I realized today that it's been a month since my last post and what can I say? I just haven't been in the writing mood lately.

Actually, let me correct that. All of my writing has gone into class work and when I think about writing blog posts on top of that, I just can't bring myself to do it.

That's right. I said it. Class work. I decided to go back to school to get my MBA, so now I spend all my time on the University of Phoenix website reading, posting, and writing my papers for class. Let me tell you, turning in a paper every Monday sucks. And I've been doing it for 9 weeks now.

9 weeks. Whew. Has it been that long already? Let's see...my first class is done (I got an A, by the way) and my second class is half over. I have to admit, I can't wait for this class to be over. I'm in Human Resource Management right now and I'm hating it.

I can't decide if I hate it because I don't have much interest in human resource management, or because my instructor really sucks, or because this class seems like much harder to slog through than the last one. I'm thinking the answer is D...all of the above.

The great thing about this program is that I have to take a huge variety of classes that expose me to all sorts of areas where having my MBA will be useful. I'm looking forward to exploring all of my options. I'm semi-committed to the Marketing emphasis, but I can change it if something else really strikes my fancy. And I'm open to having my fancy struck. I'm open to discovering a new area of interest that might take me in a completely different direction.

Why marketing? Well, I was watching this girl try to do marketing for our region at work and she sucked. I remember thinking, at several different times "Man! I could do her job better than her and I don't even have a degree in marketing!!!" That got me to thinking that maybe I find her job more interesting than mine, so maybe I should do something about this not having a degree in marketing. I probably could have gone back to get another bachelor's degree, but I think Brandon said it best. What for? I already have a bachelor's degree. Who cares if it's in photojournalism instead of business or finance or some other related subject?

So here I am...enrolled in the online program through the University of Phoenix and I'll be done on February 12, 2011. That's less than 2 years. I have found that I really like this online thing. I have to post four days a week, but I'm usually online reading all the posts and replying to people almost everyday. I have discussion questions due every Thursday and Saturday and a paper due every Monday.

I don't mind the paper writing as long as the subject interests me. In this class, I hate the papers because I don't really care and that bothers me a little bit. I feel like I should care. I don't really want to go into human resources, but I may not always work for a company that has a human resources department. If that is the case, a lot of this information will come in handy, like interviewing, hiring, training and all that crap, but I right now I have a real "give a shit" problem. As in, I don't give a shit.

Just three more weeks and it's on to business law. Now that one, I can't wait for. That one should be interesting.

In the mean time, I'm not going to promise more frequent posts, but I will try to be better about it.

I ran over a skunk this morning. A dead skunk. That distinction is fairly important and if you know me, you know why. If it had been alive when I ran over it, I would probably still be in hysterics.

That's not the point though.

To really understand how horrible this was, let me start from the very beginning.

I started taking a new allergy medication that says it "may cause drowsiness". Ha! Its knocked me on my ass and I didn't wake up until Coworker called at 7:15 this morning. I was supposed to be there at 7:05. I yelled a few choice words, which woke Brandon up (Sorry Brandon!) and jumped out of bed. I threw some clothes on and threw my toothbrush, a travel tube of toothpaste, face soap, a towel, a comb and my headband in a bag, stopping long enough to make myself a cup of Chai, and ran out the door.

Now I'm driving to work behind this truck being driven by a guy I was certain was still drunk from last weekend. He was being a little erratic, so I didn't really think much of it when he swerved. I concentrated on staying in my lane and making sure he wasn't slamming on his breaks. Little did I realize, the swerve had a purpose. He swerved to miss a dead skunk in the road.

He missed it.

I was not so lucky.

I ran over the sucker and almost immediately could smell what I had just run over. I was gagging in the car, the smell was so bad. The car is still new, so I don't even have a trash bag in it yet. There I was, driving down the road thinking "Oh my GOD!!! The smell is going to make me vomit and then the car is going to smell like skunk AND vomit and I'm going to have to turn around and go change!"

I held it together, but now my car smells like skunk. I went and ran it through the car wash at lunch. When I went inside to pay for my car wash, the lady said "Honey, you know it's goin' to rain, right?" I nodded and told her that I certainly HOPED it rained...a good torrential downpour. That would help. I told her I ran over a dead skunk this morning and she burst out laughing. "Oh honey! I'm sorry. That's not funny...but it's so funny!"

