March 21st, 2010

Got my spreadsheet fixed yesterday. Today was a long day at work. It was DEAD in there. Sundays typically are. I mainly worked the counter. I had one part delivery run. It came at a very opportune time. After I got to the customer and dropped off the part, the census bureau called me on the phone. Offered me the job!!! Training is at the end of April. Projected to be an 8 week stint. Subject to change based on workload. Pay is $12.50 per hour and $0.50 per mile. 20 hours a week typical.

March 19th, 2010

I lost a few pounds. 385 down from 387. Work was good. Went in at 1:00 got out at 9. Made a few deliveries and mostly worked the counter.

March 15th, 2010

Today was a long day at work. But a good day. I find I don't get depressed when I'm steadily working versus having two to three days of work a week. Much more money as well. On the subject of money, I have kind of fallen off the wagon as far as the spreadsheet is concerned. Will go to the bank tomorrow and get an account printout and try to fix my indiscretions and get back on track.

March 12th, 2010

Today was a short day at work. Worked from 7:15 am to 1:30 pm (actually supposed to get off at 1:00 but had a delivery that made me run over. Not that I am complaining because I get paid for that extra time.) After work I went by the driver's license office and picked up the boater's safety manual. I will study it so I am prepared to take the test and get certified. When I pass, the new certification will show on my driver's license. I also set up skype on my computer. Several of my old Americorps buddies are on there as well as Erin. 387

March 11th, 2010

Today was a very busy day at work. My main job today was making delivery runs. One right after the other. Once I got back to the store, I just loaded more stuff up and took off again. When it's busy like that, the day goes by faster. I also signed up for a Facebook account today. I bumped into people I haven't heard from in several years, namely Americorps friends, and lots of my old classmates from Bayside.

March 10th, 2010

Today was an off day. Dad came over and we talked about the "E-unit." I am getting a little more comfortable talking about it. After that, I went over to Westminster Village and got Mac. We went to the dry cleaners, the post office, lunch, and then Walmart. After that we went to visit Aunt Karen in the hospital. I also picked up an anniversary present. Won't say what it is though.

March 9th, 2010

A good day. Not only am I getting over my sinus bug, but my store manager at the store I am at now was very complimentary of my work skills. I had a 16 foot long planogram (f0ur four-foot sections) today. This one was the chemicals section. All of the various additives, cleaners, flushes, etc. for a car's engine, radiator, fuel system, etc. The paper said it takes 4 1/2 hours to set. i managed it in 3. She was very impressed by my speed. From the way things are looking, the Airport Blvd store will be my permanent store before too long. I'm on the schedule for 40 hours next week.

March 4th, 2010

Another day at work. Much harder when one can't talk. I caught some kind of bug that made me lose my voice and spent last night going cough, cough, haaaaack, spit. Lovely. Couldn't speak above a whisper. Hopefully it will be okay tomorrow. Just trying not to talk much, rest the vocal system.

March 3rd, 2010

Another day, another dollar. worked from 12:00 pm to 9:00 pm. Just did the standard Autozone stuff, answer phones, wait on customers, test and install batteries, etc. Also had another large planogram to do (wiper blades). 385

March 2nd, 2010

Just another day in paradise. Worked from 1:00 pm to 9:00 pm. Long day. Not much interesting stuff happened.

March 1st, 2010 addendum

386

March 1st, 2010

Another day at Autozone. 8 to 4. Mostly putting up truck with a few deliveries thrown in. Monday is when we get our truck for the week, 4 pallets worth. Day started off nice, but the weather went downhill in a hurry. By 4:00 it was raining. During lunch, I noticed the Express Check Advance had a "now hiring" sign on the door. That was one of the payday loan places I owed money too in the not-so-distant past. Wouldn't that be ironic, getting money from them again? Except this time in the form of wages rather than a loan.

February 28th, 2010

This was the first Sunday off I've had in a while so I slept in a little. At about 9:00, I started a major cleaning session, vacuuming, cleaning the bathtub and toilet, and emptying all my garbage. I also did laundry. This afternoon I went over and visited Mac. We swam and got in the hot tub. Very relaxing way to spend an afternoon. I also helped him fix things that were broken around his house.
387

February 27th, 2010

Another long day at work. This time at Spring Hill Autozone. Making delivery runs. When commercial is busy and you're making a lot of delivery runs, the day goes by pretty fast. Remembered to turn off all interior lights before parking the car. Tends to preserve the battery's charge so it will start.

