The Cubicle’s Backporch

I’ve always read that men make more money than women. And I had always assumed that it was b/c companies were big fat meanie heads. I mean, OBVIOUSLY women don’t deserve to make less than men, so it had to be the company’s fault.

I’ve been keeping my eye out for job openings that are closer to where I live. A 56 mile one-way commute isn’t horrible, but it’s really a pain in the ass. There’s been several times when I would’ve liked to come in just for 30 minutes to clarify things on a different shift, but driving an hour just to stay for 30 minutes and turn around and drive an hour home? Not really worth it.

Anyways.

I have a lot of reservations about switching jobs. And I can’t help but think that maybe a lot of women have these reservations and thus stay at the job they’re at instead of looking for better opportunities.

Reservations include:

1.) What if I REGRET it? I mean, I’m content with my current job. Why screw that up?

2.) I feel like I owe the manager who hired me at my current job. Granted, they are paying me well below market-value for someone at my career-level, and I know they took advantage of the fact that I was laid off for 9-months and VERY job hungry, but still. I feel like I owe him.

3.) What if I don’t like the new job?

4.) What if later on, I wish I would’ve stayed longer at current job to get more experience in this specific area?

Whereas MrC has said several times that if he got offered more money, he would jump on it right away, regardless of the current perks to his current job. (We’re being taken THREE different places this weekend alone by people he does business with)

Have any of you thought about (or did) switch jobs and had reservations? I’m curious if anyone else had the same reservations that I do…

My annual performance review was scheduled for 2:15pm. That was normal.

I talked to my coworkers who hadn’t been assigned times yet. But that was normal also, since our schedules were all so different.

At 2:10pm, The Boss came to my desk and asked if I was ready. That was normal.

As I stood up, The Boss said “My stuff is upstairs.” And that was not normal.

At that point, I realized what was happening. I knew what was waiting for me at the top of the stairs.  But I didn’t panic, instead The Boss and I made small talk about the weather. “How’s Mr. C been doing getting to work?” he asked.

As we walked into the office, I knew who would be sitting in there waiting for me. Although I expected it, KNEW it was coming, it was still a bit of a shock. I still managed to smile, however, when The Boss and HR Guy looked at me with sorrowful faces. A feeling came over me, not panic-oddly enough, more of a relief that I didn’t have to worry about losing my job anymore. It was happening.

“You have nothing to worry about,” my coworkers would often say while we were eating dinner while travelling, “Unless HR is in the room. Then, THEN you know you’re fucked. But,” they’d continue on, “you’re a female, and you’re a college hire with less than two years in. You’ll be fine.” And then we’d continue talking about what happens when you ‘get let go.’ B/c my company is apparently notorious for it’s quick draw of ‘letting people go’.

It was those words that played through my head as I sat down. “Unless HR is in the room. Then you know you’re fucked.”

The Boss went into a spiel (speal? speel?) of the forecasted earnings for the past 6 months, to which I nodded and wondered why he didn’t just cut to the chase.

“Well,” HR guy says forcing a smile. “I guess you know what this is.”

He points to a manilla folder with paperwork in it.

I look at it very seriously and say “Well, I’m hoping that there’s a seven-figure severance pay in there.” Then I grin.

The Boss and HR Guy look a little stunned, then The Boss says “Well, I guess you still have your sense of humor.” I nod and HR Guy goes into his spiel about my severance package.

He’s talking, but all I’m concentrating on is not crying. I hear 3 months pay, I hear vacation pay, I hear full benefits. I also hear “It’s like you’ll be working here for the next three months. But you won’t.” But I’m blinking and trying to appear as though this is the most normal thing in the world- to be let go from your job just a short 20 months after starting. The thought that pushes me over the edge is telling Mr. C that I lost my job. Then the tears come, but slowly. Slow enough I can wipe them away every thirty seconds and not feel like a total loser.

“So I guess you know what happens now…” HR Guy says.

“Uh yeah, Security comes in and escorts me out.”

“Oh no no!” They both say at the same time. Then The Boss continues with “I’ll escort you down to your desk. You can get your purse and your coat, and we’ll schedule a time for you to come get your personal belongings from your desk.” I nod. Say thank you to HR Guy and we head downstairs to my desk.

 I’m glad, for once, that my desk is sort of sheltered from everyone. I grab my stuff, noting how it felt weird to leave my laptop behind, and The Boss escorts me out of the building.

“I’m really sorry,” he says, and starts to say more.

