Stop trying to hit me and hit me!

Hello friends,

I've been grappling with the idea lately of just doing. Not thinking, doing.

I have a tendency, ok, more like habit, ok, disease where I over think and over analyze things when I have time to think. When it comes to snap decisions, I'm a rock star, but when there is time for the thought or idea to marinate in my brain, I let doubt creep in take root.

Since I was laid off in February, I wondered what would be next on my job path. Sure, I have a small business, but I'm not seeing enough clients to make that a full time deal, yet.

I sent out several resumes to tech postings looking for IT work, be it setting up computers in an office or doing lower level networking. I had a couple of interviews, but nothing materialized.

My friend Curtis mention to me that the company he works for was looking for "data monkeys." Basically, learn the web-based software they use to display their products online for quotation purposes.

I was skeptical; I'm not a web guy, I'm a hardware guy. Curtis told me to throw my name in the hat and just try it.

We, that being two other guys and myself, were given a week's training in Downtown Milwaukee at the software company's headquarters, and after that we are at the New Berlin location of the company I am temping for. We were provided with laptops and a room of our own to work in.

Initially, it was very tense, as we were trying to learn the software AND learn the products we were going to be modeling. After the second week, I had serious doubts about my ability to do the job.

I let doubt creep in and poison my thought process: the cycle wasn't "How can I accomplish this", it was "can I do this".

One day, Ben, one of the other two guys, was working on his product line and was a bit stumped. I asked him to flesh out his process to me so I could help him see any gaps. When we finished, he says "OH! That's it!!".

To which I replied "Stop trying to hit me and hit me", refering to the fight scene in The Matrix where Neo is fighting Morpheus, and Morpheus is trying to convince Neo that Neo can indeed, hit Morpheus.

Ben's a friend of mine and we were roommates for a year, so he looks at me and sticks his tongue out at me.

what I learned from that, in helping Ben, was that I needed to stop worrying about IF I could do it, and JUST DO IT.

Friday, before the holiday weekend, Ben and I met with the Product Manager for our product lines we are working on, to show him what the online configurator would look like. He was very pleased with what we showed him.

After that meeting, I felt so much better about my ability to learn what I'm doing in a new situation and carry on and do my best with what I've been given.

Life goes on...

The move is complete. We now live in Brookfield, closer to everything we do, except Holly's job.

We're both fighting sickness: Holly has some sort of cough from hell that comes in fits and those fits last up to 10 minutes at a crack. I am suffering with my yearly bought of bronchitis, which brought a sore throat with it this time.

Our puppy, Lumos, is cute. Chewing on everything because he's teething, but cute. Whiny when he needs to pee, but that's better than peeing on the floor inside...and he's cute. Pics to come.

Life goes on....

An excellent weekend

I had an excellent weekend...

Saturday was my wife's birthday, so we were up to get her to her hair appointment. Holly wanted to try something different with her hair, so she cut it short and very cute.

While Holly was getting her hair done, I was taking care of a computer client; seems the fan on the video card was failing and making a grinding sound. WD-40 didn't take care of it, so I headed to the local parts store to get a new card. The store opened 10 minutes late for whatever reason, but I had time to pass one of my business cards to someone else who was waiting in line to get in. ;)

Pick Holly up at the salon, compliment her new look, and head to Gurnee for lunch with her folks, sister and brother-in-law at the Olive Garden. We were early and had time to kill, so we drove around a bit.

After lunch, Holly's sister Katie wanted to take Holly shopping, so we headed off to the JC Penny in Vernon Hills. The girls went shopping, while Jon (brother-in-law) and I cruised the mall looking for power tools and flat screen TVs...hello Sears.

After Katie was done spending money on Holly, we headed home. Holly let me watch the Nascar race while she showed me the new tops she had gotten. After the race, it was bedtime.

Sunday we up early so we could be to church by 8:30...Holly to help lead worship and I to watch the kids of the one of the other worship leaders. After church, we had lunch with some friends, then made our way to Slinger Superspeedway for the season opener. Now, before you get mad at me for making Holly go to the races on her birthday weekend, SHE bought the tickets...I had asked if it would be ok if we went.

At Slinger, we sat with our friends Pete and Cindy down in turn 1. The racing was close and the weather was perfect...both Holly and I got a little too much sun.

We took the scenic route home, and just vegged out once we got in the door.

No rush, no hurry, just a relaxing weekend.

trying to remember ....

The days have started to bleed together, and I had to ask Holly for some details.

