I'm Not Into Health Food and I Have Half a Brain (Barely)

My system (the one that runs my body not my computer) is totally out of whack, yo. When did it become necessary for me to say "yo" every time I use the word "whack?" So, here I am blogging. Yesterday I went and had my bank meeting and that went VERY well. I came home and mowed the backyard and took the Roundup and sprayed the base of the fence both inside the yard and outside the yard. I also did the sidewalk cracks and all of those other weird areas like around the basketball hoop... Then, last night Cha Cha and I went out downtown for dinner. We knew Corn Fest was going on but we went downtown anyway. We sat on the patio at Eduardo's so we could people-watch as the restaurant is right downtown where Corn Fest is happening. Dinner was great but, as we got the bill, I had wished I had been drinking Pina Coladas. The bill came and the skies opened up (doesn't "getting caught in the rain" go well with Pina Coladas?) We went inside and waited for a mild break in the rain and went to the car. As we got in the car the sky opened-up again. We headed home to record Dirty Laundry Podcast.

Fabio had gone to the high school football game with a couple of buddies. He texted us and asked if it was alright if they came to our house and hung-out for awhile while they waited for a movie to start at the theater. So, they came back and we put the recording of the show on hold until they left. I decided to go upstairs and lie down until they left. I asked Cha Cha to let me know when they left. I never got that call and I just fell asleep. Now, today, we will record the show. We WILL record the show today!

Now at the low, low price of only $5

I cannot believe there are people charging $5 to park in our usual free parking lots downtown during Corn Fest. I suppose it's nice for the different groups to make some cash but isn't this what part of all of the damn city taxes we pay? I was not going to be held hostage and I made my way closer to downtown and parked for free. That worked out very well when it was raining because had I parked in one of these lost when they were charging we would have gotten soaked (in more ways than one). I would rather tip our waiter $10 on our $30 tab (which I did) than to pay $5 to park in a free lot (which I did not). The free corn is from 1100 - 1400 today downtown (at 4th Street and Lincoln Highway if you are coming). I may head down again for that.

A new work week is beginning and that means more overtime for me. I am trying to put a positive spin on the whole thing. I work Monday, as usual, but this Monday is Labor Day and, since I look like I am ready to give birth, I work and get paid for those hours and also get paid eight hours of holiday pay. Then, Thursday, I have to get to work for five hours and get that OT. I think that may be the end of my overtime for awhile. I took all of the hours from last week as Comp Time so I put almost an entire week-off in my "bank." I will put another couple days-off in the bank this week. Time spent with family and friends is more important than cash to me right now.

I bet Houdini Candy would be delicious!

I am gonna lie-down for awhile before we record the show and I head down for some free corn. I usually go with the "no butter" option. If I want to taste butter I will go put a straw in a bucket of popcorn at the theater. Have a great Saturday (or, as I like to call it, Monday even though I cannot tell the difference these past few weeks).  A show about Harry Houdini is on right now - I love Harry Houdini. I t even adds to it that he lived in the MIDDLEwestern state of Wisconsin (I think Wisconsin is considered the Midwest). They are auctioning off a lot of his old tricks... the audience is filled with famous magicians. There is a two-part mini-series with Adrien Brody about Houdini starting soon so, we will see every show that all of the other networks have in the can. A can that Houdini could, and is, escape from. I have the record set-up for that mini-series. Okay, now I will let you escape. I sure am full of stupid puns today. Thanks for stopping in. I will let you know when the new show is up and I will probably not blog again until your Monday. TTTM...MITM (out)

Bamboozled, Hoodwinked, Swindled and Hornswoggled!

I think all of the technological breakthroughs have really made our lives easier. I wonder if that is really a good thing some times though. I believe many of us have become sissified. I am speaking for myself for the most part I guess. Maybe a lot of the problem in my case is also the fact that I am rapidly on the other side of MIDDLE-age. Most of the time I don't feel my age but for the last few days I feel Methuselah's age. Does anybody really believe that Methuselah was really 969 years old when he died? Geez, I wonder why people don't believe The Holy Bible is a real account of history. If The Bible was referring to lunar years that would have made him 81 years old which is more believable. I don't see how someone could live 969 years especially when, in Biblical times, one could not be sissified; not even a little bit.