“No, I understand,” I say through tears that are coming faster now, “I’d rather it be me than any of them.”

He says something in return, but all I can think about is getting out of there. Away from that place that such a short time ago gave me my first job out of college. Away from the place that sent me to France. Away from the place that for 3 months has had us all on edge about losing our jobs.

I called Mr. C who kept saying he was sorry and that he couldn’t believe it. I texted my Boss (Not The Boss- The Great Boss who retired in December- The Boss was The Great Boss’s boss) He couldn’t believe it either. I called JFriend who offered her sympathy then offered to go out for drinks. AFriend called and offered her sympathy and we set up a dinner date (with JFriend)  for the next night.

I got home and felt weird. I didn’t have a job. For the first time since I was 16, I didn’t have a job. (Not counting, of course, the time I walked out of The Restaurant and was unemployed for a month before begging The Restaurant to take me back- which they did) Yes, I have pay coming for a couple more months (after, of course, I agree to not sue the company and never work for the company again- I don’t know why we can’t work for them ever again, but whatever). But I had no place to go in the morning. I didn’t have any coworkers anymore.

I laid on the couch, feeling weird. I didn’t have to worry about running equipment off anymore. I didn’t have to worry about suppliers who needed products TODAY that we didn’t have.

That night, I went to my Weight Watcher meeting and I had lost 3.5 pounds. Then I went and picked up a pizza, ice cream and Jim Beam. B/c it was that sort of night.

The next day, The Great Boss called me. He said that I shouldn’t have been the one to go, that I wasn’t even in the Top 5 that should’ve been let go. He also said that someone else in our group got let go- The former Indianpolis Colts football player. He told me that I had a glowing reference with him and to use him as I needed to.

Later that day, I called a former coworker and he filled me in on what happened after I had left. A meeting had been had and the group had been told of myself and Former Colt Guy’s release. My coworkers couldn’t believe I had been let go. Then I told my former coworker what had happened and that contrary to popular belief, security does NOT escort you out. He promised to keep me informed of the program and what happens.

That leads me up to today, Day 2 without a job. My sleeping has been erratic- I’ve been having weird dreams about getting fired and not getting a job for ever and that type of thing. This morning, I woke up feeling blah, which turned into about two hours of “No one will want to hire me. I don’t want to interview again.” Then after a diet coke and some wheat crackers, I was motivated and starting cleaning.

I had to call The Boss to verify my ‘come get your personal shit’ time. We agreed on tomorrow after my ‘outplacement service mtg’ (where they’re supposed to explain everything to me in more detail). He also informed me that our 2008 results were in and we’d be getting our yearly bonuses and yes, he continued, you’re still getting yours.

Which leads up to right now. I know I need to update my resume. If I get a job pretty quickly, Mr. C and I will be able to sock away my severance pay for a down payment on a house. If I don’t… well, we have to start living frugally now to cover all of our ‘just in cases’. But I still have that ‘weird’ feeling. The feeling that my 1.5 years experience and my puny bachelors degree won’t be enough. And I’m not quite ready to feel rejected again so soon.

Being ‘let go’ sucks.

6:45am: Wake up because I’m freezing. Realize I shoudn’t have left the setting on ‘fan- cool’ all night. Get pissed because it woke me up before my alarm.

6:50am: Decide that I can’t take the coldness anymore. Curse Mr. C because he’s not beside me to warm me up. Get up, turn on ‘low heat’.

7:00am: Alarm 1 goes off. Think to myself “No way in hell.”

7:15am: Second alarm goes off. Think to myself “We’re not leaving until 8:15, I can sleep a little longer.”

7:45am: Get out of bed. Turn on the bedside light. Call Mr. C. Talk to him while I put my laptop in my computer bag, wrap up my laptop charger, place it in bag. End convo with Mr. C. Get in shower.

8:00am: Get out of shower. Dry hair. Pick up hotel bill, put it in my purse for expense report later. Get dressed. Put make-up on. Finish packing rest of stuff in suitcase.

8:15am: Head downstairs to meet coworker carrying purse, suitcase, and laptop bag.

8:20am: Mumble good morning, pack stuff into rental car. Scrape ice off my side of rental car. Mumble about how cold it is.

8:25am: Head to supplier’s company.

8:35am: Arrive at supplier. Sign in. Clip on guest badge for the day. Head to meeting room.

8:45am: Boot up computer. Talk turns to the stock market (down 5% yesterday). Briefly talk about what auto companies are doing (and not doing).

