Louisville

    Louisville is a great place to be. That is, unless you happen to want to go somewhere other than where you are. I hate that place. People who live there have nicknames for the stop lights. They call them LLL's. Long Louisville Lights. There is one near Courtney's new apartment. It is so bad that I now do one of two things. I either turn down the street before the light because it is faster going through the neighboring business complex than waiting for the light, or I go through the light. I am not worried about getting pulled over for doing it. Everyone runs red lights in that city. If you pull away from a light as soon as it turns green, you will be hit by the last two people that just couldn't wait. The police don't care. I was sitting at this same five minute light when a van blew through going the other way right in front of a cop. The cop waited for his light to change, then turned out the other way and went on his way.
    I have never seen a Louisville cop do anything. I did see one sitting in the very back corner of a deserted parking lot. They must save their energy for when the rowdy parts of town start shooting everything that looks at them funny.
    The people who drive in Louisville do not understand many things that are common in the rest of the world. Courtesy for example is completely absent from the roadways. I think most drivers are terrible, but these people are the worst. The surface streets are just as bad. Random lane changing is rampant, some people drive way under the limit, others are going twenty over. There is no rhyme or reason. I am not joking either. In one day I encountered a driver who was going 30 in a 45 and someone who was going at least 60 in a 45. People are idiots. I'm out.

Party Hard

    This weekend I did something that I have not done in a very long time. I was up until 3AM two nights in a row. I am so darn tired. I guess that is what happens when you have people over who want to have a good time. We only had two people over all weekend, but our place can't handle much more than that. We are having a party one person at a time. Friday our friend Laura came over. Ryan pestered her enough that she actually showed up. She has been flaking out on me since we graduated, so I was not holding my breath. She came through. We tried to find a liquor store. There is a college a mile away and there are apparently no liquor stores. So we went to walgreens and got some beer. I found a ten at the checkout and was a good person and went to the parking lot and found the lady who dropped it. The Universe owes me big. Just waiting for what goes around to come back around. We had a good time. Played one on two beer pong. Gave Laura a nice welt. Watched Wilfred. Felt terrible the next morning.
    The next day, Ryan's friend Jenn came up from Cinci. I have met this girl several times over the years. I lived two floors above her freshman year at Miami. I also had a conversation with her at a party a few months ago. She asked me where I went to college. Luckily, we had plenty of time to catch up over beers, Irish Car Bombs, (half way to St. Patties Day!) and maybe this time some of the information will stick. It was a really fun time and I felt great this morning! I got up, went to church, which took forever, went to the pool and read for a while, got sunburned on half of my body because it is the middle of September and I was not thinking about the sun, then lazed around the rest of the day. Now I think it is bed time so I am not useless at work tomorrow.

It has been two weeks since my last posts? This month is flying by. It will be Christmas in no time!

Golf

    I am taking up golf. Not surprisingly this idea amusement has been a growing interest since I moved to a place with a golf course view. It does not help that I can't afford to play a round on this course. Golf is a very expensive game. There are green fees to play, clubs to buy, driving range fees for practice, all the booze you have to drink to not quit outright after five holes, the hits just keep coming. One of the guys I work with gave me some old clubs that hit the ball well enough and there is a driving range down the street that is reasonable. Now I just need to find a course that I can play for free complete with an open bar and I will be set.
    I have yet to play an actual hole of golf with my new clubs. When I got them, he just gave the whole bag he used. It had become a repository for all of the clubs he had laying around. I took twenty one clubs out of the bag and I still have enough in it to fill all of my needs. Anyone want some used clubs? I'll give em to you cheap. Anyway, I am not sure how well it is going to go when I finally get out there. I have gone to the driving range a couple times and the results are mixed. I am pretty good with the irons. Off the rubber tees I can hit them pretty straight and am consistent enough with the distances. The drivers are another story. Occasionally I can put a good hit on the ball with them, but most of the time it is going all over the place. The thing that really worries me is this: at the end of my session I went over to the area with grass tee boxes and tried to hit a few with an iron. The farthest one went about ten feet. This will not be good if I can't drive off the tee and can't hit an iron when the ball is on the ground. Guess that is what the booze is for.

"Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose, sometimes it rains."

