Winter Sabbatical

So, still being unemployed, you'd think I'd be bored. You think I wouldn't have much stress. Guess what? I believe I have MORE stress now that I'm not working. Some of the reasons COULD be: I'd like to get a good job. I wouldn't worry about all the stuff our house needs that I can't afford. And most importantly, I have SUPER cabin fever.
You know, it's bad enough I'm not working. When they "restructured" back in November, my Father-In-Law said, "This is perfect Tom. Only you could lose your job right at the beginning of ice fishing season". He was correct. But, being January 11th, MY LUCK, there's STILL no safe ice!!! I CAN'T go ice fishing. THAT, my friends, is the BIGGEST reason why I'm stressed. I don't have my stress release like I normally do. It's too cold to ride my motorcycle (it's put away for the winter anyway), too cold to regular fish and be comfortable, and not cold enough for ice fishing. What's left? GeoCaching. And I was able to get out over the weekend and do some with a good friend.
For a few years now, we've been doing the "single" GeoCaches. That means, there's only one hide and one find per Cache. Well, Ryan and I decided that we were going to start doing some "multi" caches. Those are "multi" stages. You get the coordinates for the beginning, then when you find that one, you'll get the coordinates for the next part and so on until you get to the final stage. These types of caches are usually bigger, and have cooler stuff in them. So our first one was pretty close to home. And I actually marked it as a favorite! I'll tell you a LITTLE about it, because I don't want to spoil it for anyone else.
The coordinates took us to the middle of a street. We had to find the numbers for the next stage, but standing on the middle of a super busy road was NOT safe. So as we stood on the shoulder for what seemed like a year, we still couldn't find any numbers. Yet the GPS took us to the same exact spot every time we checked it. So where the heck are these numbers? Then Ryan had an idea, and it was a GOOD one. He looked over the side of the road and said, "dude, there's a tunnel that goes under the road". So guess where we went? Yep, under the road into the tunnel, and FOUND THE NUMBERS!!! BRILLIANT! Of course then we were easily put onto the final stage.
We enjoyed that one so much that we couldn't wait to do another multi, and we wanted to do one not so close to traffic. LOL. We went up to Francis Walter Dam and found a 5 stage. THAT was a LOT of fun. The folks that put that one together did a great job. There were no tunnels or puzzles, but the different containers and hiding spots were wonderful! And the VIEWS. Wow!!!



And getting to the final stage was a hike and a half. Not because it was a long hike, because we had to CLIMB! Not quite as bad as rock climbing and hanging off cliffs and such, but still a climb!

We had a BLAST doing that. Of course, we were cursing the cache owner up and down until we found what we were looking for, then we were praising them. I've come to the conclusion, that I LOVE to HATE these people. LOL!!!

On a different note, about 2 weeks ago, a friend asked if I'd help him and couple other guys demo the inside of a house and clean up (thanks Tropical Storm Lee).



I've come to the conclusion, that kind of work is NOT for me. I'm more of a "sit behind a microphone or computer" kind of guy. But it was an honor to be able to lend a hand and help these guys out. I never knew my body could do all the things it did. And it reminded that it WASN'T supposed to do those things every day afterwards. HAHA.

So what else am I doing to relieve stress? Guitar Hero. Walking the Back Mountain Trail alot, and I hope, soon, ice fishing. Old man winter is taking his sweet time getting here. We're close though.


What else? Hmmmmm. Simon is getting so big. He's walking very well, climbing pretty good, and almost running. He's 18 months old, and that means he's in the 'terrible twos'. He has sooooooo learned about temper tantrums too. All in all though, he's still a great kid. He's getting teeth quickly (that adds to the tantrums), and he's exploring a lot more things in the house. I can't wait until he gets his molars so the kid can finally eat a steak. HA. He's not quite talking yet. We'll ask him a question, he'll nod his head or point and grunt, and we say, "use your words. Say 'yes'." He'll say, "Ah-YAH". So we're getting there.
I love that kid so much!


Other than all this, life is going exactly the way it's supposed to.

Find something to be grateful for! Happy New Year! And if you're unemployed and live nearby, call me. We'll go for a walk together. :)

Thanks for reading!

New and Improved

How can something be "New" AND "Improved"? If it's new, it's not improved. If it's improved.....it's not new.

Well, if you haven't realized it, I haven't posted anything here since August. Reasons? A new company took over the company I worked for and things got a bit, "hectic" you could say. Then, in the beginning of November, I lost my job. Yep....."restructuring" was the reason. C'mon, we all know the real reason. A new company buys an existing company, they buy their debt as well. The new company wants to get rid of the debt so they can make their money, and the fastest way to remove that debt is to cut salaries. Hundreds of salaries. Four people in the building I worked got the axe....but many many more people across the country got the axe too.
So, you may say I'm "unemployed". I say I'm on a Winter Sabbatical. :)
Too bad the weather hasn't been cold enough for me to ice fishing!