Car wash didn't really help. The smell of skunk has formed a bubble around my car and I can't get rid of it.

After the car wash, I went to Target and bought some Fabreze made for cars and sprayed the hell out of the inside of my car. Sitting there in the parking lot, I took a deep breathe and thought "There! No skunk!"

When I left work today, I opened the door to my car and the smell almost knocked me over. No, not "new car". Not fabreze. Skunk. My car is now the skunk-mobile and I don't like it.

I've had Bean (that's the car's name) for three weeks and he already stinks. How is that fair?

I know. It's been a long time. And a lot has been going on. I promise I'll be posting again soon. I'll tell you all about going back to school and my new car and lots of other junk.

I've got a new project going on, for any who are interested.  Brandon and I started a new food blog at www.consciouslyeating.com.  It's about being aware of what foods you eat.  Mostly it's photos, recipes and reviews.  Check it out if you are interested...or don't if you're not.

That doesn't mean I won't be updating here still.  That one is all about food.  This one is just stuff.  I won't be giving up the stuff.  I will try to update more frequently here.  Promises, promises, right?

I let yesterday pass without comment here.  I was too busy watching the various celebrations on all the news networks.  We have a new president and I'm still speechless.

It was never a secret that I am an Obama supporter.  I know that not everyone agrees with me and I'm okay with that, just as I hope they are all okay with me not being in agreement with their views. 

No matter who you support, you can't deny the enormity of what happened yesterday.  I'm in awe.

Today, our government is going in a new direction.  A couple of the first things he did were necessary.  He reopened the whole Freedom of Information thing by telling everyone that he was on the side of those who seek information.  Good for him.  Maybe now there won't be so many secrets.  I think it will be years before all the secrets of the Bush administration come out and for years to come, we will be struck by the audacity of some of the things the Bush administration did.  By making the move to reopen records and information, I think Obama is stating that he has no secrets and will be up front about what he does.  Whether this sticks or not remains to be seen.  It's a good start though.

The other thing he did today involved lobbying.  He signed an order that said if any former lobbyist were hired to work in his administration, they would not be allowed to work with any project they had previously lobbied for and if anyone left his administration to become a lobbyist, they would not be allowed to lobby his administration.  It kind of makes sense from an ethical point of view, if you think about it.  It makes sure that there aren't any hidden agendas or unfair influences.  As before, whether this sticks or not remains to be seen.

In the mean time, I'm excited.  I'm positive that I won't always agree with Obama.  Hell, I didn't agree with him 100% during his campaign, but I'm excited about all the change and where I think we can go from here.

I'm really curious to see what he does about the economy.  No matter what he does, there is no quick fix.  This is going to be a huge test for him, but I think he's going to run into some opposition when things aren't fixed almost immediately.  Patience.  The fix isn't going to be easy or quick and I really believe that things are going to get worse before they get better.  I have read some experts saying that things won't really start to turn around until the end of 2009, but I wouldn't be surprised if it's really sometime next year.  We'll see.

So what's the message here?  I'm excited, but I'm cautious.  I'm not wearing rose colored glasses here, but I think the future is looking brighter.

I was off work this past Wednesday and doing what I like to do best when I'm off work...sleeping late.  I start to hear this quiet meowing.  Very quiet, but it doesn't sound like Big Kitty.  He's the one with the quiet meow. 

Then I feel this patting on my head...sort of a cross between a pat and a pet.  What the hell?

I wake up enough to realize it's Baby Girl and she's actually whispering.  Those of you who have met my lovely little girl kitty can attest to the fact that she has a VERY loud VERY obnoxious voice and she adores singing.  For some reason she's being quiet this morning.  This does not happen very often.

I roll over and look at the clock.  8 a.m.  I usually have to be at work by 8:30.  Sometimes I manage to sleep through the alarm and get up in a panic at 8:00 and rush around like a crazy person for the next twenty minutes trying to get ready for work.

Through my sleep fogged mind, I realized what was going on.  I'm usually up by now and Baby Girl is a little confused why I'm not up, but she's trying not to wake up Brandon and his deadly aim with the water-gun.  Good kitty.