Monday, Holly and I went down to Chicago to goof off, and Monday was the only day we didn't have something going on either of our calendars. We went to the Adler planetarium, took photos of Wrigley and Soldier Fields, and got to eat at one of our favorite restaurants, Leona's, and got to hang out with our friend Laura :)

Thursday, I had a Twitter social event in Milwaukee. I had the chance to meet up with some new folks I hadn't yet met face to face, as well as find new people to stalk on Twitter.

Friday, we had dinner at some friends' and played Wii til our arms fell off...I want a Wii...

Saturday, we headed up to Appleton for the semi-annual check on Holly's ring. Why Appleton? It's one of the two closest Helzberg Diamond stores; the other is in Gurnee, and we had been to that one already. We had lunch at the Fox River Mall, then came home. Holly drove home because I was having a hard time focusing; I fell asleep. We were home a couple of hours, then headed to catch "How To Catch a Dragon" in Delafield. Very cute, go see it. After the movie, we grabbed a bite to eat at George Webb's in Oconomowoc before heading home.

Holly didn't sleep so well Saturday night, so we stayed home from church and just vegged out. My race was on at noon, and we followed that up with a disc of Battlestar Galactica. We've pretty much morphed into our couch at this point.

Catching up on things

Sorry I haven't been around much lately....seems like I have alot on my mind.

The job search continues; I've had a couple of interviews, but nothing yet. Business, however, has been good. I'm hoping the business takes off and I can stop looking for a job, but until then, we go with the two-pronged attack.

Holly's wrist surgery went well. She DOES NOT like being left handed while her right hand is all bandaged up. She's also not cleared to drive yet, so anywhere she goes, I go. The stitches come out on Friday, so we'll see what happens there.

My sister-in-law Katie is in the hospital. If you're on Facebook, you may already have an idea what's going on....that's all I'll offer from here.

Hand and Foot

The job search continues; I've had a couple of nibbles, but nothing concrete yet. The business has been pretty good, and I'm hoping that trend continues.

Holly went in for carpal tunnel surgery this morning; we were up at 4:30 to be to the hospital at 5:30. She was wheeled off to surgery just after 7:30 and was home by 10:30. After a bite to eat, she took a nap. I fell asleep on the couch as well.

This afternoon has been all about movies and taking care of Holly.

One month later....

It's been a month.

Funny how little time it takes my body to adjust from 5:30am wake up calls to 8 am sounding early. Holly's very good abut making sure I'm up before she leaves for work.


The trick has been keeping my time occupied during the day. Sure, I spend a decent chunk of time looking for work, but after a few days, the same jobs I've already applied for drift to the top.

I did have a staffing agency call me today for a short term project; I meet with them tomorrow to get to know each other...we'll see where it goes.

Holly and I have been looking at apartments closer to Milwaukee. The only thing we have here in Oconomowoc is her job, and all of our friends live in or near Milwaukee, so she's ok with driving. We've got a few places in mind to check out.

In a couple of weeks, Holly has wrist surgery, which means she be out of work for six weeks. I'm hoping to have found something before that time, since she goes on disability, which combined with my unemployment could make things very tight. We've been watching our money very carefully in the last month, and we're ahead of where we thought we'd be, which is great.

Waking up in Vegas

FRIDAY


Friday arrived and Holly and I were both anxious to get on the plane to Vegas. Trouble is, she had to work; her job does not allow her to take off or get out of work early on the last day of the month and so we prepared for that.

However, things worked out just fine: she WAS able to get done early due to low volume of work. I picked her up at 3:50 and we made our way to the airport.

We both haven't flown under the increased security, so we wanted to make sure we gave ourselves plenty of time to get through security and make our flight. The security wasn't all that bad really and we were at the gate by 5:30 for our 6:50 flight. We checked in for our flight, only to find that Southwest overbooked the plane. I received my confirmation, but Holly didn't. Great.

As the time to board grew closer, we considered taking the offer of free one-way tickets the next morning and a voucher to volunteer to bump from the flight. Fortunately for us, we didn't have to as they called Holly's name for her confirmation while the "A" group was boarding. The flight was full; not an empty seat.

Holly boarded about 13 spots before I did, and as things go, we didn't get to sit together; at least we were on the plane!

The flight itself wasn't bad; at night it's tough to tell where you are, although the pilot pointed out Denver before we flew over the Rockies. We had some turbulence, but nothing too bad.

We deplaned and waited for our bag to come out on the conveyor, then went to grab a taxi back to the airport. The vistors and cabs both are slotted to allow for an efficient loading process and we were hotel bound in 15 minutes.

We got to the hotel, checked in and were headed to the room when we were offered a "free" show. Upon further review, we were getting slotted into a presentation for a time share here in Vegas...more on that later.