Oh, here's a positive about losing my gig. This blog you're reading, I don't have to watch what I say about restaurants, auto mechanics, or any other 'business'. I can mention names now. I can curse! It's not affiliated with any radio station anymore. I can actually write down exactly what I feel! What I think! And not censor myself. That's so cool! Shit. Ah, that felt good.

So here I sit, on 12/20 at 8 in the morning, drinking coffee, and not having much of a plan at all today. Again. No big deal. I've got a friend who's also not working, and we've been doing a lot of stuff together. A LOT of GeoCaching, we wandered by the river yesterday for a little fishing (it started raining and it was COLD), just hanging out. Most of the time though, I do stuff around the house. I don't mind playing Mr. Mom.
Simon is still at daycare, because we figured if we pulled him out to save the cash, when/if I get another full-time gig, we may lose his place and we love that daycare.

OK, so those are the big things that have happened since August. Well, there is one more thing that I'm not going to talk about just yet. Maybe soon. Depends.

My motorcycle is winterized and in storage for the winter. So is the boat. My ice fishing gear is all ready for WHEN WE GET FREAKIN' ICE!!!! And all our Christmas shopping is done. Big holiday weekend this weekend. Saturday, Xmas Eve we spend at Mindy's Grandmother's house. I think there are 18 of us going. And it's a SMALL apartment for all those people. When THAT evening is over, I'll be closer to all of them. Literally! LOL.
Christmas Day is at our house and it's not that many people. Mindy and her Mom like to cook the dinner. I think we're having ham, potatos, brocolli and cheese, and of course my Mother-In-Law's famous Xmas cookies. I've already eaten 743 of them.

The winter cold is setting in in my chest and intestines. I'm NOT looking forward to getting sick. Simon had it last week, so did Mindy, so I knew it was only a matter of time. Cool thing is, I don't have to worry about missing work.

OK, that's enough for now. Believe me, now that I can get back into this blog, I'll be posting a lot more. For now, look how big the little man is getting. He's got 4.2 teeth, and had his first haircut the other day.


Merry Christmas!!!

Rock-N-Roll and Rock You Like a Hurricane

So this weekend was CHOCK full of interesting goings-on. First, I started it by seeing one of my favorite bands live at Penn's Peak in Jim Thorpe.......STYX!!!



This is the third time I've seen them live, and I'll tell, in my opinion, they keep getting better and better. The show was.......AWESOME!!!!! They STILL know how to rock and roll!!
Also, I was never at Penn's Peak before....wow....what a fantastic venue. Every seat in the place is great and the atmosphere is like an old cabin in the woods. And the views are amazing.
Oh yeah, Styx rocked btw. Ha.

Then Saturday was a day that involved Hurricane Irene information on Magic 93. Those 4 hours flew by while I was on the air. Followed by going home and making sure we had enough flashlights/batteries/candles/water/etc.
Sunday....THAR SHE BLOWS!!! Hurricane Irene came through our area with attitude! She knocked down trees, took out power, flooded roadways, and basically got everything.....well....wet.
It's now Monday morning after the storm, and my house still has no power. According to the electric company, it could be up to 4 days before power is restored.





The wind was so bad, our perfectly straight basketball hoop (cemented into the ground btw) isn't so straight anymore.

Oh well. Looks like we're going to have to take it down anyway. How do I even begin to do that?
So, yeah, no power in the house. No big deal. As my wife and I say, "it's an adventure". The only thing we were worried about, was the fact we couldn't flush the toliet. So we needed to get buckets of water somehow...somewhere to be able to flush. Well, for the first time in a long time, my laziness has paid off. I neglected to remove the drain plug from my boat.

THAT has worked to our advantage. It's full of water, so I just placed the bucket under the back of the boat, and turned on the bilge pump. Filled up the bucket in less than a minute and we're golden!
I still haven't looked in my basement. I'm afraid.
I'm on vacation this Wednesday through Monday, and I know what I'll be doing. Cleaning up branches, leaves, sticks, black walnuts that were projectiles during the storm and what-not. But not until after I see my FAVORITE band Wednesday night....

Yeah, I'm old. So what? :)

If you have issue because of Irene, I hope you're doing OK. I hope clean-up for you goes well.

Quick funny......this was on our vending machine here at the station over the weekend. Sometimes it's real fun to work here. :)