Scanners and computers are much easier 

I got off on a tangent there. When I was talking about technological breakthroughs I had a whole different thing in mind. Remember back in the good old days of forgery where they would capture these people and they would have all of the printing plates, bags of money, ink on their fingers... and such on the news reports? It was so costly back in the day and it wasn't even worth the time to counterfeit anything smaller than a C-Note. Technology has even sissified these people. Now they can even counterfeit V-Notes. I am not sure, but, if $100 bills are called C-Notes because the "C" is 100 in Latin than $5 bills should be called V-Notes because "V" is five. There have been five-dollar-bills counterfeited in my MIDDLEwestern town. I think maybe we should go back to gold and silver being weighed on scales. I suppose debit and credit cards would work too?

I's tired boss, dog tired. I did my time sheet at work before I came home last night and I got 21 hours of overtime this week. That makes the soreness and tired feeling subside a bit. I took all of those hours as COMP time. So, 21 hours turned into 30.5 hours of vacation time. And I have more OT coming next week. Some pain, some gain - totally worth it. I gained almost an entire week off with pay. I think time with my family and friends is much more valuable than money; you can't counterfeit friends and family.

I have to mow the back yard today. I would do it now but it rained so much last night that the yard is soaked. So weird... I am sitting at a table on the patio in the backyard and, as I typed that last sentence, the sun came out.

Give me my money you crotchety old poop! 

Cha Cha and I WILL record on the new load of Dirty Laundry Podcast today/tonight. I think we are going to go down and see what they know at Corn Fest today too. Right now, however, I need to end this blog so I can shower and get ready for my meeting with Old Man Potter down at the bank and see about my retirement money. When I left my last crappy job of 16 years I had to do something with my 401K and stuff. They want me to come in and go over it and make sure it is "doing everything (I) want it to do." Well, if they mean just sit in an account somewhere and make other people money I am sure it is doing that. I will never retire; do many people really retire unless it is for health reasons anymore? Maybe I should just close the account and pay off my house. Wouldn't that be more prudent? Then I could just take that $990 I pay for mortgage each month and put that extra money away for my retirement. Why do I just let other people make money off of my money? Why do any of us? We have been bamboozled, hoodwinked, swindled and hornswoggled!

Have a great day. I hope to be caught up on sleep and lacking pain later today just in time to start the roller coaster all over again. Wish me luck with Henry F. Potter. I really wish I was more financially savvy. Look for the new show within the next day or two. I will let you know again tomorrow. TTTThen...MITM (out)

Corny? Yes! I Live in a Cornfield, What Do You Expect?

Today is what I consider the epicenter of my busy-season at work. I got off work about six hours ago and slept for five of those. I am thinking of this day as a dry-run for tomorrow. I go in tonight and then get off at 0600 tomorrow and then have to be back about 24 hours from now (1200). Basically, I have to do exactly what I did this morning other than I need to be back at work for a ten-hour+ shift at this time tomorrow. I did not set an alarm today but I have already set the alarm for tomorrow morning. I don't sleep more than four or five hours at a time anyway but, if I did not set the alarm tomorrow it would be the one day that I would sleep eight straight.

The Cosmos is/are (not sure if Cosmos is singular or plural and I don't care that much to find out though I am assuming it plural) having pity on me or rewarding me for my valiance. I am also not sure if cosmos should be capitalized unless I am talking about the Carl Sagan series. The Cosmos is so important that I feel, just out of respect, I should capitalize it. The same way that God is capitalized.  The St. Louis Cardinals vs. the Pittsburgh Pirates game is on MLB Network right now. It started at 1130 CST. I wish I were in Pittsburgh today; I bet an 11:30 game on a Wednesday would be easy to get a ticket for. Last night, while sleeping before work, I listened to the Cards lose to the Bucs. I was bummed-out but was less bummed when I heard the Brewers lose later in the evening to the Padres. I am 90% certain that the Cards will make the play-offs and yes, if you want to wager, I will be happy to take your money. I left for awhile and paused the game so don't tell me how it ended. I am watching again now and the Pirates are leading 3 - 1 in the fifth inning. I am sure the game is actually over now unless it went extra frames.

I think I mentioned here that Fabio has a job now. I think it has done him a lot of good. His confidence seems to be much better and he is more extroverted. He has always been a pretty unassuming, quiet guy. He is pretty much the polar opposite of me. He does look like I did at his age if I were seven inches taller. I feel like a bad parent that I didn't take his picture and post it all over Facebook. However, I don't have to sleep with one eye open.
I get to take another four-hour nap in about and hour-and-a-half. I will not have that same luxury tomorrow. Why do I have to think ahead so much about everything? Damn it, I just accidentally saw the final score of this game. It is in the sixth inning on my television but in the real world it is over. I guess I don't need to watch the rest of the game since nothing is going to change. Now I have to hope another Brewers' loss today. I would have rooted for that either way though.