Get to the room, set the bags down and just get our bearings; it was almost midnight back home and we felt it. I was hungry, so we headed back downstairs to grab a bite to eat.

SATURDAY

Woke up Saturday with the agenda to walk around a bit and play some games in the casino. Had breakfast at McDonald's in the hotel, then walked from Excalibur down to Bellagio and back, taking pictures all the way down. We had hoped to see the fountains at Bellagio, but were an hour too early, so we made our way back to the Excalibur to relax in our room. Holly laid down for a nap and I headed downstairs to watch the Nationwide race and have a beer.

After Holly's nap, we took in the casino. We played the slots, Holly having better luck than I did. I wandered off and found the race in one of the bars while Holly headed back to the room when she was done gambling.

We vegged out in the room for a bit, then headed out to see the Strip at night. We went to the Hard Rock for a light dinner since it was my birthday :) Took pictures of the guitars and other memorabilia on display. After that, we came back to the hotel and crashed.

SUNDAY - RACEDAY

Up at 7:30 to walk over to Tropicana to get the shuttle bus passes to the racetrack. Came back and grabbed breakfast for Holly and I on the way up to the room.

Wait in line for the shuttle bus, then take a 45 minute ride from the Tropicana to the track. We were allowed to cut through Nellis Air Force Base and got to see some birds pretty close up. If I knew which ones I would tell you.

Get to the track and off the bus. First stop: scanner booth. Rented a scanner and then we made our way to our seats. We were dropped off behind turn 2 and we had to walk to turn 4...the long way...uphill to the front stretch...but we survived.

We had FANTASTIC seats and could see the whole track from where we were. The sun was bright and the weather was perfect! I fetched a couple sodas and other snacks for each of us. I love the pageantry before a race: the driver introductions, the prayer for a safe race and the command to start the engines...nothing's more fun than Holly and I sharing it with 140,000 of new friends :)

We saw the "major" incident of the race in front of us on lap 90, but otherwise it was a clean race.

After the race, we made our way back to the line for the shuttle bus. Someone didn't relay the message that the race was over, and we wait over 2 hours for a shuttle bus...kinda ridiculous, but made it back intact, making conversation with the Canucks in line behind us while waiting.

When we got back to the room, we were spent, sun burnt a bit and hungry. Neither one of us wanted to go anywhere, so we ordered room service for dinner. I ordered a chef salad and Holly a chicken quesadilla, with cheesecake for desert...we were told it would 90 minutes to 2 hours for the food...and we were fine with that.

Food arrived only an hour later and was wheeled in. The salad was in a 12 inch salad bowl and was huge. Holly's quesadilla was in a hot serving tray....everything tasted great!! I destroyed my salad and finish the quesadilla...Holly commented that she's never seen me eat so much in one sitting :P After that...bedtime

MONDAY

We slept in on Monday...didn't bother to set an alarm. We grabbed breakfast at the hotel buffet; stuffed ourselves silly on scrambled eggs, sasuage and biscuits and gravy.

Once we were done with breakfast, we took another stroll down the Strip. Holly wanted to re-visit the store she bought a purse at on Saturday night for some other accessories, so we headed there. She found a very nice necklace that she like more than the other half dozen things she wanted :P

We came back to the room to rest and I started writing this entry. We then hit the casino floor one more time, trying in vain to break even...yeah, like that was gonna happen.

After the casino, we returned to the room for a while before heading to In-N-Out for a burger..first time!!! Loved it!!

One more stop by the room, then we walked down to see the Bellagio fountain show; we stayed for 3 different shows and loved them all.

We returned to the hotel, stopped by the convenience store for some snacks, then retired to our room so that we could get up at 4:30am to catch our 7 am flight home.

We will be back!!

In case you didn't figured it out, the title of this entry is also a link to the Facebook page with the pictures from our trip :P

Week 1 of being unemployed

So, I've now been unemployed for a week.

It still sucks.

I've applied for 14 jobs via job websites and thru references from friends.

I'm trying to be up and to "work" by 8am, that is, showered, dressed, fed and to my desk looking for a job. I have lunch around 11 or so.

I can't shake the weird feeling of being laid off, which is good I suppose; I don't want to get complacent.

My wife continues to being my biggest cheerleader and for that I am grateful.

Where do I go from here?

I lost my job today.

1:20 in the afternoon.

Turned in my keys and was walked out the door.

Why? The economy...if no one's building, no one's wiring, and that means parts aren't being sold.

