A Different Drum

Hi gang!

I bet you thought I'd gone away, didn't you.

Nope, still here. Moved. Not Unpacked. Hoping to finish up most of it tomorrow. 

Anyway, the reason I'm here is because I had a brush with greatness...or at least filthy richness today. 

I'm at Sears today, and I'm flat out busy. Store inventory is this comming Wednesday. Most of my staff is gone. One guy got injured on the job. My high schooler took off for the weekend because he graduated Friday night. The other guy is next to useless and the store manager wants to fire him. Oh wait, that leaves....me. Me, myself, and I. 

Anyway, back to my story. So I'm hauling out a pallet of batteries to restock the floor, and the Manager is fawning over these two guys in business suits. So I look over at Andy in Lawn and Garden and say "Hey, Andy, who are the suits?"

"I think the tall black guy is the owner."

"The owner of the plaza?"

"The owner of the store...you know...Sears."

Well $h!t. 

The owner of the whole freakin company was in our store today. Our piddley little rump-store. Who've thought? I guess, accoring to people who actually got to talk with him. (Andy), he spends his weekends visiting Sears and Kmart stores around the country. Must not be married.

Anyway, wanted to share. 

Back to unpacking!

Good evening ladies and gentlemen,

I am pleased to announce that Sara and I have a place to live next year. It's campus housing, it's much more expensive but we won't be out on the street.

In other news, I'm seriously considering leaving Sears. The whole place feels like a rapidly sinking ship. It's a bad sign when two Asistant Store Managers leave in the same week. There are changes in the works, and I'm no longer having fun at work. Before, I was having fun. But now, I dread going to work. There's a lot of pressure on the Leads to somehow turn the employee situation around. My old manager, Frank, was made to sign a paper saying that he'd hire two new people by the 15th or he'd get written up. That's absurd. Like it's his fault no one's applying. If they come to me with something like that, I really don't know what I'll do. It's totally unethical, really. I feel bad, because I've only been in the Lead position for less than a month, but the fact is, the place is really going downhill in a rush.

I'm considering Borders...anyone ever work there? Hear anything about how they treat their employees?

I'm still waiting to hear back from Plymouth High School, but I expect that will be sometime in the next three business days. If I get the Plymouth gig, I might just go find summer work at a golf course. Obviously, if I don't get a teaching job, I'm going to need to be employed through the fall...hence Borders.

It's been a stressful couple of weeks, obviously. I haven't been sleeping well, which has contributed to my stress level. Uncertainty in our housing wasn't helping either. Maybe things will clear up, I don't know. I just feel really tired. Worn down. Burned out. All of the above. Hopefully, things will get better.

Babies galore, lately. Our friends Jon and Angela had a daughter, Sabrina over the weekend and  aggiebell90and  wamfofhad Birddogette today. Congrats to all!

(I want one...in a hypothetical sort of way. Our lives are way too stressed right now to even consider the real thing.) 

(And the Red Sox win! And the Red Sox win! 2 of 3 from the damnyankees.)

Well, it’s been a long time since I updated. Here’s a brief summary: I’m really busy.

Sears goes well, I guess. I’m still doing computer training, which is about as exciting as watching cement cure. (Not the quick dry stuff, either, the real, slow cure McCoy). I’ll be finished soon, though, and then I can get out on the floor and get to the real stuff. I’m still really nervous about how I’ll do as a salesman. They really push those “consumer protection plans,” which I like to think of as selling snake oil. Who wants to oil a snake anyway? But I digress. I haven’t got a set schedule yet, but it will likely include weekends. We’ll see how it goes.

Teaching…substituting remains blah. I’ve got some security in the sense that Mascoma Valley will take me every day, but that’s for mainly SPED work, which I find really frustrating. The other downside is that Mascoma isn’t going to have any Social Studies openings this year, so I’m getting popular in the wrong place. I really need a job next year. I can’t do this another year, I’ll go nuts. One bright note, I got my NH license in the mail the other day. Yah! I’m licensed to teach! Have books, will travel.

Speaking of next year, Sara and I are having housing issues. I think I may have mentioned that Dartmouth is tearing down our building at the close of this school year. Well, the new buildings that are going to be available for us to move into are twice the monthly rent. We’re not sure we can afford that, so we’ve been looking into other options. I’d REALLY like to buy a house/condo, because mortgage payments would be cheaper than rent, in many cases. But we probably wouldn’t be able to get a loan if I don’t have a full time teaching job. It’s like a vicious circle.

I’m really slacking of my online life. I haven’t responded to my reviews on PS yet, and I haven’t posted on the message boards in ages. I feel so detached. I’m getting ready to put up a new batch of pictures on Two Roads, which is about the only online productive thing I’ve done lately. Sara and I are going to try to submit to the PS Valentines Day challenge. I’ve started the next chapter of Redefining, and I’m tinkering with Summer in MacPherson’s Valley again. I really want to finish that last, because then I can publish it and be a multimillionaire and devote all my time to writing.

I haven’t had time to transfer the registration on the car yet. Dad’s after me to do that. Had to drive to Salem on Monday to straighten around an issue with Sara’s cell phone. It zapped out for unknown reasons. That was a pain in the proverbial neck. Getting Sara’s name changed is an endless process. Assuming all the rights, duties, and responsibilities of married life is a harder process than one might think. Sometimes, it still feels like we’re only playing.

Other than the above mentioned “bummer” things, married life goes well. I enjoy coming home to Sara, even if it isn’t until 9 pm on nights I work at Sears. I realize of course, all things are relative, and that some people have it a lot worse, so I’m counting my blessings.

Till the next time, my dear friends.