A Week in the Life 22 - The Story So Far

Ahh, welcome back friends!

Ok here goes.

I applied for a timekeeping position at work a while back. The position didn't necessarily offer more in terms of pay, but it's a back office job which would alleviate my time on the phone processing claims. In addition, it didn't require any weekend work.

So I went ahead and put my name in the hat. I really liked the idea of having a job with weekends off, and there's something to be said for not spending all day on the phone filing insurance claims. It's not a bad job by any means, but it can affect your mood depending on the severity of the claim (i.e. fatalities), or the demeanor of the caller (i.e. total asshole).

So, I was pulled from my desk last Monday the 11th. I had previously sat down with management to discuss the ins and outs of the position a couple of times before, but they went ahead and let me know that I was their second choice. I really had no preference one way or the other, because in this day and age a job's a job, so I returned to my desk to finish out my day.

A couple hours later I was pulled from my desk a second time. This time I was informed that the person chosen for the position had declined, meaning the position was mine for the taking. So as of last Monday I'm the new timekeeper... hooray me. Since then I've been busy training for the job, and my schedule has been shifted to overlap the person moving out of the position. So it's been a busy week and I apologize for my absence, but things are returning to normal so full steam ahead.

Now my day consists of adjusting work schedules, keeping track of employee's missed time, and making sure people get paid correctly for overtime, vacation time, bereavement, etc. It's a whole lot of numbers to crunch working with 200+ employees, but it's right up my alley and I'm enjoying it a great deal.

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In addition, I had the pleasure of spending some time with my old friend Liz Gaylor. Liz was the bees knees of viola players when we played together both at Alamogordo High School and for a time in the Las Cruces Symphony before she moved on to bigger and better things. Through the magic that is Facebook we were able to reconnect, providing us an opportunity to catch up on lost time.

Saturday I played with the New Horizons Orchestra. New Horizons is an organization which oversees the forming of community music groups to cater to adults and senior citizens whom are just learning a new instrument, or may have played before but have been inactive for some time. The purpose is to provide, you guessed it, new horizons for those local educators, casual musicians, would be musicians, and all those who love playing music but never get the chance.

I must say I had a great deal of fun playing with the group. There's something to be said for playing music for the sake of playing music. It has a certain fulfilling quality you don't find when you're playing professionally. Don't get me wrong, I love that I am able to perform at a level that makes people think they have to pay me, but there's a certain gratitude people have for volunteer work that you simply will not find anywhere else. I guess you could say I'm pro pro bono, and I look forward to playing with the group again whenever I'm available.

So, in grand coincidental style, it turns out that Liz's mother performs as the principal flautist with the New Horizons Orchestra, which worked out great in terms of finding a time to get together for a beer. I must say for the record that she hasn't aged a day since we were in high school (a strange phenomenon amongst AHS alumni). We headed over to Farley's for a pitcher of Dos Equis Lager, and Crystal and Caitlyn met us there to shoot the breeze.

On Sunday, the family and I went down to El Paso for the day. Crystal was shopping for a dress to wear to my sister's upcoming wedding, and I was searching for some top notch Chinese buffet action. We were both successful. In addition, we procured some knockoff shades, so when you see Crystal rocking her Coach and Chanel sunglasses, make sure you envy her. But really, it's pretty fucking bright over here, so we bought the first sunglasses we could find. In the evening, Liz and her mother came by the house for a quick final visit before she left back to Fort Collins on Monday.

All in all, a very busy week, and a whole lot of fun.

So, this week I'll be adjusting to my preferred sleeping schedule of staying up late and waking up not as early. Can't wait for the weekend and the drunken stupor that is the Southern New Mexico Wine Festival. Should be, again, a great deal of fun.

Hope you all have a wonderful week and nice talking to you again.

Jimmy

P.S. Thanks for the gas!! (You know who you are.)

THE BIG UPDATE!

Ahh, loyal viewers, how I have neglected thee.

It's been too long my friends so here goes:

Christmas week was jam packed with excitement as I juggled work, playing and a visit from my brother, whom I hadn't seen since sometime around spring break of 2007.

I was playing Christmas week for the Abundant Living Faith Center. A large, large, large church located on the east side of El Paso, TX. Now, I won't get into details, but as most of you know I'm not the biggest fan of organized religion. That being said, I'm also not a big fan of biting the hand that feeds you, plus I appreciate the positive aspects and beneficial works that religious organizations provide. Ibso facto... I do it for the good of the community. Their Christmas show is second to none, consisting of roughly 300 cast members, a wire team from the same company that handles Cirque du Soleil, and a church that seats about 3500. It's a yearly thing for me, and I've been doing it long enough to not remember how long I've been doing it. All in all the show was seen by about 18,000 people in 2008, a new record for the church. If you're ever in town for the four days before Christmas, check it out.