Pretty corny, huh?

Corn Fest is this weekend. I have Friday off so I may wander over for a funnel cake and some corn. There is free corn Saturday morning. They clean it, cook it and serve it. They have the butter and salt... It's like heaven. I do love corn dogs but I don't eat them. They should have chicken corn dogs. Actually, I bet they do. There is a Beatles' tribute band called American English playing and also The Chicago Six which is a bunch of former Chicago Bears from the Superbowl Shuffle days. That is proof that they cannot sing. I have heard that American English is very good.

I am gonna break-off. We are not going to record the new Dirty Laundry Podcast today as I had hoped. Cha Cha is pretty busy with work stuff. I will have a new show up by Monday even if I have to record it by myself life from Corn Fest. Have a great night. I am almost certain that I will not blog again tomorrow. I will be working 16 of the 24 hours in the day and I need to try to sleep a few hours. I hope it isn't too hot and doesn't rain because I am fairly certain I will be outside most of that time. They really do need to build a dome for football out here (just for me). Thank you for slowing down for a few minutes. TTT?...MITM (out)... livin' the dream!

Back-off Man, I'm a Blogger

Maybe I will work at this very haunted place soon?

Work must really be on my mind lately because it seems to be my main blogging topic for the last week or so. That could be because that is all I seem to do lately is work and sleep. I am in the MIDDLE of two shifts right now (got off six hours ago and have to go back in ten hours - I know that isn't exactly in the MIDDLE but it is somewhere in the MIDDLE). There is a position at another state facility where I am trying to transfer to; I am awaiting a callback from their Human Resources department right now. It is at a very well known facility and it would probably entail much more stress and danger (my MIDDLE name) but with more danger and stress comes more money. You have to die of something and I may as well leave my family a great story to tell about how I died. I just found out that this place that I am looking to work is listed as one of the top ten haunted places in Illinois (cool). The facility has ten open positions but, I only found out about it last night and the deadline to apply is 16:00 today (about four hours away). Since I am currently an employee of this financially broken State I have to fill out a CMS100 form prior to the position closing. I have a feeling, given their proximity to me and me having to work tonight, this is going to be difficult. Especially since I cannot get a call-back. Maybe, considering that I am a current state employee and I called before the deadline it will be okay to go in tomorrow. Que Sera Sera (that's a fancy way of Doris Day believing in destiny I think).

This would normally be my Thursday but since I don't have any days off for several days I am not sure what to call this - maybe Super Thuper Thursday. If the State is gonna be broke I am doing my very best to try to be a large contributing factor to that. I assure you that I earn my money - I am not one of the stereotypical state employees that people picture. I know many of those types but I know just as many, actually more, that are not that type.

Cha Cha's name tag

I am fairly certain that we are going to record a show tomorrow. I think we will try to do a few short shows over the next few weeks so I will have the time to get them edited and uploaded during this busy time at work. Who knows? Maybe we will like doing the shorter shows and do that all the time unless we have a guest in the studio. People are kind of conditioned to half-hour television shows so maybe that would help us grow even more around the world? It's worth a try. Cha Cha is even busier than I am with her work. I know I talk about me working every day for these couple of weeks but Cha Cha works every day (and most of every night) all the time. At least I get paid overtime for my extra work - she is salary so she just does it to get the job done. If I were starting a company she would be the first employee that I would hire. Anyway, if we do a half hour show here and there over the next week it will still show people that Dirty Laundry Podcast still piles-up. Then, we will roll-out the new studio equipment.

I think Fabio and I are going to go to Buffalo Wild Wings. We always go there when Cha Cha isn't home - she hates B-Dubs. I think she and MADYM are going to Tribella tonight for her birthday dinner. They usually buy each other dinner for/near their birthdays. Fabio has to work at 1700. If you make your way to Schnuck's you will see him there. He starts school tomorrow - we are gonna stop and get him some school supplies and at the high school and see about his parking pass too. School supply shopping used to be an exciting day when we were kids. It was probably the third most exciting day right after your birthday and Christmas morning. There were no cable television, cell phones, video games...back then; we were very easily amused.