8:50am: Get quick updates from supplier people. There are schedule issues. The machine is progressing along nicely. Need info about that one thing.

9:00am: Head out onto floor to see machine progress. Supposed to see a part run through. Part gets stuck in second station. Watch over shoulder as supplier person tries to fix it. Text Mr. C to tell him that I love him. He responds by telling me that he loves me and calling me beautiful.

9:05am: Decide to go ahead and review the user screens. Point out issues. Make request to add some things, change some text, and lock some screens so that machine operators can’t get into sensitive areas and change things. Be thankful that I have competent coworkers. Take a quick break to eat the english muffin that I brought from home.

10:30am: Start to wonder about lunch.

11:00am: Meet the person who is programming my robot. He shows me what he still has to do to finish programming. Makes me happy by telling me that he can manipulate the camera and make it verify that things are how they are supposed to be.

11:30am: Remind supplier people that mark has to be 21 characters long AND a computer readable matrix. Get blank look. Show supplier people the part I sent over for them to use for one week. Remind them that I snuck the part out from another group and they can only have it for a week. They scratch their heads. I repeat that we need 21 characters at least to show another group in my company that you can’t read that many numbers, then we can talk them into letting us only put half the number on there. They agree.

11:45am: Lunch! Barbeque joint. Vow to eat healthy.

12:15pm: Pulled pork sandwich with homemade potato chips. (Yeah, not so healthy) Get some inside scoops about other companies in the same field of works as my company. One cancelled a $30 million dollar project.

12:30pm: Decide to splurge and get a dessert.

12:35pm: Regret decision to get dessert. I wasted valuable points on this piece of crap? Supplier company project manager pays for lunch.

1:00pm: Return to supplier company. Head out to machine to watch a part run through the machine.

1:15pm: With a little manual help, the part makes it all the way through. I make notes about issues. Wonder how in the world they expected this machine to be ready by next week.

1:30pm: Begin going through each station with my manager, climb on a ladder to look at high areas, pulling tubes. Question leaking oil tubes. Get hydraulic expert out to explain issues. Notice that a safety pin isn’t so safe if it doesn’t fit in the right hole.

2:00pm: Get text from Mr. C saying that he’s wearing my socks. Smile. Reply that he better not stink them up.

2:30pm: Get asked a question, wish for the 18,937th time that my work computer hadn’t been stolen with all my files on it.

3:15pm: Head back into meeting room to discuss open issues with machine. Get text from Mr. C saying that he remembers when his girlfriend used to call him. I smile b/c he misses me. Reply back that I’ve been busy.

3:45pm: Meet with manager of supplier company about schedule issues. Unexpected early delivery of another company’s machine means they need our machine off the floor sooner than they thought. We review schedule. Settle on decision that I’ll keep them updated on schedule changes and we’ll go from there. Supplier company manager looks at his blackberry t0uch. Announces that the stock market is back up.

4:15pm: Head out onto floor to look at my other machine, review another part’s machines.

5:00pm: Get back into meeting room. Supplier person comes in to tell me that they may run low on parts for assembly. I review quick numbers in my head. Question him but see where he’s coming from. Tell him I need numbers of what he has in stock and to keep me updated.

5:15pm: Leave supplier company. Coworker and I talk about how our company is letting even more people go and how our department has the chance to be cancelled completely.

5:50pm: Arrive at hotel. Check in. Drop bags in room and head back down to lobby to meet coworkers and salesguy from Company 2 for dinner.

6:15pm: Sit down for dinner at nice restaurant. Talk about sales at Company2 (down, way down). Talk about economy.

6:30pm: Damn appetizers! Calamari and shrimp. I bring up to salesguy about a guy in their company getting laid off. Press him for why they would do it. Salesguy replies that he didn’t agree with it. **

7:00pm: Dinner. Chicken with goat cheese, artichoke hearts, and veggies. It’s so good I don’t even look at anyone else’s food.

7:15pm: Contribute stories about our dogs. Salesguy buys dinner.

7:30pm: Get back to hotel. Get checksheets for machines we’ll be looking at tomorrow from manager. Call Mr. C. Talk for a couple of minutes.

7:45pm: TV. This hotel doesn’t have HGTV. DAMN IT. So I read blogs, watch American Idol, and look for deals online.

9:45pm: Mr. C calls me. Ask him about the mail, how work was, how the chickens are. He’s ready for bed. Say goodnight.

10:00pm: Curse myself for waiting so long to work out. Change into workout gear. Realize a rerun of Big Love is on.