My brother, the coolest cat this side of the Pecos, was in town for a week from December 23rd to the 30th, a week that went by way too fast. We spent some quality time playing video games, which as you all know is about as "quality" as my time gets. After Christmas week he was off to Chicago to meet up with his friends Jen and Paul whom he met during orientation for Teach for America a couple of years ago. For Christmas, we all pitched in and picked him up a lovely new Xbox 360 Pro, which means for the first time in his life he owns all the current gen consoles. Quite a feat if you ask me. My take wasn't too bad either, as I received Super Smash Bros. for the Wii from him. Before he had to leave we made sure he was filled with the best authentic Mexican food Las Cruces has to offer, which you all know you just can't find anywhere else. Thanks for the visit Chris, miss you, love you, see you soon. (above pic from my wedding, in which my brother acted as minister)

My final Christmas show ended around 9:30pm on Christmas Eve and from there it was back to Las Cruces to spend time with Crystal's family. We hosted Christmas at our house for Crystal's mother's side of the family. It was a most enjoyable evening, complete with the ritual White Elephant gift exchange and a traditional meal consisting of a variety of sides and a giant pot of menudo. A visit from Santa, a warm cup of coffee, and then off to bed once we bid goodnight to all. (shown, assorted aunts, cousins, the baby, and Pere Noelle)

Christmas day was the usual family runaround. I awoke a the asscrack of dawn to make a special Christmas delivery for a friend, I'd go into details but I refuse to spoil anyone's perception concerning the existence of the fat man. From there it was back to bed, then up again in time to be ready for a visit with Crystal's father John. We spent the rest of the morning and well into the afternoon filling up on turkey, ham, and conversation. Again, good food and time well spent with family.

We ran back home to unload gifts from the trunk and repack it with gifts for our next stop, my parent's place in Alamogordo. It's not to say we had sooooo many gifts that we had to make a stop, but when you're packing a car seat, a stroller, a diaper bag and assorted baby goodness, it doesn't leave much room for presents. We went to gas up only to discover that the gas at this particular station was the cheapest I've seen it in a very long time. Man alive, $1.19 a gallon. Boy will I ever miss you. Seven dollars later we were on the long road to home.

Alamogordo was that same as it's always been. It seems that for every business that opens or remodels, there are two that either go out of business or look like they belong in a Rob Zombie movie. At this point it's like polishing a turd. No offense to the hometown I love and grew up in, I just couldn't think of a better cliche to describe it. Turd polishing pretty much sums it up. If you disagree, you didn't grow up there. Either way, go Tigers...

Sooo there we are at my parents house, spending time with my brother, my sister's family, and my parents and pretty much just pissing the day away enjoy my mom's spiced cider and another double helping of meat. The selection consisted of deep fried turkey, slow cooked brisket, and succulent ham. I pretty much ate my share of all three, and your share. Belt loosened, we watched assorted Christmas movies, played some card games (which I totally sucked at btw), and drove home in time to sleep enough to work the next day.

(Mom snapping a photo of Chris and Caitlyn)

Worked the next day... bleh.

Friday night we returned to Alamogordo, again filled up on meat, and stayed overnight. On Saturday we lounged around and enjoyed the inch or so of snow that had fallen during the night. In true New Mexico fashion, it was gone by noon. Now keep in mind I did have to prioritize family and what not over computer time, so my blogging nuts had been for the most part castrated during this time. I'm not trying to make excuses, I'm just sayin'.

We returned on Saturday night to Las Cruces with my brother. From there it was a late night of gaming and a Sunday complete with a stop at the flea market. My brother and I had lunch at Sonic, which he can't get in Hawaii. It seems fair, no Sonic for him, no tropical island paradise for me. My parents came into town on Sunday night, so we spent some more time family-style and then they took him back with them to Alamo. On Monday Crystal, Caitlyn and I slept in, then later on that afternoon went back to Alamo for one last visit with my brother. On Tuesday the 30th it was back to work, and my parents accompanied my brother back to the airport in El Paso to see him off. That evening we visited our good friend Geoff and his mother for coffee and a quick exchange of gifts.