I have to get dressed. Then, when we get back, I will probably go back to sleep. Thanks a lot for slowing-down for this speed bump. I hope you have a great rest of your day and night. I am pretty sure I will blog tomorrow; it seems to be a great joy that I miss when I don't do it. The podcast is a joy I am missing right now. I am such a simpleton. TTTT...MITM (out) still no call on my new haunted house job for lots more money. Back-off man, I'm a blogger. TA!

It's Not the Heat It's the Humidity

"Double Agent" doesn't include "Customer Service Squad"

Yeah, step one in getting the blog back to normal and Dirty Laundry Podcast back "on the air" has been completed. Step one was to get this computer back to 100%. I look it over to Best Buy on Saturday and they said it would take a day or two, four at the most, and they called last night (Sunday) and said it was ready. The guy who helped me on Saturday could easily be the poster boy for Geek Squad. He was every geek stereotype you have ever thought including bug-eyes. Did you know that these guys actually have badges that resemble the badge that I wear at work? There's has a Best Buy insignia in the center and mine has the state seal of Illinois but, other than that, not much difference. Mine is silver and theirs are gold - they must be sergeants, lieutenants, commanders or chiefs. Now that the computer is fixed we will be recording a new show and I will play the recorded message The Geek left me when the computer was done. Sounds like we will record Wednesday. While I was at Best Buy I posted on my Facebook page that they should start a Customer Service Squad or a Common Sense Squad. I was there at 11:08 on a Monday and there were hardly any customers in the store other than the ones that were waiting on-line for an audience with The Pope Santa The Geeks. I went to the register and said I was just there to pick something up (I had paid the $200 in advance on Saturday) but she said I would have to wait and that she was sorry. There were three blue-shirted people at empty registers, one yellow-shirted guy at the front door and seven blue-shirted people visiting with one another in the various departments throughout the store. I like the store and the people are nice and knowledgeable but they need some passion and direction. So, I finally got to the black-shirted, badged guy and he gave me my computer and had me sign a sheet saying I picked it up. I could have walked behind the counter and done that myself. One of the Smurfs couldn't have helped me with that?  I may write a letter to them. Maybe I will just send them a link to today's blog or the podcast because I bet I talk about this in this week's show.

Carnival Cruise Lines - The ultimate all-inclusive germ fests

I am not sure when we will be recording the show because I work seven days a week for three weeks (that includes this week which I am already half-way done with). I worked ten hours, during the day for a change, on Friday (all overtime) and I worked two extra last Tuesday (overtime) and the OT clock will continue to click. This coming Wednesday I will work from 22:00 until 06:00 Thursday and then I go back in at 12:00 Thursday and work until 22:00 (another ten hours of OT). Then I am not sure how many Friday (all OT) and then my regular five days and then more OT on Thursday, September 4th (23:00-04:00). Plus, I will work 7.5 hours on Labor Day which is 7.5 at regular time and another 7.5 of OT (we have a different way to calculate it but is basically comes out to be double time). Dang, my payroll is going to be a nightmare for the next three - four weeks. I always write these things here so I have a place to references when I am lost. I have them on my phone's calendar too but I need all the help I can get. 

I am sorry to blab-on about work so much but, that's pretty much all I know right now. I do know that, since our vacation, I have been sick with some kind of flu or a cold. I am just now starting to feel a bit better and not coughing constantly. Maybe all-inclusives where there are a lot of children isn't the best idea. Should have gone to an adult nudist all-inclusive. Maybe I would have a different kind of virus then though. 

I have got a lot of work done around the house done today. I woke up at 11:00 after four hours of sleep and crammed some projects in there. Now it is 15:00 and I am about ready to go back down for another four or five hours of sleep before a mere eight hour shift. I am not complaining about the work hours though it may seem that way. Some hours I signed-up for and some are being forced on me but when it comes to pay day it will be nice. I have to decide whether to take it all as pay or as Comp Time or some of each, Next Thursday I get to work a football game and those are usually fun to work though, occasionally, there are problems. With our business being safety and considered  "essential" sometimes means we "have to" work. 

Once the crazy hours are over we are going to upgrade the show for a more professional sound in the studio; I am very excited (those extra hour worth of cash will help out there).