10:30pm: Head down to gym. Climb on elliptical. Turn on Big Love. Do elliptical for 30 minutes.

11:00pm: Head back up to room. Overhear front desk people discussing night deposits.

11:15pm: Realize that Big Love turned into some p0rn star giving $ex advice. Curse the hotel again for no HGTV.

11:30pm: Decide to write a blog but don’t feel like writing about our house getting broken into. Decide to do a boring re-cap of my day. Wonder where I’ll be in 5 years. Think I may enjoy looking back to read how my travelling days were usually spent.

11:45pm: Finish blog. Put all dirty clothes into plastic bag that hangs in the hotel closet. Lay out clothes for tomorrow. Know that mornings are my weakness so make sure everything is ready for a shower in the morning. Take a post-workout shower, pausing in front of the mirror to look at my body. Are my legs thinner or is it just me?

12:00am: Brush teeth. Stare at the heat/AC unit wondering what setting I should put it on. Decide on ‘fan- cool’ setting. Set double alarms for the morning.

12:10am: Crawl into bed. Wonder why the hotel makes it so that you can’t pull the covers up to your chin. Wish that Mr. C was lying next to me. Curse hotel for not having a sleep timer on their remote control.

12:30am: Groggily turn TV off. Fall asleep.

And the next morning it starts all over again.

Feel free to do your own “A Day With Me”. I like reading what people do with their days!

**So Company2 brings this guy in from another division. They train him. They send him down to live in the city where I work for two years to support their equipment. He moves his entire family down around Thanksgiving but can’t sell his house in Michigan b/c the housing market sucks. He’s paying two mortgages and just uprooted his whole family for this job. Company2 lets this employee go. As in, he has no job. As in they totally fucked him over.

Thanks to everyone’s advice and ’sympathy’ (AHEM) regarding my last post about our new dog. (And I replied to the comments ON your comments- I’ll have to do that until I can get my e-mail issue figured out!) I thought I’d do a quick update.

Molly is doing better. She settled down and she and Jolee are now friends.

See? I iz cute, no evil.

She’s still not house-trained, but as long as we take her out every 30 minutes it’s not a problem. (Really- she’s quite the pisser) She’s also very protective of her chew-bones. Like she buried one under my pillow, one behind a dresser, and another one in a JCPenny bag. And if Jolee OR the cats go near her hiding spot, she chases them away.

But, other than that, she’s just as excited as Jolee to see us when we get home from work and she tolerates Jolee trying to play with her. Also, she’s not humping so much. Just maybe once a day or so. Maybe this will work out!

It’s My Turn

To be worried about my job that is. My company is laying off quite a few of the professional/exempt workforce (Hi my name is Jennifer and that includes ME). We’re supposed to find out next Thursday if we’re getting laid off. So that’ll be fun. (and by fun I mean suck ass) My boss is thinking about taking the early retirement offer (he’d get 9 months of pay!) which is sad b/c he knows a lot about the work and he’s an awesome boss. I had wanted to sponsor a family on the angel tree, but I’m trying to wait and see if I, ya know, have a JOB first.

After crunching numbers, things would be uber-tight if I did lose my job. I may have to sell my body work at W#l-M#rt just to have some income. So that means I better get my ass in shape work on my friendly personality. Maybe I should do some inner thigh workouts practice my smile. Or maybe even work on my technique. Ya know, for handing out stickers.

Keep your fingers crossed that this blogger doesn’t get kicked out of her cubicle. Then I’d be writing from the REAL Backporch. (Then I could be the Real Housewife Blogger from the Orange County Backporch!)

Have you entered my Venus Embrace Giveaway yet? If not GO DO IT!  Right now your chances are pretty good since not many people have entered!!

I had another Girl Power Luncheon today. I wrote about a previous one HERE. Today, the Kathy Bates look alike did her usual ‘OMG- I’m so important, no one else can do my job’ thing and talked about how she ‘almost didn’t make it b/c she was SO busy.’ Gah.

But she topped herself today and reminded me of a pet peeve I have.

People who ask ridiculously stupid questions to make themselves look good.

We had a speaker talk about networking today, and after she was done, our Girl Power leader told everyone to get in their groups and discuss ideas. So, of course Kathy-Bates-Lookalike pipes up and asks how much help you can give a contractor employee before you’re breaking Company policy. So of course the leaders of the table ask her to explain, all of us probably thinking that she meant helping a contractor employee get on at Company, or get overtime or something. You know- something that makes SENSE.