February 26th, 2010

387
Long day at work. Worked the counter at the Airport Blvd store during the morning. After lunch, I was mainly making delivery runs to commercial customers. I kind of missed doing that. I did it a lot when I was at Spring Hill. I almost had an embarrassing moment when I knocked off for the day. I almost needed a jump-off to get home because I had left a dome light burning all day long and the night before. Oops. Battery had just enough power to spin the engine over and get it started. Kind of a reeeeh.....reeeh, reeeh vroooom. Drove it around on the interstate for a while to get the battery recharged.
Got another 8 hour shift at Spring Hill tomorrow making delivery runs.

February 25th, 2010

Today I faxed off the paperwork for student loan deferment. Got that taken care of. Dad came over and we talked about some of the events of yesterday, namely the email asking what was a reasonable effort for me to find work. I had taken as a threat and an insult and it was not meant to be. It was simply a question. I need to work on that gut reaction, adrenaline rush, "fight or flight" response when someone asks me a question. When Dad was talking to me in person, I didn't respond that way at all.

Yesterday was a visit with Mac. We went to Walmart, ate lunch, and hung out.

February 22nd, 2010

I worked from 8:00 to 1:00 today. A rather embarrassing thing happened when I tried to zip up my work pants. The zipper broke. I had to walk around all day with my fly open, making sure people didn't see anything they weren't supposed to. Afterward, I got home and cooked lunch. Following lunch, I did some cleaning of the bathroom and kitchen. I took my work pants to a garment repair place and had the zipper replaced. After that I came home and vacuumed the carpet. Job application: Sears on Allretailjobs.com. Merchandising and pricing. Basically same stuff I do at Autozone. Application is good for 60 days. Application is at Bel Air Mall.

February 20th, 2010, Continued

Another thing that happened this week was the preparations for "inspection" of my living quarters. Andy came over and we hung pictures. Gives the place a nice "homey" feel. Brightens it up. On the 17th (Wednesday), Ric, Mom, and Mac came over to see my apartment. We spent a good long time there. The "new and improved" version was very well received. Everyone was very proud of my apartment's appearance. It hasn't been hard to keep it that way either. Just put things away when finished.

February 20th, 2010

This one will be a long one. There are a lot of things to talk about in this one. First item on the list is something that happened in January. I went to volunteer for Coffee Club at Govt. St. Presbyterian Church. Coffee Club is a ministry to the homeless in Mobile. Early in the morning, the church serves a hot breakfast to the homeless. I volunteered for passing out the breakfast. I was on the hard-boiled egg station. As each person came through the line, I placed one egg on his tray. The breakfast for that day consisted of grits, a hard-boiled egg, and fruit. I know there were a lot of people there. There were 150 eggs in the egg bowl. By the end of the morning, all of them were gone. Lots of hungry people. Apparently Sheila, the cook, starts at about 4:00 in the morning making all this. It felt good to give back to the community in that fashion.

Next Item: Andy sent me an email of an experience she had in New Orleans (Geaux Saints!! Who Dat!! World Champs!!) It described her experience with a snake aka an "s-unit." Snakes just happened to be an intense phobia of hers. Even mentioning the word "snake" was enough to trigger it. After some urging by Dad to touch it, she did. She was crying and severely shaken up by the whole incident, but she did it. I'm very proud of her for doing it. This is the way she described it in the email she sent me. The lesson here is that everyone has a fear that paralyzes them in some way or another and causes irrational behavior. She and I are kindred spirits in that regard. I have been in situations similar to that (the phone interview for the Sears Teleserv job).
That one started off good while the interviewer was asking questions I could answer. But once the ones I couldn't answer rolled around, I froze. The interview went downhill in a hurry. We are working on treating that problem.

Final Item: Lowe's. I reapplied online. They are hiring in Daphne.