Made some phone calls on my way home, first to my wife, then to the guys I've worked with at the store level for the last couple years. All the guys were shocked, to say the least.

Called my parents to let then know.

Filed for unemployment online.

I've never been let go from a job before, so it's all still sinking in.

Holly and I will talk through some things tonight, and Monday will feel really weird.

Where to from here?

Night and Day

Holly and I have been married six months now; we're still making adjustments as far as living together.

I commented last night that I think that a one spouse is a compliment to the other; some people get a spouse who is just like them, others get a spouse who is the complete opposite.

Holly and I fall into the opposite category.

Don't get me wrong, the opposite thing works out great for both of us. There are times I need motivation to do task oriented things that my ADD mind can't/won't track with; Holly sometimes needs positive encouragement, like after having a rough day at work.

Point is, I love my wife, and I can't imagine being married to anyone else...it just doesn't work.

Night of the Braindead Teenage Twits

Holly and I went on a date last night...be a while since we had done that. We decided to do dinner and a movie.

We went to see Sherlock Holmes in Delafield...yes, you need to go see it.

We got there early and grabbed a snack and a soda before the movie to hold us until dinner. When the theater was available, we made our way in and chose our seats.

At some point before the movie started, 8 teens made their way into the theater and began looking for seats. Fortunately, Holly and I were the winners of the "lets pick who to annoy" challenge.

They took up seats behind us and immediately started talking...actually, continued talking whatever they were talking about as they walked into the theater.

I looked at Holly and rolled my eyes. We didn't drop $19 to listen to these skinny jean wearing, bubble gum popping morons ruin the movie for us. Holly picked up on my cue and after another preview filled with chatter from behind, turned to the group and said "you guys aren't going to talk through the whole movie, are you?"

That shut them up. One of them answered meekly "no." We thanked them and glanced at each other and smiled. Then the movie started.

Why did I let Holly say something instead of me? She tends to be softer about it than I am. :)

2009 in Review

All the cool kids are doing year end lists, so why not me too??

The first six months of the year are hard to recall, honestly. I'm sure something good happened, but I can't remember >.<


In June I moved to Oconomowoc to be close to my job. I managed a branch location for an electrical distributor based in Brookfield.

In August, I married the most wonderful woman in the world; she keeps me in check and loves me in spite of my flaws. We honeymooned in the North Woods of Wisconsin; it's been almost 5 months and she hasn't killed me yet, although I'm sure she's entertained the thought.

After being home from the honeymoon for a week, I found out I was being moved from my store back to Brookfield, thus negating several plans Holly and I had. We were able to get a second car, as I needed a car to travel to cover the other branch locations once again. I was upset at first, but have accepted the role I've been given and am thankful to have a job.

Holly was working two jobs prior to our wedding; the first week of September, she was told that the morning job was closing. She was given two weeks extra pay, but we were wondering what God had in store for us. We evaluated and adjusted out budget and discovered that we would be alright financially, we just wouldn't save as much.

Third week of September, Holly is asked if she wants to go full time at Aurora Health Care, the afternoon part time job. She said yes, and began driving to Hartland in the mornings to be an administrative assistant, then driving back to Oconomowoc to do her afternoon data entry duties. We were grateful for the change.

Holly and I have learned how to hit the curveballs that life throws at us. We have also learned not to overreact and look at the situation calmly.

In December, Holly was diagnosed with carpal tunnel syndrome in her right wrist. The first doctor made the diagnosis and recommended surgery right away. We sought a second opinion from an orthopedic surgeon who said the surgery could wait a few months, and that allowed us to carry out our vacation plans to go to Las Vegas at the end of February for the Nascar race that Holly bought us tickets for...it's my Christmas and Birthday all in one!

I love my wife and I continue to try to be a better husband to her. I make her comfort food when she has a rough day; I warm her when she's cold; I open doors for her; I hold her hand while we watch TV; I fix her computer when it breaks...there is nothing I won't do for my wife.

Merry Christmas to you, and may 2010 be a Blessed year for you.

this made me chuckle

Limited only by money

So, the trip to Las Vegas trip Holly and I have been planning may not happen. Holly went to the doctor yesterday to have her wrist checked out and we find out she has moderately severe carpal tunnel syndrome in her right wrist.

We've already got the race tickets, and the hotel booked, and were waiting for a credit card cycle to get the plane tickets.

Holly's concern is that she'll be on short term disability for the 6 week recovery time, making only 60% of her pay and that will make things tight financially.

I'm not concerned; if we have to cancel the trip, yes, I'll be bummed since the trip is my Christmas present, but my greater concern is for that of my wife and her health. We can always go to Vegas later; we can always re-sell the tickets.