Dreams

    I should write a post about all of the things I like about my new place. That might be kind of an interesting post. Instead I am going to tell you about the dream I had last night. Well at least the part I remember. So it started out that we were hanging out in this enormous tree house. For some reason it was made of yellow legos. I am pretty sure there was some crazy happenings that went on that got us in the tree house, but the details are vague. No sense in rambling on about that. While we (I don't remember who "we" was. Probably some of my siblings or maybe Courtney.) were in the Lego tree house, my mom and dad came driving up to the tree in a mini-van. They sped up as they got closer and hit one of the roots and rolled the van. It broke into a bunch of pieces because it was also made of Legos. They got out unharmed and started scavenging parts off of the ruined van to sell or something. Remarkably, that was not the highlight of the dream. Also, while I was up in the treehouse a bear tried to get in. So I fought it. I must have seen it coming, because as it lunged through the opening in the wall (you know, like lego houses have, just kind of a large retangle hole, no door or window) I blindsided it and kicked it into the wall. There was quite a bit of wrestling that followed. It came at me a few times and each time I side-stepped the attack and threw it off. At one point, after I checked it into the wall pretty hard, there was a bloody spot left from where its head hit. I don't recall the ultimate ending to the dream, but I was clearly winning. Sort of like how I am clearly winning the awesome dream contest. Thanks for playing.

Moving On Up

    I am getting out of this place for good. I am moving out of this horrible place and taking up residence on a golf course. My view is going from crappy cars and the obese smokers they belong to to the lovely expanses of the 18th green of the Beavercreek Country Club. If I had a truck I would move tonight. Sadly, I will have to wait until Saturday. I have all of the headache inducing details figured out. All of the utilities are going to be turned off at the right time, the new lease is already signed. The new place has pool furniture! And attractive people! I am a little concerned by the placement of a telescope in one of the clubhouse windows that faces the pool. Not sure what all that is about. I am a little worried about getting my couch out of my current place and into the new one. It is the only thing that I have gotten since moving here that will not fit in a normal vehicle. It should not be too much of a problem though. As long as someone shows up to help me move... Like I said, I am moving in like two days, but I have not really packed anything. I am starting to think this might be a problem potentially. Eh, I'll pack tomorrow. Or Friday.

    Hope the Tigers start winning more soon. I finally get a means to watch them and they start being terrible again.

"You can 'bring home the bacon'!"

Swing And A Miss

    I am really starting to wonder when I am going to start making the best choices in my life. I figure after a while I will get lucky and something will go completely well right? Still waiting on when that might be. I mentioned the housing debacle in my last post. That is still a debacle and will continue to be so until I am completely free of this place. At that point, I am sure a fresh batch of should-haves will come into view. The latest frustration comes in the form of a raise. Yes, I am aware that raises should not be frustrating. Well this one is. Once again, I thought maybe they would give me a nice bump and get me on track toward my earning goals. My sights were set quite lofty indeed. I was hoping for a couple bucks an hour. In six months I went from knowing nothing to being the big fish in the office. I do not think it is unreasonable to think that this would garner a decent increase in compensation. Turns out it only gets you the usual. I am now making fifty four cents an hour more. Or I will be once it goes through. I will be getting another 3% increase in another six months. That would be nice if I was not started out almost 10% below the MINIMUM I wanted to start at. I keep getting the same lines when they tell me what I will be getting. "This is the most we give anyone." "You started out higher than most." Well guess what, I am more educated and naturally smarter than everyone else here. I damn well better be making more than the slaps you hire from the employment office! What really gets me is that I probably could have been making more. When I was thinking about things this afternoon I was reminded of a job that I missed by one spot. That job started out at 40k/yr and increased to 50k/yr by the end of the first year. For all those of you who are math challenged, that is a 25% increase. This employer called me a few weeks after I started at Konecranes to tell me that the guy they did hire did not work out and to see if I could come back in for another interview. I turned the offer down thinking I would be getting a nice increase when I was hired on full time. WRONG! Next year at this time, if they don't wise up, I will be looking for new employment. With two years experience in a challenging project management setting, I will be a shoe-in for fifty K base at any company that actually values keeping driven, talented people.  

"It's called a lance, helloooo"

I Want My Money

I am trying to sell a vehicle. If you know anyone who wants a cheap truck that needs a little work, let me know. It has been getting a lot of interest so far, but no one has made an offer yet. I am likely to take the first offer that is made. I might be a little impatient about it. It has only been in the yard for like a week.
I could use that influx of cash. I could also use the raise that I have been promised. A few weeks ago the other guy who did the same job as me got demoted. This meant that I got all his work, which was all messed up because he was doing such a poor job he lost his job. I am hoping for big increases though, so I guess I can wait a few more days. Still, it is tough when the workload doubles and the frustration triples and there is nothing positive gained. Other than the respect of my superiors.
The reason I could use some extra money is that I am moving. I am breaking a lease and the property rental place are being eyeholes about the whole thing. Trying to change how the lease reads and things like that. They must think they are dealing with the usual fools who rent with them. Should be an interesting few weeks then.

"Pudge controls the weather."