Plans for the Weekend

I did nothing productive tonight except clearing out some memory on my TiVo by catching up on Heroes! The season has improved.

I'm really feeling the urge to purge! I stopped by an open house last Sunday after church because I've been gettin' the itch to buy a house. I chatted with the owner/seller for about an hour and during the course of the hour, we talked about living a simpler life. She said she listened to a book on CD where the guy (Wayne Dyer maybe?) said that you only use about 20% of your stuff. It's true. I was already feeling the need to purge the closets and shelves, but even more so now!!

The plan is to clear out some space in my drawers and be ruthless about the game closet. Some of them have never even been opened, especially the old "American" style ones. Those are definitely going to the Goodwill so I can free up some precious shelf space! I'll probably do that while I'm waiting for the cable guy to show up. Yes, you heard correctly. By 4 PM tomorrow afternoon, I will have clear television reception! Yea! I have plans to hang out with Travis tomorrow night, though I'm not sure yet what we'll be doing.

Sunday morning is church (oh, that requires a post!) with Shane and then maybe some band practice? I need to email my bandmates to see if they're free... For a weekend that I tried NOT to plan, I haven't been very successful. At least I have all day tomorrow at home!

Other to do items I need to squeeze into this weekend:

• Birthday gift for my nephew
• Make Christmas list
• Decide about Christmas cards
• Bake cookies
• Buy shelves for my kitchen pantry
  

Man, I better get to bed!

Work Update

My company was purchased by another company yesterday. They bought us and two other companies in the Southern California area. I think it will be a good change for me. The good news for me is that they want me to be in charge of the accounting for the three companies, which would be a promotion for me. The upside potential is unknown at this point. They gave me a decent raise in my salary, but it's not as much as I thought it would be, but is it ever?? Additionally, it looks like I'll probably switch out of the current bonus pool for all employees at my current company and participate in one for the management of the corporation. My new boss said the "new" bonus pool will pay me more than I'm getting now in the general bonus pool. The other perks I have are staying the same.

Making a lot of money is great, but I have a pretty rich life outside of work and I really don't want to feel like I'm sacrificing that just for more money. For me, life is about more than money. I have no problem working hard. I just don't want to be stuck at the office for 50-60 hours a week and driving all over Southern California and being so exhausted from work that I can't enjoy my real life. If it's for short bursts, fine. But if it was consistently like that, I'd have to look elsewhere. The good news is that I have been working with a woman who works for another company owned by the same corporation and she really likes the corporation and my/our boss. She also seems very together and is a great worker. I enjoyed the last couple days she was in the office. So the signs are good that I will like working for them. But since it's an unknown, I've been considering all possibilities.

The big question is what the change in my workload and responsibilities will be. That can only be really assessed over the next few months. So my plan is to see how the next 90 days go and go from there.

Changes at Work

I seldom talk about work on my blog. Mainly because it's a pretty low-stress, good place to work and I get paid well. I have worked here since 1995. It used to be privately owned until the owners decided to sell it to an investment group in 2004. The sale of the company didn't bring about any changes. However, there are some changes brewing that may bring about real change. BIG change. I don't know whether that will be good or bad for me, but all signs indicate that they will be good. I think the new owners will be a good fit for the company and I am thankful for that. I'll post more details once I find out what they are!

It's been very comforting to know that if they're bad, I can always leave and find another job. Thankfully, since I don't live paycheck-to-paycheck, I have the freedom to have options. If I had to, I could take my time finding a different job. I doubt I'd have any trouble landing a new job, but I realize that it's been a long time since I've looked for a job and the job market is tough. I know more than a few people who were out of work for over six months!! That said, I'm certainly not looking to jump ship because I genuinely like my company and my co-workers.

I should have a much better idea of what the general plan is by the end of the week. Until then...

Werewolf T-shirt

If it's not a Guitar Hero or B-52's t-shirt, I usually don't pay much attention... but how can I pass up *this* shirt? It's so darn cute and offered by Game Ink!! Pre-orders are due by 11/30!!