Holly's disappointed that I won't get a present from her if we don't go; I'm still getting her present for her regardless.

The more important thing for me is that we get her wrist corrected; Vegas can wait.

Gobble Gobble

Hello Dear Reader,

I hope your Thanksgiving was wonderful and tasty.

First stop on the Turkey Train was my inlaws in Illinois. Jon doesn't do turkey so much, so we had mastacholli for dinner. We had pie and cake after the Packer game was over. We then proceeded to watch Star Trek before the parents headed out.

Three more stops on the Turkey Train. More stories to come.

100 days!!

So, Holly and I have survived one hundred days of being married. :P

Here's what I have learned:

I snore...loudly. I've taken steps to correct that.

I tend to leave my towel somewhere other than it's bar after a shower. I've taken steps to correct that.

I hit the snooze button too many times. I've taken steps to correct that.

I've learned to wipe down the bathroom sink when I'm done using it.

I've learned that Holly tends to sprawl in her sleep.

She also steals the covers sometimes.

I am the slayer of insects, replacer of soap, remover of trash and head of IT in my home. I also make a mean chicken breast.

We've both learned how to hit curveballs. My job changed roles a week after we got home from the honeymoon, Holly's morning part time job closed, then she got full time at Aurora. We've overcome some money issues, and have started watching every penny with Quicken.

I do my best not to be selfish. Holly wasn't feeling well this weekend, so I did the laundry, asking her about her clothes to make sure I didn't destroy them. All turned out well. I also like making her my chicken as it's become one of her comfort foods.

I'm used to wearing my wedding band, and have gotten many compliments on how cool it looks.

Despite being opposite personalities socially, we make it work. Sometimes, I go out solo, and text Holly updates, although I'm still learning to be more diligent about it.

Our wedding was paid off when we paid the September credit card bill.

My wife enjoys buying big gifts for me, like race tickets in Las Vegas the weekend of my birthday.

I can tell when she wants something, like candy, as she'll snuggle up next to me and throw me the puppy dog eyes. Yeah, there's NO WAY for me to not give in.

She has introduced me to new music, and TV show's I'm not used to watching but now enjoy.

She has me eating out less, and eating better at home, and I love her for it.

I've found one of the most satisfying feelings in the world is being next to my wife, with my arm around her, and it's just us...just us.

God has been faithful and because of His part in our lives, we work together. There have been moments of disagreement, followed by anger and some hurt, but after a time, we come back together, give and receive forgiveness and carry on.

I love my wife.

Today was a good day

Today was a good day.

Holly and I had church this morning, and today was Missionfest. We do Missionfest once a year as a way of focusing on those we support both financially and prayerfully who are out in the mission field, whether abroad or at home.

We heard a good sermon on Luke 10:46-52, about how Bartimaeus had his sight restored to him by Jesus, and what he had to do to be there with Jesus.

After church, we skipped out on the potluck and made our way to Miller Park, because Holly surprised me with Brewer's tickets!! We grabbed a couple hot dogs and sodas and settled in for the game. Too bad the Brewers lost, but I was just happy to be there.

After the game, we headed over to Holly's folks for dinner and some catching up. We took the DVDs with our wedding photos with us to show.

We caught a break in the weather, with the heavy rain stopping, to make our way home.

We're both tired from our very full day, but today was a good day. I love Holly so much, and today was a great day to spend together.

I'm enjoying what evenings entail at home: dinner, usually a movie and time with my wife. We're still putting away gifts and acquiring more stuff we need, but for the most part, we've got a nice little groove.

As far as my job, two weeks ago I was re-assigned to the main office from the branch location I was managing, with the job of being the swing man again. Being Swing means that I get to travel to any store where the guy managing (or the sidekick) needs time off. I like the variety and I do well at it; that's why I was brought back to be the Swing. The hard part this time is that I no longer live central to all the stores, but farther west, near the Oconomowoc store I was managing. All that means is that I need to be up sooner to hit Grafton, West Bend or Oak Creek. I get mileage for anything over my normal commute to Brookfield, so it's not too bad. Some nights on the way home, I hit a mess of traffic, like today after the Brewer's game, but I'm thankful that I'm still working right now.

We're still getting used to sleeping next to each other. Both of us wake up in the night and adjust, and I'm sure Beloved wakes up at my snoring, but I think overall, we're doing ok. We take turns cooking and doing the dishes and just enjoy spending time together.

I'm liking this :)

an outside perspective on our wedding

Our friend Diane offered her take on the wedding proceddings.

Thanks Diane :)