Hey everybody. I'm sitting here at work with a little less than an hour left between me and the weekend. I must say I really need this one. Every now and again the downpresser man decides he's not annoying me enough and decides to really heap it on thick. Today was just such a day. He usually picks Fridays because at the end of the week he suddenly realizes that he only has a few more hours to pester and annoy me before I go home to my loving wife and enjoy yet another fantastic weekend. Everything I've learned over the past little while indicates to me the fact that the boss man wishes he had friends, so when he sees the other workers and I chatting and generally enjoying the camaraderie of the moment, he gets jealous because he doesn't have that. He also doesn't have a lovely wife to go home to. If I had to guess, I'd guess that his home life is far from satisfying.
Over the last little while I've been trying to humanize the boss man in hopes that when I leave this place in my rear view mirror, I'll be able to forgive him for every mean, nasty, or evil thing he's ever done to me. I don't want to haul that baggage around forever, and I would toss it right now if only he wasn't adding to the size and weight of the aforementioned baggage on a daily basis.
So how's that, eh? I start out the post with total vagueness. Anyway, I would have started this post a lot earlier in the day had I not come across a fantastic photo blog. I was searching through the uniwatch blog (where they fanatic about every last detail of sports uniforms) and they had a link to another blog which has high resolution scans made from old timey photo negatives. Some of them are really impressive. Take a look over at http://www.shorpy.com/ if you want to see the sorts of pictures I was looking at for two solid hours. If you click on the "view full size" links for the photos, you can see them in all their high-definition glory. They have all sorts of stuff there. They have pictures of spectators on a hillside for one of the early civil war battles, they have pictures of Japanese Americans being transported to the relocation camps in the 1940s, and lots and lots of other interesting pictures. I feel like these pictures give a pretty good view of what the world was like 80 or more years ago. It's definitely worth a look-see.
So Megan still hasn't heard back from that job she interviewed with over a week ago, so we're assuming that call won't come. She's been really good at keeping busy and taking on freelance work and finding ways to bring in a little extra cash so we can keep our heads above water. We're still hoping and praying that she'll be able to get a new job soon.
As for me, I can't say that I've been looking too hard for a new job. I feel more strongly than ever the need to leave this place and go work somewhere normal where you aren't punished for having ambition or doing the right thing (I can tell you stories about both being punished for having ambition and being punished for doing the right thing. Actually, scratch that. I can think of several stories in support of both statements). I desperately want to work in a better place, but it's hard to start looking when this job is what pays the bills these days. But don't think for a moment that I won't hit the job market like a tonne of feathers when Megan is working again and we've built up our savings a little.
These days we seem to do a lot of hoping, wishing, and praying (as well as an awful lot of window shopping). The bad economy seems to be affecting a lot of people these days, and Megan and I are a far sight better than a lot of people out there. So I guess we can't wallow in despair too much. We've got to move upward and onward.
Anyway, it's now Monday. I thought I actually finished this thing and got it up before the weekend, but I guess not. I don't think I was quite done saying what I was going to say, but I'd wager I lost my train of thought over the weekend, so I'll just post this thing as-is. Enjoy.