I gave her some chin scritchies and whispered back to her "Shhh!  I don't have to go to work today, Baby Girl!  Go back to sleep!"

She looked at me and whispered "Mrrrow?" one more time, tucked her head back on her paws and we both went back to sleep.

She's such a sweet girl...sometimes.  When she's not be obnoxiously loud at six in the morning.  That's when I let Brandon deal with her. 

I hope you all had a fun and safe New Year's Eve!  We had a good time with only minimal hang over yesterday.  Darn that champagne!  It always gives me a headache the next day, no matter how much water I drink or if I take any Tylenol or not.  And the sad think is, I know it's going to do that, and I drink it anyway.  I'm kind of a moron sometimes.

Anyway, Brandon and I set some resolutions yesterday while we were out spending my end-of-the-year-oh-my-god-they-actually-gave-me-a-bonus bonus.  (New pots and pans and cooking utensils).  First and foremost was healthy eating and healthy cooking. 

We've actually been doing this for awhile now.  I gave up fried food when we got back from vacation in August.  Not all fried food...just most of it.  I allow myself tortilla chips when eaten with salsa and/or queso, fried pickles from Hooters, tempura and the occasional french fry from a real restaurant (not fast food).  We also started eating as much organic as we realistically can.  I say realistically, because we're not going to do totally crazy about it.  We still eat out a couple of nights a week, so not much organic eating there.  We eat organic at home, when we cook, which is most of the time and I can tell a difference.  I haven't had a serious Pfred outburst in weeks.

I don't really know if that's the healthy eating or if I'm just in a remission cycle, but I'm not going to question it.  I'm going to keep eating the good stuff.  Yes, it costs more, but I can deal with it.  Organic meats just taste better and look better and, (repeating myself here) I feel better.

Along with the healthy eating comes eating more veggies and fruit and cutting the meat portions down. 

That's the big one.  We have a few other minors ones, but the health stuff is the most important.  I think it helps that we've already been doing this stuff.  Now it's just taking the next step.

Pictures with Santa.  It's a Christmas tradition, right? 

Oh, wait.  That's supposed to be kids with Santa.  Most people take their kids down to the mall to have their pictures taken with Santa.  We did something similar.  We took our kids down to the local pet store and had their picture taken with Santa.  Our kids just happen to have four legs and furry bodies. 



That's Big Kitty on the left and Baby Girl on the right.  Note his utterly confused expression and how pissed off she looks.  They were actually very well behaved and didn't even beat the hell out of the dog that was trying to jump up and greet them.  I was impressed.  Oh, and they didn't even scratch Santa.  That's my babies.

Did you hear the announcement a few days ago?  We're officially in a recession. 

Really?  Wow!  I didn't know that.  I'm so glad you told me because I don't know how I would have ever figured that out.

The bank collapses, the failing mortgage market, the fall of the stock market, the rising unemployment rates.  None of these things would have ever given me even a hint that we were in a recession.

If you hadn't told me, I would have never known. 

Thanks.

No why don't you pull your head out of your ass and do something useful for a change?

Another NaBloPoMo has come and gone.  This is the last post for November 2008.  It's a relief and a disappointment as well.

I think I've said before that my posts this month have been less than inspired.  It seems like I have more going on in my life this time than I did at this time last year.  Actually it's not so much that there's more going on, but the stuff that's going on seems to take up more of my time.

We had another rude reminder of our mortality yesterday.  There seem to have been so many of them this year.  Brad's cousin died last week in a most distressing fashion.

Let me just state that I didn't know this cousin.  I've met some of Brad's family, but not nearly all.  His passing, however, was extremely distressing for Brad and Mandy both, and their distress rubs off on those around them.  He was around the same age as the rest of us and was out hunting when he had an accident.  I'm not going to go into the whole story, but I will say the accident did not involve guns. 

It was a freak accident and the type of thing to really make you take a step back and examine your own mortality.

I think I've probably told the story before of the girl I went to high school with that was murdered, along with her mom, when I was a senior.  It was something that was said at their funeral that comes to mind right now.  During the service, the preacher said "At 17, we think we're invincible and can't die.  And at 40 we're just too busy to die."