They offer free shipping if you order 3 or more shirts... Who's in? There's also a very cute "That's How I Roll" t-shirt and "Your Place or Mine?"

eHarmony Date #8.2

We met at the golf course to hit some balls at the driving range and on the putting green. I could get really good at golf if I put in the effort. I can definitely see why people enjoy it. We made a bet on the putting green which cost him a beer.

We went to dinner and the food was fine. At the start of dinner, I brought up a topic that had come up during our first date and really kinda stuck with me. It's too long to go into here, but I asked him more about it and the additional information he gave me didn't really help me feel any better about what he had done. He asked me out for a third date and I said that I'd think about it. After further thought last night, I think the answer is "no." So I'll be sending him an email to let him know.

Snippets of the conversation I had with him needs to be put in a completely different post called "The Top 5 Reasons You Should Be Judgmental." It certainly has been an active topic of conversation lately!

Sunday Plans

I'm up earlier than I'd like to be considering I went to bed pretty late last night. I'm going to finally go visit a nearby church that I've been meaning to go to for a year! Finding a church can be tough! Making the TIME to find a church has been tough. I really need to try to get less busy. I say that every few months and then I get busier and busier and then feel overwhelmed. I need to do a better job managing that. I will have to if some changes happen at work. More on that if it actually happens. Hopefully I'll know this week.

I also have a second date with eHarmony guy #8 today. To be honest, I am just so-so looking forward to it. I probably shouldn't have found this annoying, but I did. I'm playing games on Friday and he texts me around 5 PM to ask what I'm doing at the moment and later that night. Answer to both questions? "Playing games." Then he asks me out for a movie that night. I was like, "I can't, I'm BUSY." I guess most non-gamers might find it odd that I'd be gaming instead of going out to do "normal" stuff, but I was annoyed because I clearly said I was doing something that night. If I was free, I would've said so. I think most women know that if they wanna go out with a guy, when he asks, "What are you doing tonight?" You indicate that you're free. Not a big deal, but still kinda annoying.

I'm trying to keep an open mind though, so I'll go. But if I'm not feelin' it by the end of this date, I think I'm done.

Rock Band Tryouts

It's been out for less than a week and already my eyeballs feel like they're going to fall out. We had band practice all day and even band tryouts because we had more than four people who want to be in the band. We're still testing everyone's skillz to see who's going to make the cut. Travis is trying out Monday night! Tryouts in Glendale!

Rock Band is awesome!

Everyone knows how much I love Guitar Hero, right? Well, I think I might be a Rock Band convert. And here's why...

1. Rock Band has an awesome song list, mostly done by original artists.
2. The drums are so much fun!! And challenging in a whole new way.
3. The way the crowd sings along!
4. You can make your very own customized rocker.
5. The "photo" action shots of band members as they go on stage right before a gig!

My downstairs neighbor's mom is in town and she called me around 11:30 AM to ask me to turn down the music. It's the middle of the day! And it wasn't that loud. Next time I might not turn it down. Later they called (and I had the TV turned down) and they said, "The music's fine, but can you be careful about the foot banging..." because someone was playing the drums.

Some of the guys can be a bit energetic while playing. Man, I really need to just bite the bullet and buy a house.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! I am pretty much ready for dinner now. The turkey is picked up and ready to be cooked, butter is softening, cranberry dishes are made and everything is cut and ready for stuffing and squash casserole!

Now I just need to make a list of the stuff I'm thankful for. The #1 thing would have to be my friends. More than anything else, life would be meaningless without them.

Have a great day! Enjoy the time you have with your friends and family. Time is the most precious commodity we have. Use it wisely!

Rock Band

My package of Rock Band from Amazon.com is "Out for Delivery"! It should be here any moment... Ah, no plans on Saturday means plenty of Rock Band! Who's with me?