August 2007

It’s about time for me to start shopping for the holidays in the next couple of weeks. In addition to Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Years both of my girls have birthdays as do I. Immediately after Christmas my son and wife have birthdays. Thus the fact that I am in the poor house five months of the year and only a pauper the other seven. I’m going to do the same thing I did last year and use Coupon Chief for most of these purchases, at least the ones online. I have posted about Coupon Chief before and how useful they are. They have up to date coupons and great deals along with excellent customer support. Want some examples of the coupons I found today?

You’re getting them anyway.

Normally when I go over there it’s looking for computer supplies and deals but I am probably not going to be getting any type of PC equipment for people this year so I went looking at some of the ‘normal’ stuff.

Target has some pretty good deals at Coupon Chief right now such as $5 off any purchase $50 or more, free shipping when you have more than $25 in shoes and free shipping on orders over $50 in Womens. Not too bad. I hate getting clothes for Christmas or birthdays myself. I consider myself a better judge of what I want to wear than you are for some reason, but clothes are a great gift for my girls. They love them. Thus the fact that I will end up doing some of my shopping at Target. Now if you want to spend a couple hundred bucks and buy me a new leather jacket I might reconsider my opinion of you giving me clothes but that’s about it.

Another store, and one that will be good for the wife is the Home Depot. Believe it or not, I want to get the wife and myself some new tools and a new chainsaw. Some tile for the bathroom would be cool too. Coupon Chief has several good deals for Home Depot such as a $250 Home Depot gift card with the purchase of select appliances, free delivery and haul away on appliances $299 and more, and there is an online clearance event going on right now with deals from 20%-50% off.

You get the gist of it. Use Coupon Chief when you are shopping online = save money. Don’t use coupon chief = flush it down the toilet why dontcha!

I haven’t been whining as much about work lately as I used to for some really simple reasons. My Area People Director (the head HR honcho in my area) is online and found me via LinkedIn. If he found me there I know he can find me on MySpace, where he does have an account, and that will eventually lead here. I don’t particularly care if they see what I am posting and am not particularly afraid of losing my job over it, particularly since I don’t use company names and generally don’t use anyone from work’s name other than calling them whiny assholes on occasion.

Oh, gotta stop that…

Anyway, I am more worried that they will see that I am making money on the side basically as a second job than them seeing I write about work on occasion. They are very controlling like that. As management we aren’t “allowed” to work second jobs. Period.

So I will probably keep bitching but I am going to try and start using more generic terms so as to keep myself out of hot water…

I felt the need from manly things…

things…

boobs…

guns…

maybe a bit of whiskey…

…and not necessarily in that order.

As much as I hate it this morning because I seem to be in a posting mood, I have to get going and get ready for work. I have meetings this afternoon but hopefully it won’t be such a long day as some of mine last week were. Provided he gets out of bed on time my relief manager is cooking today so at least I will have a semi-easy day.

I think maybe I will take the camera with me today and see if I can get some good stuff. Not likely being at work, but you never know…

The wife has to go back to work pretty shortly. Not sure if she is ready or not. Normally by this time of the year she is ready to get the hell away from our children and get back in front of everyone else’s. There is a difference you know. Kids will always act differently in front of others than they do with their own parents.

It’s time for me to hit the sack so I am going to go ahead and put this up a bit early.

A little something for you to wake up to…

(more…)

If you have seen any of the Wednesday Hero posts around the net you know that it is strictly a non-partisan deal. These guys are true heroes to all of us regardless of political differences. I am going to tray and start participating in Wednesday Hero on a regular basis now.

This Weeks Soldier Was Suggested By Cynthia

Master Sgt. Michael Wert (Left)
35 years old from Saginaw, Michigan
2nd Marine Aircraft Wing
May 5, 2007

Master Sgt. Michael Wert, an intelligence chief for the 2nd Marine Aircraft Wing at Cherry Point in Havelock, N.C., was vacationing on an early May weekend with his family at the beach when he saw two boys struggling in the surf.
His wife, Debbie, said her husband rushed into the water to help while she went to call 911. Their daughter, Katrina, grabbed a boogie board and followed Wert into the water. She managed to help the boys onto the board, but didn’t see her dad with them. One of the boys told her that he (Wert) had to let them go and had died.
The rescue team found Wert, brought him to shore and tried to revive him. As they worked, strangers prayed with the family and comforted the Wert children.
Wert was six days shy of celebrating his 36th birthday.
Wert joined the Marines in 1989 after graduating from Alma High School, in Saginaw, MI, where he was a cross-country runner. He served in Operation Desert Storm and supported Operation Iraqi Freedom.
As the 2nd Marine Aircraft Wing intelligence chief, he gracefully accepted the role as the go-to guy for his Marines. He was the one who helped his major’s son build a pinewood derby car while the officer was deployed. He knew when babies were born in the command. He kept up with birthdays and anniversaries. He was the first to greet Marines getting off the plane after a tour in Iraq. “He was always there to help,” Lt. Col. William Conley, commander of Marine Wing Headquarters Squadron 2 said at a memorial service for Wert. “Master Sergeant Wert responded to the need for help. As always, he didn’t hesitate — he went to help. He tragically lost his own life in doing so.”
“I admired him for his commitment to service and the Marine Corps,” said Col. Kathy Tate. “We know he was a hero every day.”

The meeting went fairly well this morning I thought. The guy didn’t quit although he looked like he wanted to punch me in the face. Oh well, shit happens. Maybe he will start getting everything done now and make us both some money. That would be the ideal situation. Otherwise someone else can take his place.

With staying up late and getting up pretty early I lay down to take a nap when the wife and older daughter left the house this morning and had planned to sleep for about an hour. They woke me up when they came in three hours later. I really had not planned on sleeping that long. I did get up several times because my other daughter was there, but I don’t like leaving her to run around the house that long with minimal supervision. I guess I was pretty beat. The job is getting a little easier but it’s still whipping my ass physically because of the amount of hours I am putting in.

I still have to empty my closet out at some point this evening, maybe right after dinner. I also want to cut the grass, although it seemed like the wife wanted to handle that herself.