His words come rushing back, and I can still hear his voice saying them, even though it's been some years since I heard them.  I don't think you really have to be 40 to feel like you're too busy to die.  I feel it even now and I'm only 30. 

Maybe all of these reminders we've had this year are trying to tell me something that I should really listen to.  We're never too busy to die and we're never been or are ever going to be invincible.

I've always lived my life, to a certain extent, with the belief that you should have no regrets.  I don't regret anything I've ever done or any decision I've ever made.  I can think of some choices I've made that I wish I didn't have to make, but even now, I don't regret them.  That belief also leads me down some paths that others may not take.  Brandon and I have always lived by the rule that if you wait to do something until you can afford to do something, you are never going to do it.  We live poor a lot of the time because of that rule, but I think our lives are fuller because of it.  I've gotten to spend a lot of time with people that I love because of it.  By the same token, I've probably not spent enough time with other people that I love because of it.  Cruel choices must sometimes be made.

That's not to say that I can't do better or live my life fuller.  Too often I get wrapped up in the day to day routines and lose track of time in rather large chunks.  I think I need to stop doing that.  I feel like I have so much still to give and so much still to achieve and if I don't start now, you never know when I won't have the opportunity to do so.

Heavy thoughts for the last day of NaBloPoMo.  In a way I'm sorry that this wasn't a lighter post and in a way I'm sorry that I haven't posted more thoughtful posts throughout the month.

No regrets, though. 

Only one more day of posting. Yippee!

We've had so much poultry lately that Brandon and I felt like we were about to sprout feathers, so we're out at Saltgrass having a nice juicy steak. It was delicious. Between all the Thanksgiving dinners (work, home, and family), the cornish game hens Brandon cooked lasted night (delicious, by the way) and all the chicken we eat on a regular basis, it was time for nice piece of beef.

Today was wonderful. It was a little overcast and a little chilly...the perfect day to lay on the couch with the cats and read all day. And that is exactly what I did.

Oh. And I took two naps. Perfect day.

It's Friday night and I'm sitting at home.

And this is a good thing.

I'm really looking forward to a nice quiet weekend.  It seems like things have been a little crazy lately with our roomie being here and gone and back again and gone again.  And work.  And the holidays.  Not that the holidays are over yet, but that's one down and two to go (Christmas and New Years).  I need some quiet to recollect myself and get ready for the craziness to come.

Nathan is gone again and he won't be back until sometime late next year.  He's off to another training session and then to his parents for Christmas and then off to where ever they're sending him for most of next year.  I'm going to miss him, but I'm glad home is going to be normal for an extended period. 

We've already gotten a chunk of our Christmas shopping done and I'll be ordering a few things online in the next day or two.  Then we just have to shop for my brothers and we're done.  It's going to be nice to have all that out of the way early.  We started early this year to spread the cost over several paychecks so we can spend a little more than we would otherwise.  So far we've gotten some good stuff for people.

We're still debating where we're going to my time off in January, but that's okay.  There's no real pressing need to make a decision right now.  We're still going with the "best last minute deal" idea.  I'm kind of excited to know that we're going on vacation and we have no idea where.  We kick around ideas, but none of it has been really serious.  I put in for my time off today and we'll decide where in a few weeks.

Not much else going going on here and that's just the way I want this weekend to be.  No pressing need to be anywhere or do anything.  I think I'll put in a movie tonight and sleep late tomorrow and then we'll see where the day takes us.  It probably won't be out to any of those crazy stores.  I usually try to avoid them for the entire weekend after Thanksgiving.  People just get a little crazy and I don't need to be out with them.

Oh, and only two more days left of NaBloPoMo.  So far, so good.  I feel like I've been less inspired this year and it's been harder to write everyday, but I've made it so far. 

Well, I'm off to go lay on the couch and pet the cats.  Enjoy your Friday night.

I hope you all had a great day today!  We've already had one Thanksgiving meal and now we're putting the finishing touches on our second meal.  It's a little late, but it smells delicious and I can't wait to eat it.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!  I hope you enjoyed your turkey and football!  We're watching the Longhorns kick the crap out of the Aggies right now.  Hook 'em Horns!

