The joys of the job seeker.

Alright, so today I went to the Illinois Department of Employment Security (IDES) and retrieved my user name and password so I could update my employment profile and start getting down to really searching for a new job. While there I check out the current local job postings and pick up application information.

When I get home, log on to the IDES website, update the sight with the last 3 years worth of information. I hit Search for jobs.... only one match pops up, security officer. You have got to be kidding me! Three years of office work, with daily computer operation and switchboard skills and the only job I match up to is security officer?!? Sorry, been there done that, got the lousy t-shirt.

Argh! Oh well, I have a few leads that I am going to follow up on from the local office. Wish me good luck.

Summer comes to an end

It seems that my life hasn't slowed down at all this summer. There were so many things I wanted to do but got caught up with other events that I completely forgot about them. I wanted to take a trip to Six Flags this year, instead I went to Iowa with my Aunt and Uncle.

This weekend marked the official end of summer and I celebrated by getting up a 2 am on Friday and driving to Ft Wayne, Indiana to visit with my family and catch 13 straight hours of roller derby.

I was glad I left so early, the time I reached the Indiana side of Chicago is when the first traffic report came over the radio. Woo hoo, no rush hour for me! I got to my grandmother's house by 10 am Ft Wayne time. We spent about an hour and half just talking and catching up on the cousins. Then we headed to McDonald's for lunch.

My grandmother goes the the same McDonald's that my parents worked at when they were in high school. She goes there everyday, sometimes twice a day to meet her friends. Sometimes they play bingo and others they just eat and chat. I got to me a few of her friends and she bragged about how I was a roller derby girl. I loved watching their eyes light up as they remembered the roller derby of yesteryear.

So after lunch we headed back and hung out, just relaxing. Grandma, Bob, and I each ended up taking a cat nap in the living room then my cousin came over with her year old son for dinner. I got to spend some quality time with young Carter while his mom went to work before his dad came to get him. He is such a happy little boy.

Saturday I drove to the Allen County Veterans Memorial Coliseum for the Fall Brawl. I stayed on the non- WFTDA track so I could cheer on the Chicago Outfit. We played them in May and got creamed. They are a bunch of hard hitting, fast skating superwomen. They played some really great games and in the end came out on top.

I decided not to go to the after bout party as I was staying with grandma and didn't want her to have to stay up late wondering when I would get home. So after the final bout for the Outfit I headed home.

I got to sleep in a bit on Sunday then headed over to my other grandparents house. I got to see all my uncles and most of my cousins and of course more babies. My grandparents on both sides of the family do not have to worry about the family ending any time soon.

As all good things must come to an end, my time grew short and I had to head home. As I drove off into the sunset all I could think about was I can't wait to do it again next year!

Still here

Just in case you were wondering, no I haven't disappeared. This week has just been real busy and by the time I get on the computer, I am too tired and completely unmotivated to write anything.

Sunday the Divas had our recruitment party. I think it was a hit. We had quiet a few interested ladies. A few filled out the welcome packets and turned them in right there, others took them home to sleep on it.

Monday was a long day at work. The regular receptionist wasn't feeling well so she went home early and I covered for her in the afternoon. At 5 it was back to the customer service floor where time always drags on.

Tuesday was one of my short days at work, followed by the first practice of the 2008/2009 roller derby season. We are going back to basics and even now, after 24 hours I still hurt. The squats we did didn't hurt as much as the lunges. We lunged the length of the rink and back. The best part about practice other than being back on skates is that we had 4 girls from out recruitment party attend practice and 2 of them were on skates, yay!

Today was another long day at work, but it was shortened by a quick training session. I was trained in a computer system that very few reps are trained in. After the training I spent the rest of the shift off the phones working on prints that the newer reps didn't know or did not have access to process.

Tomorrow is Thursday, 6 hour shift then it is off to Rockford to participate in the Light the Night Cancer walk. So even though I won't be on skates, I will be getting exercise. Then home for a quick nap and I am planning on being out the door by 3 am so I can spend most of the day with my grandmother in Ft. Wayne on Friday.

Saturday is going to be roller derby all day, the first bout will start around 8:30 am and the after bout party is scheduled to start at 10:00 pm. I don't plan on going to the party, but I plan on being there to see who wins the tournament.

Sunday I am planning on spending with my other grandparents to leave by 5:00 pm Indiana time and hopefully I will be home by 11:00 pm my time. so a busy week leads into a busy weekend only to head right back to work Monday morning.

Attack of the killer dust bunnies.

About a month or so ago my RPG group had a character contest. The character we created had to be a very manly type of character with one major flaw. He had to have a very strange phobia. I created my character with the fear of dust bunnies. His fear is so great the if he even sees a stirring of dust that could form into said creature her would start to hyperventilate until he had prevented the bunny from forming.

Last night while over at a friend's house we were playing a game and talking about random things. I really don't even know how we got into the conversation. It started out talking about fiddler crabs and fish tanks. I used to have a male and female fiddler crab in my tank and knew from experience that they are little escape artists. We had to tape up the hole in the back of the tank where the air hose entered to keep them contained.

Well one of the players at the table had had the same experience only with crawdads. He had a crawdad in a fish tank that had escaped. They didn't notice the missing creature until his roommate came across a rather large dust bunny with claws.

I'm just glad crawdads don't exist in the same world as my character...though then again, I just might be able to find an alternative creature to substitute....Bwahahaha.

What dreams may come...

I very rarely remember my dreams. Usually the only ones I do remember are the weird ones. The ones that make sense in pieces, but as a whole are just so jumbled it comes out quite comical. Well, this morning was one of those times.

I say this morning, because like all Sunday nights I had a hard time sleeping, my subconscious was dreading another Monday so my body was saying, if you don't sleep, Monday will not get here and you won't have to go to work. (If only it were true.)

What I can remember of my dream is this...

Think of a Grease like setting, the high school in my dream however was the elementary school I attended when I lived in the Quad Cities.

I was the new girl in school (aka Sandy) only instead of wanting to fit in with the Pink Ladies, I was trying to fit in with the girls who played on the roller derby team. The rival school was the Rockford Rage and our high school principal was the current manager for the customer service department where I work. He kept following me around telling me what I was doing wrong and how to properly do something simple, for example: you can open the door, but you have to turn the knob to the right, if you turn the door knob to the left, it may open but that is the wrong way to open the door. The first time you are caught opening the door that way you will receive a warning. Ugh!! Not to mention the fact that the roller derby girls were always on skates, including myself and the sidewalk was crumbling away, with huge chunks missing from it.

I wish I had more to add to this, but like most mornings, my alarm went off and brought an end to my attempt at sleep.

Trip down memory lane

When I was a young girl, we're talking grade school here, I lived in Iowa. My father, a US Marine was stationed at the Rock Island Arsenal he had the opportunity to play an extra in a movie called Hard Knox. Now I don't know why, but for some reason lately I have been wanting to watch the movie again. Before we left on our trip to Marshalltown I was able to locate a seller on Ebay who had a copy for sale. I just got the movie today. I can't wait till the end of the movie when I spy my father sitting behind the American flag during the awards ceremony at the end.

Now on another note as I am watching the opening of the movie I already knew it was filmed partially at MCAS Yuma. What I didn't know was that the school that they filmed most of the movie at is (or was) located in Mt Carroll, IL, a town we drove through on Friday.

Up Up and Away

Saturday evening we had a gentleman bring his hot air balloon out and provide free tethered rides. Jake and Bret helped inflate the huge balloon then Jake and I were the first to go up. It was a truly awe inspiring few minutes. It only makes me want to go higher for a longer period of time.
After we landed it was Bret and Kathy's turn.