I am going to end now. Sorry it was so boring. I really appreciate you stopping by. I hope you have a great night. It feels like this humidity may break soon. Last night at work I had to have the windshield wipers on most of the night because of the condensation from the tropical rain-forest weather fogging and soaking the windshield. I am pretty sure I will blog again tomorrow. TTTT...MITM (zzzz)

Gravied is as Gravied Does

Crazy time begins now. In honor of crazy time today is Thanksgiving. I have the turkey in the oven the potatoes are on the stove and the stuffing is ready to be gravied. Can you believe gravied is not a word?   I don't know what made me want to do the whole turkey dinner today. I think I was just in the mood for comfort food and turkey meatloaf didn't sound good to me; if you're gonna involve a turkey and it isn't shaped into a dog or a burger you may as go with a turkey, right? Tomorrow night is salad night; I bet there will be turkey on my salad tomorrow. Even though tomorrow is supposed to be one of my weekend days this week it is not. I go in at 06:00 and work until probably 14:00 or 15:00. It is all overtime so I hope it lasts quite awhile. I will be directing traffic and bossing people around all day but I have worked this day for the past three years; I am pretty much an expert and directing traffic. I am pretty much an expert on the weather for tomorrow too. It will be hot and humid and then it will rain cats and dogs and I will step in lots of poodles. Last year it rained so much that my waterproof boots let weather in between the boot leather and the laces; it will rain tomorrow as blog is my witness. 

I am still having adjustment issues using the Mac for the blog rather than the PC. It is much easier to add graphics with the old copy and paste feature of the PC but if you see a graphic above this paragraph I figured it out. If you do not, obviously, I did not. It sure smells like turkey up in this hizzy.

I don't know if you remember me talking about having those out-of-body mind experiences awhile back and my buddy Shawn saying it sounded like an inner-ear infection but they happened again the other night. The doctor checked my ears the last time, at the suggestion of Dr. Shawn, and there was no infection. More than coincidentally I think, I have a cold this time too. Last time I felt like I was in Mickey Dolenz's body but this time I had three or four experiences and I slipped into two different people's minds or bodies or whatever: This time I became Daryl Dragon and Max Baer Jr.  There was one particular place, while I was driving, that it happened three separate times when I passed this same area. It was very off-putting. I wonder if it is like a vortex or something in this particular spot. Maybe I am a medium (more like an XL really). Fortunately, it is not the spot I will be standing in tomorrow morning.

I am going to wrap-up. Thanks for stopping by. I hope you have a great rest of tonight and good tomorrow. I should be able to blog tomorrow depending on what time I get off and whether or not I get water blogged logged. TTTT (probably)...MITM (out)!

No Graphic No Frills

It is my Friday tonight usually. This next few weeks I will not really have a weekend though. We have been slow, comparatively, lately but most of our "customers" will return to town Friday. With the return of our thousands of primary concerns returning we will be VERY busy for the next few weeks. In my case, since I have Thirsty Thursdays and Freaky Fridays as my weekend days I will get a lot of "mandatory overtime." That was one thing of about having Mondays and Tuesdays off back in the day - nothing exciting happens on those days. We don't get a whole bunch of OT so it is kind of nice when it occurs. I have to decide if I want to take the cash or use them for extra vacation days (comp days). With the second round of property taxes due in a couple of weeks it will actually be a decision this time. Usually I take the days off "on account" because it is really nice to have those in the bank. This year, for a change I get Halloween off, Thanksgiving off, Christmas off and New Years Day off. Three of those are paid holidays too. I have had to work all of those days for the last three years. This will be weird. I even had to spend Christmas Home Alone one year while everybody else went out of town. Seniority has it advantages. Hopefully, one of these days, my seniority will equate into day work rather than working the graveyard shift.

We have been having hardware issues at the house lately so we haven't done a new Dirty Laundry Podcast for the last couple of weeks. we are also in the progress of upgrading our studio equipment so we have a mixing board and at least three microphone (probably four). One for each person and an extra for live musical instrumentation. I am extremely excited. I just hope we don't lose the fan-base we have built in the meantime. I am even writing this blog on my mini Mac (MacBook Air) because I have some kind of a virus on my usual computer from searching for Cha Cha's birthday present on-line. Cha Cha has removed it but it worms it's way back on. I am going to have to take it to the Geek Squad tomorrow. As long as I live I will never understand why people get a thrill out of doing the malicious things they do (like computer viruses and such).

Tomorrow I am getting a haircut. That should be the highlight of the rest of my month (not to be confused with highlights in my hair). I may go over to SportClips and get the whole massage and hot towel treatment. I must say that I do enjoy that. I wish the stylists would dress in cheerleading outfits or something though. Yes, I may very well have become a dirty old man. I was always a dirty young man so it is just a natural progression. That explains Dirty Laundry Podcast too I guess. It would be awesome if the St. Louis Cardinals had a day came on MLB Network or ESPN while I was there.

