The last day of 2008

The year in review:

1. No tropical vacation.
2. 1 new shrub, 10 perennials and 1 herb (and the death of 4 shrubs... sad).
3. A 40% reduction in my retirement funds.
4. 4 different supervisors, 2 organization changes (one that removed me from Jeep and put me on a car platform), 1 round of layoffs, and finally a company wide buyout offer. Goodbye Chrysler.
5. Had 3 different Jeeps: Green 2008 Liberty, Orange 2009 Liberty, and now the black 2009 Patriot.
6. Joined Facebook and took up playing scrabble online.
7. Got a hernia.
8. Began a blog. Why? To spread the word!

New Years Eve Day

I seem to be a master baker all of a sudden...

Can you say sweet??? If not, the cream cheese, butter, chocolate chips and cup of sugar will say it for you.

Pre-eve day

What to do today? Shop, clean, surf, nap, oh... and party.
What to do tomorrow? Probably the same thing.

Monday Monday

The final week of 08

Quick... say something witty...

Peniaphobia - Fear of poverty.
Not to be confused with Peladophobia - Fear of bald people.

The thaw

Anonymous wrote
"where's the snow?"

well this pic is actually from Dec 26th of last year... very similar to today's hazy-fog... but looks like last year there was no snow on the ground.

Foiled!

Santa's gone for another year

He brought me a used 12 year old snow blower. Gotta love extra-loud power tools. Now I need an amplifier for my iPod.

xmas

(click on the pic to light up the tree)

Xeve day

Unimportant information time:
1. just made the final switch from Yahoo to Google home page
2. have all my gifts to wrap still
3. am sitting in my thermals drinking coffee
4. listening to Christmas music on Yahoo LaunchCast music (which is being sold to CBS in February and will not have a commercial-free option. Wonderful... where's my refund?)
5. wondering where Google Radio is
6. looking online for Jeep Patriot accessories


2b. gifts are wrapped (buy less gifts.... wrap less gifts. I like it.)
7. checked in on the McNair kitties (they were unimpressed as usual)
8. bought the Xmas bottle of scotch
9. lunch... need some lunch I think
10. Christmas Eve festivities soon

Deeper and deeper.

As

the

fountain

of

snow

vanishes...

Gotta make the rugelach.

Hey! I'm not Jewish...

Winter begins...

The winter solstice is at 7:04 a.m. today.

This means only 40 days until:(St. John)

Another season ends.

Out with the fall and in with the winter. Where is spring? HELLO spring.....

Snow day Friday.

Too bad I'm an unemployed non-student or I COULD HAVE had some kind of snow day too. But no. Not for me. I got to dash through the snow in my 4 cylinder Jeep Patriot all the way to Troy and there wasn't any laughing (right away).

Tomorrow is Friday.

A sunny Thursday afternoon but still the snow doesn't melt. Drifting about, waiting for its brothers that will be coming in the night. The area is already on alert. Take cover warn the media!

Fountains of snow

Not

much

to

say

today.

At all...

Winter Wonder-why-I-live-here-land

Here comes the snow again
Falling on my head like a memory
Falling on my head like a new emotion
(Eurythmics)

Start of week 3:

There's a chill in the air. I hear the furnace running but my fingers are still cold. Did I leave the frig door open? Crazy thoughts.

At times you just need a beach.

(46 Days)

Another weekend is here.

That calls for a quote:

I thought I wanted a career, turns out I just wanted paychecks.
(unknown)

It's not looking a lot like it.

Christmas that is. Except for the snow and the cold.

Maybe this will help???

Tacky trees of my Christmas past.

What about Christmas present and Christmas future? Only the ghosts can tell us those things.

Is it a Jeep?

it says Jeep on it....

In need of credit.

In the middle of a recession and financial banking crisis they say? I called about the credit card application I received in the mail. One with no fee and no interest for a year. I could go for no fees and no interest for a year due to my situation... if you know what I mean. The very nice man (I assume in India) asked me the many questions and finished with who I was employed by. I replied "I'm currently unemployed" and his response to that? "Very good, we will start you out with a $30,000 limit. Do you have any other questions?" Ummmmmm...... no!

Jeep update

1. Orange Jeep given back to "the man" (goodbye corporate lease)
2. Red old Jeep secured (with NO navigation, satellite radio, iPod input... where did I put those cassette taps?)
3. Black new Jeep arrival countdown... (I'm soon to be a car 'owner')

Week 2 with nothing to do.

