for: dogs; camper; truck; insurance; taxes & credit reports; and instruction/warranty manuals. Everything else is piled here on my desk. I have certificates, Bicsi correspondence, IBEW correspondence, old invoices, security clearances, timesheets, cheat sheets, old notebooks, clipboards, empty folders, and other non-fileable junk. (sigh)

I'm not done yet... I do intend on getting completely organized. It's the least I can do since I'm not employed. I have "collector" t-shirts taking up precious drawer space. I might go guerrilla on my clothing today and take out the unwearables. I really need to clean out and wipe down my pantry also. Since the sun is shining I also need to string my clothesline and wash my delicates. Now that I have my day planned out, it's time to say goodbye on here and get to it!
Goodbye.

You have a great day.
MsAmber

I've made a decision...

Abbeville isn't going to work out for me. I'm moving the rig to Baton Rouge.
I've applied at 5 different companies in the Baton Rouge area and I feel that it has the best prospects.
I'm going to hold off until the middle of next week and probably hitch up on Wednesday, Feb 11, 2009. Baton Rouge is not very far away from Abbeville, but it is considerably more populated, and I see a lot more help-wanted ads, especially in the technical fields. Shoot, it's only 60 miles from Lafayette. I can handle that. Now, to find an RV park to move into.
I have a lot of research to do, so this is a short post.
More tomorrow...

You have a great day.

MsAmber

Sunday, January 31, 2009

Battlestar Galactica was in my mailbox. Thanks again, Rob.
I watched the first DVD yesterday. I need to make myself watch only one episode per day to stretch it out. It's just so thrilling. Starbuck Rocks, dude!

Today is cloudy and chilly. That's a shame because I was planning on running my clothesline outside and washing my delicates today. I do not want to waste my money at the laundromat.

I've been putting off organizing under the bed. I really need to do that soon. I think I will make myself tackle it today. I have a green tupperware tub full of toiletries - first-aid stuff and makeup and miscellaneous bottles of womanly goop, I need to re-integrate that into my cabinets so it can be used-up.

Ah, here's the rain. It sounds lovely, makes me want to go back to bed so I can enjoy it. No, I'm on my second pot of coffee so I'll just enjoy it awake.

One of the ways in which I'll cut back on smoking is to make myself only smoke outdoors. The problem is: I cheat.
I have the ashtray outside beside the steps and the cigarettes are next to the door, so I will make myself abide by the new rule today. That's a start.
I can do this...

You have a great day!
MsAmber