I am not even adding any photos to today's blog because I cannot figure out how on this computer. With no graphics it seems even longer than it usually is. Thanks a lot for stopping and reading. I hope to be back to the old Matt In The Middle and Dirty Laundry Podcast very soon. TTT?... (probably tomorrow) MITM (out) TA!

Am I Being Watched

Fabio is 90 minutes away from his first job interview. He is very nervous but we have been practicing possible interview questions most of the morning. He wasn't near this nervous when he was the starting pitcher in a championship game or was taking a buzzer-beater at a basketball game. I told him that nervousness is a good thing. He will do great. If he doesn't get this job at least he is getting this experience out of the way. Coincidentally, I am going to go over to fill out a "request to test" form at my work today so that I can be considered for a different position within my same company. This other position would be working Monday through Friday from 08:00 - 16:30. That means I will leave home at 07:45 and be back at home by 16:45 and have weekends (real weekends) off. I would be a real boy! Additionally, I would not HAVE TO work on my normal weekend days because my job won't be "essential" or emergency-related. The pay starts just pennies below where I am now which probably means that the pay-scale is better than mine since I think I am on the second tier of my scale and the first tier of that one is nearly where my second tier is. I think I am up for a raise in less than a year but the money versus the much better days/hours is a great trade-off. And, if my suspicions are correct, the pay eventually will be higher. However, at my current position, we are getting ready to renegotiate our Union contract. The job I am interviewing for now must already have a better contract. Ques Sera Sera!

We didn't record the new load of Dirty Laundry Podcast last night. We are going to record it this afternoon while Cha Cha is on her lunch break. 

Tonight I think we are going to The House Cafe (there's more info about the show at the red link there) to see Mathew Tembo, Abraham Mellish and Tuna Boot. Mathew is from Zambia and we have played his music on our show before. He actually sent me a text while I was at lunch with Greg yesterday asking if I would come see him tonight. Maybe it will mean a couple of new musical acts for us to play on the show too (Mellish and Tuna Boot). Greg and Cha Cha and I will be there (and Jay Cole - our great friend who has been on the show several times says he will be there too). Come on out and get worldly with us! I think we are going to have a bonfire in the backyard after that too. Maybe we can have Mathew come back and serenade us by the fire too? 

Now I am reflecting about my current job. There are several things I like about working nights. I love that in the summer it is cooler at night. I also love the wildlife (not talking about the wild people) that I see at night. The other night (your Wednesday night) I saw something run across the street ahead of me. It was just beyond my headlights. As I got closer it turned back and ran into the woods about 30 yards off the street. I stopped as there was nobody else around in the MIDDLE of the night and shined my flashlight in that direction. I saw trees and two bright yellow eyes staring back at me. It was weird because my light went directly to those eyes. They were not close to the ground; it was a large animal. It didn't run like a deer when it went back into the woods. It did not run when I shined the light either. It just stood barely in the trees and watched me. Chupacabra? I think they have blue eyes. Big Foot? There was that bear on the loose in our county about a month ago and I haven't heard anything else about that bear. Seemed bigger than a wolf. Maybe a cougar? Tiger? It did look that large. I am going to say panther or cougar. 

I have to get in the shower and get over to Human Resources and get that paperwork filled out so I can test for that job. Have a great night and maybe we'll see you downtown tonight. Fabio has been gone for over an hour so I am hoping that means he is filling out his employment papers. I will probably blog tomorrow. Have a great night - thanks a lot for stopping by. 

Fabio just walked in - HE GOT THE JOB!!!!! YES!

I AM Micky Dolenz

Sorry it has been so long since my last posting; living life just continues to get in the way. I am not complaining since, without life getting in the way, I would have nothing to blog about. Literally, nothing to blog about. The last blog I wrote was from a hotel room on vacation. Last night was my first night back to work and tonight is already my Friday. Starting in about a week work gets LOTS busier again as all of our "customers." There are several chances for overtime (some on a voluntary basis and some on an assigned basis). Thursdays and Fridays seem to be the busiest nights for the OT and, since those are my nights off, I get and have to work many of those shifts. Our old Chief was not very big on overtime but the new Chief is all about getting us OT when he can. I know several of the days I get to/have to work and am waiting on others. My buddy Greg, as do I, wants to go watch the Cardinals/Cubs games in St. Louis over Labor Day weekend; I cannot get off work at all that weekend. In fact, I have to work my weekend too (Thursday/Friday). I am almost certain we are recording a new Dirty Laundry Podcast tomorrow night since who knows when we will get to do another one? I will probably edit it all Friday so I can get it uploaded right away before the craziness starts.