We're on our way to Brandon's parents' house. We're spending the night there tonight and then going to his grandma's for Thanksgiving lunch tomorrow.

Traffic actually hasn't been that bad tonight. Brandon and I have an arrangement when it comes to driving to Houston for holidays. We know traffic is going to suck and I'm a little more patient with it than he is. I drive at least long enough to get us out of Austin and usually through the next major town and then he takes over. I drove a little further this time. We just switched.

I am so tired right now and was getting to the point that I wasn't seeing straight so we stopped for dinner and now he's driving.

I think I'll take a little nap now. If you have to be out on the roads tonight, be safe!

I just found out that half of our Thanksgiving is canceled.  My mom has a nasty cold and so we're not doing Thanksgiving at her house this year.

I'm pretty disappointed.  Thanksgiving is one of my favorite times.  Good food and good company.  I like getting together with my family and all the food is just bonus.  Have I ever mentioned that my mom is a fabulous cook?  Man!  The spread that she lays out at Thanksgiving is amazing.  I guess I'll just have to wait until we reschedule.

The other bad thing is that my oldest brother is moving to New Jersey and this is the last time I was going to see him before he leaves.  I don't see him often anymore and I was looking forward to seeing him on Thursday.  I'm not sure when I'm going to get to see him now.  I'm going to have to see if he's driving or flying.  If he's driving, maybe he can make a stop off and see us on the way.  Probably not, but I'll ask anyway.

I'm kind of excited for him to be moving to New Jersey.  My nephew lives with his mom in Maine, so they will be closer now.  And I'm glad he's getting a new start.  He doesn't always make the best choices and I think getting a new start could really help him.  I'm going to miss him though.

Anyway, Thursday still promises to be a bit of a busy day.  We're still going to go to Brandon's family Thanksgiving.  And we're still going to have to drive back on Thursday night so I can go to work on Friday morning, but at least we won't be on the road at midnight. 

I stayed up way to late last night and got up way too early. When I got to work this morning ay 7:45, I discovered that I was supposed to open this morning. I should have been there at 7:05 instead. At least we Usually open at 7:30 so we only opened about fifteen minutes late. In the words of Homer Simpson, Doh!

So I started off the way well. The rest of the day was pretty busy and was capped off with another trip to Big Lots with New Teller. He finally got the futon, so we loaded it into the back of my truck and I helped him haul it up three flights of stairs and then helped him put it together. Fun! It's a good thing that I put together most of our "assembly required" furniture. I'm kind of handy with it now. It didn't take long for the futon to be ready to go.

Anyway, I apologize that this post sucks. I'm exhausted and after not getting enough sleep last night, I'm going to bed! Good night all!

I spent the day shopping with New Teller.  He just moved here and just got his first apartment.  Since he's been crashing on his buddy's couch, he doesn't have the apartment necessities...like a couch or a bed or chairs or dishes or anything.  So today we spent the day at IKEA, WalMart, Target, and Big Lots looking for all the essentials. 

I offered to take him around since he's new in town and doesn't know where anything is.  We had a pretty good day.  I actually really enjoyed hanging out with him.  Perhaps I'll have to invite him over for dinner one night.  We'll see.  He's an interesting guy.

Have I ever mentioned that I love IKEA?  This store has everything and no matter what your price range, you can find something that fits the bill.  Brandon and I bought our very first brand new couch there.  It was only $100 and it was actually quite comfortable...for the first couple of years.  Towards the end, the thing was one of the most uncomfortable things you ever sat on.  Our latest couch also came from IKEA and it's pretty awesome...very comfortable and very cat friendly.  The cusions are really wide, so they are perfect for kitty napping.  As a matter of fact, Big Kitty is sleeping on the top of one of the cusions right next to my head even as I type this.

It's kind of funny how every piece of furniture we buy these days is bought with the cats in mind.  When we were shopping for the couch, every single one we tried out, we would say "Well, it's comfortable, but where are the cats going to sleep on it?  How easy is it going to be to clean the cat hair off of it?  Are they going to be able to shred it?"  And when we were looking at bed frames and headboards, we bought one with the cats comfort in mind.  I think I've already mentioned it's about a foot wide so they have a perfect place to sleep at night.  Strangely enough, they only sleep on the headboard at night.  I don't think I've ever seen one of them sleeping on it during the day. 