February 16th, 2010

Today I did a variety of things. This morning was another cleaning session. I vacuumed the entire apartment, broke in the new toilet brush, and scrubbed the tub. The next task, the refrigerators, was inspired by a diet coke that exploded in one of them. I pulled everything out and gave them both a good scrub inside. In one I found a big bowl of something that had been in there for the better part of five months. It had grown a layer of green slime on it. I promptly disposed of this toxic substance as it was giving off a rather foul odor. Both fridges are clean now. After the marathon fridge detox session, I filled out some online job applications. Toys R Us, and Domino's Pizza. After that I went out and changed the oil in the car. After completing the oil change and showering, I went over to Chevron to see if Mark was there. He was not. Will try again tomorrow.

February 12th, 2010

Lots of interesting weather today. The weather started off with rain with the occasional ice pellet mixed in. Made me very glad I had good wiper blades on the car. Worked from 7:15 in the morning to 1:00 in the afternoon. At 2:00, Dad took me to lunch at a Vietnamese restaurant. We ate an egg roll type dish with noodles, shrimp, pork, and lettuce. Forgot what it was called. It was very good though. We talked about the progress I have made over the past 6 weeks. Gone from floating around to having control of my life in many areas. The road has not been easy, but it is well worth the trip.

February 10th, 2010

I had made a draft and tried to save it to work on later, but it disappeared. Oh well, have to start all over. This morning started off with a major apartment cleaning session. Activities included cleaning the bathtub, toilet, stove, and sink. It also included a thorough vacuuming. I pulled the stove and fridge out and vacuumed behind them. Let's just say I found some "interesting" things behind the stove. After the cleaning session, I filled out my Tillman's Corner Chevron application and took it over to them, along with a copy of my resume. I also stopped by Grelot Chevron, no luck, Mark was not there. There was another gas station on Schillinger Road that had a "now hiring" sign on it. I picked up an application there. Will fill it out.

February 9th, 2010

This morning I wrote an email to Mom and Ric. Basically a cut-and-paste of the original email to you and Andy. I wanted them to see what I had written to both of you. The email contained some special writing for them as well. At 11:00 AM, I went to work. I worked on a large planogram in the store all day till 6:00 PM, then came home. At 7:00, American Idol was on. Pretty good singers this year. Today was a pretty good day.

February 8th, 2010

Today I went by the bank and set up a Christmas Club account. The account is like a savings account but you can touch it till November. I set it up so that $7.00 from each of my checks goes into this account. By November, $14.00 a month plus interest will be a pretty tidy sum for gifts. I also transferred my budget allowance for emergencies into my regular savings account. Good habit to get into. New balance for Christmas Club account- $7.00, Regular Savings- $7.65 available. Both transfers are documented on the spreadsheet. After that I went and bought some groceries, expenditure on the spreadsheet. I noticed the car had a bit of a miss at idle. I stopped by Chevron to check on my application there. Mark was not there. So I popped the hood to listen to the engine and heard air hissing, tell-tale sign of a vacuum leak. Air was getting sucked into the intake manifold, throwing off the air-fuel mix and causing the miss. After poking around for a few minutes, I found the leak. Vacuum hoses that were probably the original ones that came with the car were dry-rotted and cracked. Quick trip to Autozone and $4.65 worth of new vacuum hose solved that problem. Runs perfect now. See "Transportation" column. While at Autozone, my boss asked me if I could work tomorrow to set planograms. No-brainer there, I need the money. After the car repair, I stopped by the Circle K on University and asked how to apply. App. is online. Apply to one store, then after a week, the app. is good at all the local stores. Also stopped by the Shell station on University and asked if the manager was there. He was not. Go back tomorrow. Then I went to the Chevron on Cottage Hill and asked if they were hiring. They referred me to the one on Range Line Road. Went there and got application. Will fill all of these out.

February 7th, 2010

Today I went to the laundromat. I had a much bigger load than I normally do. I washed and dried all my clothes, towels, and bed linens, including my coat. No more weird smell. Took about 3 hours. I also called Chevron while I was there. 340-6604. Mark will be in tomorrow. On the way back to the house I stopped by the Shell station on University and asked the guy at the counter when the manager would be in. I took an application to fill out. The manager's name is Jim. He will be in tomorrow.

February 5th, 2010

Dad showed me the new spreadsheet and blog today. I went over to Westminster village today and spent the day with Mac. He is doing well. We went to Walmart, the doctor's office, and picked up his dry cleaning. Then we just hung out.