Down On Ferry Farm

I went to see Adam Sandler's latest offering this evening. A large part of me wants to tell you the secret to the movie -- a larger part of me wants you to experience this movie for yourself. I will tell you this: there was such a dichotomy in the audience I don't really know what to say. On one hand you had the people who left about halfway through the picture. I counted about 10 -- that's a large number of people to leave the theater and not come back. It's the first time in a very long time I've seen that. I mean, I've seen people NOT show up for a movie but rarely do you see people walk out. On the other hand, it is the first movie I've seen in years where the audience applauded at the end of the film. Not the embarrassed clapping people do when someone starts and they feel compelled to follow. No, this was the "this picture deserves applause" clamoring that I don't recall being a part of in a decade. It used to be that when the film was ov

Well, once again technology has kicked me in the shins. I did this nice long post about my vacation and the new job and -- poof -- it disappeared like a fart in the wind. Let me try and recap the action: Vacation : as you recall, I was going to a family reunion. One of my mother's sisters drove down, picked us up, and drove the entire way. It was about 1000 miles each way. Let's just say we won't be driving THAT trip again. We blew into town on Friday and didn't do much but acclimate ourselves. My mom and her sister did a little growing up in this small town so we did some site-seeing of their old stomping grounds. Saturday we ended up at one of the cousin's houses for a pool party. We ended up not getting in the pool because it was raining with lightning in the air. The house we were at was beautiful so we just sat around swapping stories about relatives (I didn't have any to share so I just listened to the tales of people I barely know -- it was okay). We were

I can honestly say that I am now "between jobs". Today was my last day at the current job. I'm going to a family reunion for a week and then starting the new job when I return. There is a huge weight off my shoulders. The lack of tension in my life is palpable (you could cut it with a butter knife). I like this feeling but it's a little scary looking ahead at the unknown. You're talking about someone who is not big in the "confidence" department. I'd like to think that I was pretty confident in my interviews but I suppose I'll never know. I keep thinking that the new company is going to call and say that something is out of whack and the job offer is rescinded. That would suck. That would suck a lot! In other news, I'm addicted to the Falling Sand game. They call it a 'game' but I see it as more of an activity. You be the judge. You'll hear from me in a week -- no sooner.

I went to a local festival today. They've had the party for 30 years now. I say "you've seen one -- you've seen them all". Nothing seemed to have changed since I was there last. There are a bunch of vendors trying to sell their wares and a lot of food places selling food for too much money. You can also see a lot of scantily clad high-school girls, boats in water, cover bands, and strollers (!). There were people drinking beer and every other kind of humanity. There was nothing spectacular or hilarious that happened -- unfortunately. So why did I go? Earlier in the week I got a call from a woman that used to work for the same company I do (don't worry, she's married -- it's not that kind of a story). She was shocked that I was leaving my position for another one. Anyhow, she told me that she and her husband were heading to this HarborFest. One thing you have to understand: she and her husband have a boat. I was thinking we were going to sit on their bo

I finally finished reading this book Superman gave to me. It’s called “The Know-It-All – One Man’s Humble Quest to Become the Smartest Person in the World”. The author, A.J. Jacobs, spends a year reading all volumes of the Encyclopedia Britannica so each chapter is a different letter of the alphabet. He then weaves his own life and sensibilities into the words he’s learning all about. I like the way each word was a short read. Sometimes they’d be a few short words and some of them were a few pages long, but each was filled with his wry sense of humor. Part of the book dealt with he and his wife trying to get pregnant. Another part dealt with religious exploration and yet another was all about his quest to get on Who Wants To Be A Millionaire (hint: he makes it on to the show). I don’t know what it is about reading and me – we just don’t get along. It seems that every time I read something that’s longer than a paragraph my mind starts to wander. I start thinking about something else I c

That's what it's all about for people like me: stability. I could never be one of those people that swing from job-to-job or live in their cars because they're confident of their abilities to pull off their lives. Why? Because I'm not confident about my abilities. I'm working on it and I'm better than I was a few years ago. I think that looking for and getting a new job is proof of that. A few years ago I would have folded like a cheap suit. In fact, I did that very thing. I had interviewed for a job, gotten the job and then passed on it. I'm glad I did because I heard that the division of the company let most of the new hires go and is in serious disarray. I tried to do everything in my power to make sure this new company was stable. I also like the fact that they seem to think about things the way that I do. Sometimes you may ask something like "why don't you just ---?" and their answer was always "we did". I hope that continues but

Well, my boss finally came through and let everyone know I was leaving. There was shock. There were tears. I had a lot of people saying that the company would basically fall apart without me. I highly doubt that. The company I'm going to work for is 'drug free' -- which means I had to go take a urine test. I'm not very good at tests and I didn't have a chance to study. I still think I aced it. I was a little nervous that I couldn't, uh... 'perform' when my name was called but I did okay. Okay, so the company got their e-mail that I was leaving so I went ahead and let my family know what was going on. Got an 'attaboy' note from my sister. My parents were pleasantly surprised and asked me 'what took so long?' I have to tell you, for some reason when I was driving back from the clinic I felt like a million bucks. I felt bullet-proof. The funny thing is: I don't know why. Want to hear the most encouraging words? L-girl says the only good