It's just like buying furniture when you have kids in the house.  I remember my dad telling me about shopping for a new couch when my baby brother and sister where still kids.  He told me he picked the one he did because it was close to the same color as the dirt around his house, so it would hide the stains from the kids.  Made sense to me.  Now I shop for furniture in much the same way, but my kids are furry, have four legs and a tail, and they meow when they want something.

I don't even buy bed covers without thinking about the cats.  Will the shred it to pieces in no time flat?  How hard is it going to be to clean up when Sir Barfs-A-Lot or Lady McBarfy coughs up a hairball on it?  Is it so soft that Big Kitty will make it his new girlfriend (that's a whole other story)?  Will it hide the fur that Baby Girl sheds in mass quantity?  How is she not bald, by the way?  The amount of fur that comes off of her is amazing.

See?  I don't need kids.  I have cats.

It was decided a few days ago that we needed to have a happy hour with everyone at work, so last night we all went to Sherlock's to have a few drinks and blow off some steam.  We needed it.  It's been a long few weeks and the next couple of weeks promise to be busy as well.

Almost everyone had a little much to drink and really cut loose.  It was pretty funny.  I've never seen most of the drunk before and the things that come out of their mouths were pretty funny.

I don't know what they were talking about, but I was talking with our new teller when I heard one of the guys tell another one "After I kill you, I'm going to rape your girlfriend!"  Like I said, I have no idea what they were talking about, but it was a very strange point to enter a conversation.  Shortly after that, they decided it might be fun to see if they could make each other pass out from some kind of wrestling hold. 

Let me remind you, they were drunk.  So, the one guy who is quite a bit bigger stands up with our much smaller guy teller and gets him in this hold and they start to struggle--one to keep him in the hold, and the other to get out of it.  The smaller guy passed out.  I heard him trying to say that he was about to pass out, but it was loud and they were both drunk and I don't think the other guy heard him.  It was actually kind of funny.

So then we're all sitting at this table outside and Little Teller is telling a story and gesturing wildly while telling it.  He's sitting next to me with a beer in front of him.  His gestures got bigger and bigger until he knocked the glass of beer over.  Unfortunately, my purse was sitting on the ground next to my chair and the entire contents of his beer spilled into my purse.  Now everything in it smells like beer.  Isn't that wonderful?  Good thing I needed to switch purses anyway, but I don't know how I'm going to get the smell of beer out of all the stuff like checkbooks and my wallet. 

We had been at the bar earlier and everyone had tabs, but while we were outside, Big Teller decided he needed another beer and ordered one from the waitress, not realizing that he couldn't just put it on his tab.  Did I mention he was drunk?  He was confused about this and I don't think he had any money on him, so he tells her "I'm Latin Man!  Does that mean anything?"

Well, of course it doesn't mean anything to her, but everyone else at the table collapsed in laughter.  They get quite bored in the drive through and draw funny pictures and call each other names.  In one of these pictures that was drawn, the Artist Teller drew him in a superhero costume and called him Latin Man, so it's a big joke that he's the superhero Latin Man.  The poor waitress had no idea what he was talking about.  I paid for his beer because he just couldn't get past this idea that he couldn't just put it on his tab.

Not long after that, most of the guys started to disperse.  Latin Man had to get to his second job and the rest of them were just ready to go home.  It was kind of early and I needed to stay for a little longer so the effects of the couple of drinks I had could wear off.  I was about ready to leave when former CT showed up.  She was the one I plotted Happy Hour with, but she's always late if she even shows up.  She has an excuse though.  She has a baby and a real jackass of a baby daddy.  I won't call him her boyfriend, because he's not.  He's only around because she doesn't want to deprive her little girl of her father and he takes gross advantage of that emotion.

We talked for awhile and talked with a guy who used to work at our branch and has moved up and out to another branch.  Former Coworker disappeared and left his phone at the table teller us "I'm going to take a piss and I'll be right back!"  After about 20 minutes I went and closed my tab and Former CT and I were ready to leave, but Former Coworker was no where to be found, so we went looking for him.