New Years Eve was spent at work during the day, at night we went to Crystal's mother's house for an impromptu party she was throwing. The food again was excellent, another testament to the idea that I married into the right family. We retired early for the baby's sake, returning home and cooking up a late night dinner for ourselves and my friend Geoff and his mother, whom we had invited over the night before.

I was off on New Years Day, but went into work for a few hours of overtime. Otherwise it was a mellow day.

The rest is as follows... work... dinner.... baby... sleep and/or playing World of Warcraft. Geoff had downloaded a trial of the new expansion of the game but unfortunately (and I know this only means something to half of you) you can't create a Death Knight unless you already have an existing level 55 character on you server, even with the trial. So the past few days I was helping him level his character from 45 on up. As of Saturday I had made it to 51, but life calls, and I know better at this point than to place computer time over family time.

So all in all it was a busy couple of weeks. The first section I simply couldn't help, it was a whirlwind of family, limited computer access, poor cell phone reception, and more driving that a newborn should be subjected to. This last week I was recuperating, and leveling a feral druid. I can't really justify that last part, but fuck it, if your feelings are hurt, come by the house and I'll give you a Twix™.

Many thanks to Serry and Tarah (names poorly changed to protect the innocent), who visited us this last Friday and Saturday. Serry's father got married on Saturday, and we wish him all the best in this newest chapter of his life. We were dog sitting while they were at the wedding, and while they may thank us, it's our pleasure if only to get a chance to spend time with good friends.

Plus they picked up our lunch at Chilito's, it's not really relevant, but talking about it makes me smile. I had the red enchiladas with red chile meat and an egg on top. Heavenly!

What else what else....

Saw a few movies, not the theater kind of course just on DVD. Crystal wasn't to impressed with Mama Mia or The House Bunny. I made sure I was on the computer at the time. Eagle Eye maintained our firm belief that Shia Labeouf is good enough an actor to make you forget you're watching Shia Labeouf. Hamlet 2 was excellent, go watch it. Meet Dave was standard modern-day Eddie Murphy comedy, mildly funny yet a little too tame with a splash of cheesy. Eddie Murphy still manages to be one of the best actors alive today, it's just often overshadowed by family friendly packaging and scripts which place him in roles which are often revisions of characters he's played before. We rented Pineapple Express today (Marisa, if you're out there, can't help but think of you when I see this movie) and laughed our asses off. Such a good movie. Lots and lots of tiny quotable snippets, which we all know is the best asset a comedy can have right? I saw it three times in the theater, and it still felt fresh on DVD. Good stuff. The only complaint I have is that for being "unrated", there was only about 2 minutes of extra material, and none of it moved beyond it's R rating.

The baby is doing great. She's beautiful, and not in that "she's mine so I have to say it" kind of way. She cries when she needs something, and stops when she gets it. It's about as good as we could have hoped in that department. No random endless crying, knock on wood. She's a little over two months now and growing like crazy. She's well into smiling, laughing, and carrying on conversations in whatever language she can muster. Every day you ask yourself how it's possible that so much could come from so little ... /smirk

(mom and Caitlyn shown)

Life is good.

Miss you all, love you all,

Jimmy

P.S. Here you go, for your adoring pleasure.

A Week in the Life - Good Times with Old Friends

Well, hello again, your friendly neighborhood Jimmy is live and on the air. This last weekend I had the distinct pleasure of being able to have a nice afternoon lunch with a couple of good friends whom I haven't had the chance to visit in a long time. For the sake of anonymity we'll refer to them as Snoopy and Woodstock. Don't ask me why I chose those names, since they have no relevance and won't be used again, it just something I do.

Anyway, the point is this, it was great to see them and if they're reading thanks for the visit. There is something refreshing to the human soul to be reminded that somewhere outside of our microcosm there lie people who do actually think of us from day to day. It isn't too hard to feel lonely, especially here in Las Cruces, where you're more apt to see a friend move away than move "home". Families, careers, education ... the list of reasons to leave are many, while the reasons to return dwindle slowly through the years (although the food will never be replaceable).
Still, I remain, and look forward to seeing you all again. We really aren't as far apart as it feels.

Otherwise, we're still on baby watch here in the LC. With only seven calendar days remaining, my phone is on and ready to vibrate, even mid-symphony. Rest assured that I'll have posts up ASAP following the birth of our first child. A select few will receive phone calls, and I apologize in advance if I forgot to call you, I'm still frazzled from the whole experience.

Mmmmm, El Sombrero...

More to come,
Jimmy