My podcast co-host had a birthday yesterday so I am only older by months rather than years right now. In about exactly 32 days we will be a year apart again (semantics). Yeah, my birthday is on a work day this year. How come we get Jesus' birthday off but we have to work on our own birthdays? Wouldn't it be nice if we all got a day off on our own birthday? I usually work Jesus' birthday too now that I think of it. I know it would suck on those years that our birthday fell on our weekends but those other years it would be really cool. Especially when it fell on either side of our weekend. I will this Thursday/Friday (my weekend) off and next week's and then the three weeks after that I will be working every day of the week. It was kind of nice when my days off were Mondays and Tuesdays because they didn't need the extra help on those days like they do on Thirsty Thursdays and Freaky Fridays. I do like Thursdays and Fridays off a lot more and now I get overtime (pretty much guaranteed).

I am tired of talking about work so I will stop.

I have had a cold for the last three days. All-inclusive resorts mean all-inclusive germ-sharing too I suppose. I am a bit better today but I still feel punky. I'm the punky blogger known as McMatt if I can't do it nobody can. That may make sense to some of you other MIDDLE-aged people in the Chicagoland area. It still won't be funny but it will make sense. I am confident that I will feel better over what will be one of my last free weekends for awhile. We finally got the living room and kitchen painting complete so this weekend may feel like a weekend? There are still some minor touch-ups we need to do but very minor considering all that we did. It is nice having the furniture back where we can utilize the chairs and couch again.

It is always very sad when someone dies. I always think about their loved-ones. I am not sure if you have heard that Robin Williams died? Talk is that he killed himself. I hate to sound callous but I am tired of hearing about it already. I remember seeing his stand-up back in the late 1970's. I thought he was different but I would not say that I found him that funny right away. He did have a charm about him that made me think that he was a nice guy. I didn't realize that he was from right here in my MIDDLEwestern state of Illinois though. I saw him on Happy Days and I watched Mork and Mindy - remember that our choices were very limited back in the day. I would be lying if I said I didn't like some of his films. I think I liked most of his film work: Dead Poet's Society, What Dreams May Come, Mrs. Doubtfire, Good Morning Vietnam, Patch Adams, Awakenings, Moscow on the Hudson, Good Will Hunting....  Why would he hang himself with a belt? We all have our own demons I guess. I read that his daughter is getting tormented on her social media. Some people are so mean. It's okay to keep your mouth/fingers quiet once in awhile. That's why I don't blog or podcast every day - if you don't have anything worth blogging or podcasting or saying just keep you fingers our mouth shut.

Maybe you remember a couple of months ago that I wrote about smelling something and then my mind transporting me into someone else's body? My friend Shawn said he sounding like something that could happen from a inner-ear infection. I saw the doctor for another thing (my yearly check-up that made me ultimately lose my anal virginity) and he said I did not have an ear infection. I had not had this experience again until yesterday. I smelled something while painting and all of a sudden I felt like I was transported into Micky Dolenz's body - looking out through his eyes. Probably no coincidence that it is happening again now that I have a head cold huh? But why Micky Dolenz? I have not seen anything with him or listened to any Monkees music or anything. No Circus Boy or whatever show it was he was in as a kid. Makes me further believe Shawn and not my doctor. It kind of makes me have a mini-panic attach when it happens. I should just let it happen and stop rejecting it to see what happens. Coincidence that my right arm is breaking-out again like it did when I had the poison oak / poison sumac?

Wow, this got long (TWSS)! Have a great night - I will be working (by Friday is always good though). I think I will probably blog again tomorrow thought I think Greg and I may have lunch and there is the podcast deal tomorrow night. Thank you for staying so loyal to my rants. Talk to you probably tomorrow, your pal Micky Dolenz. TA!