Did I mention he was drunk?  We found him at the bar taking another shot with some other friends.  He tried to persuade us to stay and take another shot.  When we both told him we needed to leave, he launched into a diatribe about how she can never go out and have fun anymore because of baby daddy, which lead into how horrible he is and how bad he treats.  How he was going to get a bunch of people together and beat baby daddy's ass because he doesn't deserve her and she doesn't deserve to be treated that way.  I can't disagree with him on that point, but she has her reasons for letting him stick around. 

In the course of this discussion about how he was going to teach this guy a lesson and how he was going to do it he says "I'm dirty!  I'll take you to ground and bash your head until you bleed!  Because I'm dirty.  I'm a dirty man!  I'm a grown ass dirty man!"  We couldn't help but to laugh.  It was just so ludicrous.

That's alcohol for you.  It was an entertaining night and as far as I know everyone got home okay.  New Teller was sober, so he was going to get them all home in one piece and I think they all made it to work on time this morning.  Thank goodness I didn't have to work today!  It's not that I got crazy drunk or anything.  I had a couple of drinks with them, but nothing crazy.  I just didn't want to have to go to work today! 

Every year we get 20 days of "paid time off" to do with what we please.  To keep people from accruing too much, we can only roll five days over to the new year.  I only took 15 days this year, so I've got 25 days for next year.  That's five whole weeks of vacation time.  Yippee!   There are a few stipulations.  Only five days can be used for sick time and you have to take five consecutive days at sometime during the year.

No problem.  I take two weeks every summer to go to San Diego, so I get my consecutive days off out of the way right there. 

I was told my management that I have to take some time off in January since I'm rolling time over to next year.  Brandon and I have been discussing where to go for my time in January.  We've thought about taking a cruise.  Or going to New Orleans since we haven't been there since Hurricane Katrina.  Or maybe to San Francisco to see my family there.  Or Las Vegas.  Or who knows. 

We've finally decided what to do.  They always run these really great last minute deals on all the travel websites, so we're going to pick the time that I'll put in to have off and wait until after Christmas.  Then we'll find the best deal we can for the time I put in for and that's where we're going.  Who knows where we'll end up.  Could be New York or Las Vegas or Chicago or San Francisco or a cruise or New Orleans.  Could be anywhere.  I'm actually pretty excited about the thought of taking a semi-spontaneous vacation.

We know the when, we just don't know the where.  I'll keep you posted when we finally decide where we are going.

Have you heard the news?  Guns N Roses is actually going to release the album "Chinese Democracy" in two days.  In March the good folks over at Dr. Pepper made a statement that they would give every person in America a free Dr. Pepper if Axl Rose actually released the album in 2008.  Given that he's been working on this album since...what?  1994?  Wow.  Way to stay relevant Axl!

Actually, that's not really fair.  I haven't heard the album, so I have no idea what it's all about.  I won't lie.  I'm going to check it out.  I was a big Guns N Roses fan back in the day.  Still love their stuff.  It just seems to me like he should have left well enough alone.  It's not Guns N Roses without Slash and Izzy and Duff and Steven.  Axl Rose did not define Guns N Roses all by himself.

Anyway, back to the point.  Dr. Pepper is going to make good on their promise.  They're giving away a free Dr. Pepper to everyone who goes to their website.  This is from Yahoo!

LOS ANGELES – Dr Pepper is making good on its promise of free soda now that the release of Guns N' Roses' "Chinese Democracy" is a reality. The soft-drink maker said in March that it would give a free soda to everyone in America if the album dropped in 2008. "Chinese Democracy," infamously delayed since recording began in 1994, goes on sale Sunday.

"We never thought this day would come," Tony Jacobs, Dr Pepper's vice president of marketing, said in a statement. "But now that it's here, all we can say is: The Dr Pepper's on us."

Beginning Sunday at 12:01 a.m., coupons for a free 20-ounce soda will be available for 24 hours on Dr Pepper's Web site. They'll be honored until Feb. 28.

Dr Pepper is owned by Dr Pepper Snapple Group, Inc.

So, get your free Dr. Pepper at their website.  www.drpepper.com