Nothing? There's a lot to do!
1. get rid of company leased Jeep
2. borrow Jeep for a few days
3. get insurance for new Jeep
What's with all this Jeep?

Jeep Jeep Jeep.

Was it more?

Ever wake up to odd yard art?

Yea, me neither...

Snow caps

A real winter snow has happened. Not much but enough to make it a "winter wonderland" and all that happy crap.

Chilly days and Fridays

This would have been an even bigger hit.

Hangin' around
Nothing to do but frown
Chilly days and Fridays always get you down.

Until you see petunias!

Then you'll be happy again.

No title today.

Everything that irritates us about others
can lead us to an understanding of ourselves.
(Carl Jung)

The alarm clock makes for a different kind of day.

Today I'm off to the campus of Oakland University for career counseling. I went to college there right out of high school. Ok, I went to classes there. Ok, I went to some of my classes. Didn't graduate from OU but spent many years on the campus learning.
They have free career counseling and I will take anything free.


So the computer wants me to be either a horticulturist, landscaper, an engineer (give me a break) or an optician. These are the top four choices. I pick...... professional napper.

Daily Goals:

Coffee and Cheerios. Check. Emails and lite surfing. Check. Misc laundry. Check. Pace the house. Check. Shower and dress before noon. Check. Make of list of things to do and do them. well... not today.
So much for that productive b.s. How about wander about the malls looking at the people. Can I make a living off that?

Cyber Monday

Get out your credit cards, log into the internet from work and buy me something!

No job day 1:
What a busy day... this and that and the other thing too. I even bought a spaghetti squash today.
Yum-o! (I hope)

Unemployment has endless possibilities!!!


Editor's note: up to a few weeks ago I never even HEARD of spaghetti squash. So this IS a pretty big deal.

Gray again.

Today is gray and cloudy with some kind of nasty winter weather approaching. There is no name for today (i.e. Black Friday). You may refer to it as the end to the Thanksgiving weekend. But for me the holiday continues into the weeks ahead. On the other hand tomorrow has a name. A name for the new millennium so to speak. I can't wait to use it. My plan for the big day tomorrow is to shower and get dressed. So, how many days until I go mad??? (please take the poll on the right)

What color is today?

ahhh... sunshine and shadows.
today is the color of non-gloomy winter.

Black Friday

Good luck getting into the black THIS holiday season all you retailers!!!

My Xmas list (MP3s aren't in my budget):

Now what do YOU want?

Hey, it's Turkey Day

Bird for everyone.

Things I'm thankful for: all my friends that put up with my crap, my wacky family, having the strength to leave my job of 12+ years with no real employment plans for the future merely for the pursuit of something that will make me happier, the fact that winter eventually comes to an end, sunshine (the sun FINALLY came out today in the dreary land known as Michigan in winter), my iPpod, advil, vodka & scotch, oh and wine, and (good) beer, digital cameras, 3x concentrated laundry detergent, recycling, the Obama's moving into the White House, wireless anything, other people's pets, internet chat, dreams, humor, long weekends, thick and green springtime grass, salty snacks, paint,

The last week, day 3

I will be out of the office starting 11/26/2008 and will not return until 05/31/2013. (Seems Lotus Notes doesn't go out to infinity.)

Last day at Chrysler for me... oh well... see ya!
Good luck to all those left behind. I'm sure they have a plan!

...and for those not taking a package:

(a classic from the Daimler daze... errr I mean days)

The last week, day 2

Day two of my last three days at Chrysler. How much useless paper can one keep? I don't even keep as much as most and I keep a lot! I'm tired of the trips to the secured garbage cans. This weeks game is to see how much crap can I sneak by security on my way out!

The last week, day 1

Day one of my last three days at Chrysler. Of course that called for a long lunch to celebrate! Oh how I love suppliers. One of my favorite places to eat too. http://www.jalexanders.com/

BTW: 12 3/4 total years of service - 9 1/2 years for Jeep.

Another new day.

"Frozen in Thyme"















It's frickin' COLD in Michigan. 22 degrees? Why is there even a 22 degrees possible? Why do we live here? Maybe the american auto industry is just too cold. I say we all move south.

My business plan #1

Phase 1: Collect underpants
Phase 2: _________
Phase 3: Profit


FYI:
http://www.southparkstudios.com/clips/151040/

My blog begins.

Since I have decided to jump ship from the Motor City Titanic better known as Chrysler LLC (aka Chrysler Corporation, DaimlerChrysler, The New Chrysler and even AMC) I will have some time on my hands to blog. I'm sure all will enjoying reading my thoughts and prayers.