All-Inclusive Blog

Splenda and Cha Cha feeding a giraffe (not a camel)

I did not imagine I would be blogging on vacation but I am the early-riser in the group. I am up and showered, shaved and dressed. The resort we are staying at leaves a lot to be desired but there are a lot of great things about it too; I supposed the same could be, and has been said, of me too so I am overlooking the parts left to be desired and focusing on great things as you should in me. Open bar (at about 12 bars) all the time is pretty nice though I have been watching what I have been consuming for the last several weeks so I am only taking about 34.7% advantage of that one. All meals are included at many restaurants and, again, I am not taking 100% advantage of that one due to the consumption slow-down. Yesterday we went into town and fed giraffes and camels and watched turtles mate (made me feel like Paul Reubens) and kangaroos and pretty much any animal you could think of; apparently carrots are pretty-much the universal food except for some of the smaller critters which seem to prefer nuts and corn but, will eat carrots too.

Today is our last full day here. We will be leaving to go back to civilization tomorrow morning. It has been lots of fun. Today I think I am golfing and I know we have some kind of fancy dinner planned off-resort. Are we the only people that would be at an all-inclusive resort and leave to pay for dinner someplace else? Probably not. We have to make it to at least one more bar on the resort property so Splenda can get her free T-shirt. If you visit and have a drink at all of the bars listed on this little card and get it stamped at each place listed you get a free T-shirt. I should have gotten a card too since I was with her and drinking at all of the same places. I do not need another stupid T-shirt. Cha Cha and I are heading over to breakfast while the kids keep sleeping so I will continue for a short bit when we get back while the kids get ready for the day.

It is tomorrow now if that is possible. We are headed home today. Check-out time is 10:30 and it is 07:26 now. The all-inclusive clock is ticking. We went "off property" last night and that dinner was $350.00 - what moron goes off property from an all-inclusive to eat dinner and has two thumbs? This moron! I had better get dressed to head over for breakfast. I will blog again when we get back to civilization later today or tonight. We have to pick up Jeff by 18:00 too. Have a great day and if I don't blog later I died in a fiery crash on the way home. If that happens somebody please pick-up the blog torch. By that I don't mean me on fire from the highway I mean take over writing my nonsense. TTT?...MITM (out) TA!

I Have a New Stripper Name

What the finished product should look like

It's almost noon o'clock and I have gotten a lot done today already. The living room is half painted and the kitchen is completely painted. Fabio has been working on the painting for awhile but last night I decided that I am tired of four rooms in our house torn-up so he and I worked together this morning. We are paying him to do the work so maybe I will have to have him pay me for my assistance. The reason that the living room or family room or whatever room it is called is only half painted is because the top is light gray and the bottom is going to be dark gray with the white chair-rail in between. I am not sure of the exact names of the colors but light gray and dark gray puts a picture in your mind. Also, I think it is called chair-rail but it is five feet from the floor and I imagine chair-rail to be more like three feet from the floor. I am guessing the idea behind chair-rail was so chairs didn't mark-up the walls. Probably more for dining rooms. Maybe we just have really tall chairs?

I am going to get this all done today/tonight. I am tired of having furniture piled-up in the front room (whatever that one is called) and the Tiki Room (that one has had an official name since the day we moved in). The Tiki Room is the one off the family room (possibly) and the dining area/kitchen area that goes out to the patio.

Going to North Aurora Days may not happen tonight depending on the work progress. I am about to head over and get the dark gray paint now but I hadn't eaten and I was getting hungry. Ironically, a huge part of losing weight is eating. You just have to eat the proper things and the appropriate quantities. I am going to go get the paint now. I will finish this when I get back. It will seem like scrolling down to the next paragraph to you though.

It is now 15:54. Like most jobs this simple home-improvement job has turned into a nightmare. It appeared that the lower walls were prepped to be painted. Cha Cha had wallpapered the family room a couple of times and it appeared as the walls were ready to paint. I had suspicions so I painted a test area and let the paint dry. It bubbled and looked like hell. The underpart of the wallpaper was still on the walls. So, now I am spraying the two layers of wallpaper with hot water and vinegar and slowing scraping the wallpaper off the walls. I fear that I will be up all night (my Sunday) stripping the walls and will not be able to paint until tomorrow afternoon or Sunday sometime. So much for recording another load of Dirty Laundry Podcast this week. I guess it's good that last week's show ran long.

Obviously, we are not going to North Aurora Days. I am hungry - I think I am gonna have a dill pickle (TWSS).

My foot is no longer asleep so I had better get back to work. I doubt that I will be blogging tomorrow since I will probably still be working on this project until it is time to sleep tomorrow afternoon for work tomorrow night. Thanks a lot for stopping by to read my whining. Have a great your Friday night. If you're bored I would consider hosting a wallpaper stripping party. When I was a stripper my name was Wally Paper, coincidentally. TTTT...MITM (out) ta!