Yesterday afternoon, I had a most welcome call, offering me a job as a grant administrator at the medical company I applied with. It is great on so many levels! First, I will get $5 more per hour, than I would have as a diamond grader. Second, it is just minutes from our house, no more 45+ minute commutes each way! Third, the medical benefits are great and will save us $2500 a month (from what we currently spend to get individual health insurance). I am so glad I went to that job fair! I faxed back my signed acceptance of the offer and just have to do a drug test and wait on my background check. It looks like my first day would be Monday, October 20th. Oh, and they also settled on hourly wages higher than what they had said the top pay would be for the position!
A week ago, Joe and I went to a local Viking Festival put on by the Sons of Norway Lodge. It was fun, had some great music, yummy food and was just relaxing. Unfortunately, due to other obligations that day, we were not able to spend nearly as much time there as we would have liked.
Maybe next year we can stay long enough to participate in the fish fling contest!
This morning I looked out the window and discovered some critter had been in our backyard last night and it had been busy killing pool toys. Two of the foam noodles which had been floating in the water had been pulled out and then chunks of foam had been ripped out of them. On the grass was the sad remains of a blow up little boat, punctured to never float again. I am not sure what it was, all the gates are shut and there is very little room to slip under them, perhaps 2″ at most. It looks like the work of a coyote, or perhaps an angry racoon. Either way, I took the rest of the toys out of the pool so they don’t befall similar fates!
Tonight is the first new CSI episode of the season, so I am ready, with my CSI t-shirt on. Poor Warrick! I am also bummed that Grissom will be leaving. I hope that doesn’t change what I so love about the show. Joe and I plan to crake open a bottle of champagne tonight to celebrate my new job and enjoy our kid-free night of the week.
It has been a tough week for virtually everyone with the economy and stock market. I don’t know anyone it hasn’t effected in some way. We dropped the price on our Carlsbad house, again, in hopes of finding a buyer. Our biggest problem seems to be that people just can’t get loans, regardless of everything else. I am hoping things have hit bottom and will start to look up a bit now.
My general rule is not not talk politics or religion on my blog, they are just way too controversial. But it is *my* blog, so I won’t apologize for my next comments.
WARNING, POLITICAL RANT TO FOLLOW:
I am absolutely stunned and horrified that ANYONE can think that Sarah Palin should be VP of the United States. What is wrong with people? She can’t even answer basic questions. She isn’t intelligent, she isn’t well read, and for someone who majored in communications in college, she should be doing a *lot* better. Is this just about sex appeal? Too many guys with fantasies about secretaries or librarians? Yes, I would like to see women in positions of power, but what kind of example is she? She got pregnant while unmarried and then rushed off to elope. Now her daughter is following in her footsteps. Yet our nation has a fit if a male politician has an affair. She supports shooting wolves from helicopters for sport. The famous pictures of moose she has killed, were trophy kills, not for meat. She thinks the average American is “Joe Six Pack”?? What?? We all just sit around drinking beer and scratching ourselves while watching TV? She uses baby talk and winking to look cute! OMG!
At what point did America decided that our leaders, those people who represent our country to the rest of the world, didn’t have to be intelligent, articulate or able to think on their feet? When did a solid education with good grades become “elite”? At what point did it become more important to imagine yourself having a beer with our countries leader, than imagining them trying to make the best decisions and negotiations to keep nuclear weapons out of the hands of dictators?
Look people, this isn’t a reality show, this is our life, our future, our children’s life. Use your mind, your heart and your soul when you vote. Pick someone with substance, who can stand up and speak to us and the rest of the world in a way you can be proud of. Let them be someone who is an example to our children, an inspiration. Not fodder for every comedian and political cartoonist on the face of the earth.