Instead she says that she had a contracted coworker (which means that he works for a company that was hired by our Company to do work) who had a cousin in Virginia (why is the location important?! WHY?!) who was Indian and who was getting beaten up by her husband. So Kathy-Bates-Lookalike told him about the Battered and Abused Women hotline and convinced him to convince her to call. Eventually, the women did call and was able to get her passport from her husband and get away from him.

Now- where in that did you see anything that might be against company policy?

NOWHERE.

She wanted to draw attention to herself and make herself look good for saving this woman (in Virginia for God’s sake!) from her husband.

Not that what she did wasn’t the right thing- but is it necessary to bring it up at a NETWORKING discussion?

Gah.

Also? The speaker was great, she really was and is very successful at what she does. But it still boggles my mind being around people who think that $50,000 is a bottom-of-the-barrel salary. I kind of like it b/c it means that I’m headed in the right direction… but it’s crazy b/c I also know people who make 1/2 of that and consider their salary decent. It’s two very different worlds, my friends.

A Friendly Giveaway

Also- if you love Tupperware (or could use some new stuff) Chris is giving away a Tupperware Lunch Set on her blog Today’s Organized Kitchen. Tell her I sent you and good luck!

I think the worst thing you can find out about a hotel is if it’s completely booked.

Not because you may get stuck with a shitty room.

But because that means there’s SOMETHING going on in the area. And in the Detroit area, usually that’s a Car Show, or some sort of business conference.

But that wasn’t my fate this time.

Oh no.

It was worse.

Much Worse.

The fucking Junior Olympics.

I don’t even know exactly what it is, but I’m guessing it’s a bunch of stage-parents who push their kids in sports so that they’re in the JUNIOR OLYMPICS and it sounds REALLY cool.

So we walk in and there’s all these kids walking around. Then I walk down the (LONG) hallway to my room and I pass rooms where I can hear thousands of kids. I even saw one room with like 15 girls who were like 13 years old, sitting around a table with plastic cups and what looked like wine bottles sitting around. Uh yeah.

Thankfully, the hotel put me at the end of the hallway and there’s not much noise on my end.

Although when I went to work out, there were several groups of boys (14-ish age) who ignored the big “18 AND OVER” sign and came in, talking loudly, lifting the free weights, lifting their shirts and looking at their chests, and of course- flexing in front of the mirrors to show off their biceps.

Regardless of their cute little 14-year old muscles, I so would’ve kicked their asses if they had even THOUGHT about touching the TV remote (which was on a different machine than mine). I was watching Project Runway. And you don’t fuckin’ mess with Project Runway while I’m running two miles.

Favorite baby t-shirt seen on a kids picture at supplier company today:

“I’m hung like a 5-year old”

So tonight I’m in Dearborn, Michigan. I’ve never been to Dearborn, Michigan before and I arrived here, I’ll admit, in a piss-poor mood.

For one, my boss is ’sick’ (he has a cold) so he refused to drive for the whole trip. That includes the seven (7!!!) hour drive to place A, then the 1.5 hour drive to current place, B. So I’ve driven 8.5 hours today. I could’ve been at Myrtle Beach by now. But I’m NOT. I’m in DEARBORN, MICHIGAN.

For two, Mr. C got invited to go golfing at a pretty fancy golf course by a vendor of his. (For the record, I don’t know if he’s ever golfed before) So I haven’t heard from him since like 2:00 today which makes me cranky b/c I’m in a hotel room ALONE and I need someone to talk TO.

For three, I booked the hotel rooms and my boss is in the room right next to me. And our rooms have those ‘adjoining doors’. Fuckin yay. Everytime he flushes the toilet or turns on the sink, I hear it like it’s in my room.

Argh.

So, at first I was determined to not go get something to eat. Then I sat in my small-ass hotel room and got a little stir-crazy and decided to head out to the local McD’s.

That’s when fate intervened.

I turned on the navigation on my phone, but thanks to it’s confusion trying to navigate the ‘Michigan Lefts’ and my confusion trying to figure out where the HELL it wanted me to go, I wound up on the opposite end of where I was headed. So I went to turn into the closest parking lot to turn around, and I noticed that there were fresh vegetables all over the front porch of this store. So, with my curiousity piqued, I parked and walked in.

It was HEAVEN.

There were fresh fruits and vegetables everywhere. There was a bakery, a meat shop, a dessert counter (with FRENCH desserts! and cute little cakes!), there was wine, and cheese, and fresh cooked fish. They had 16 different varieties of OLIVES (I counted!) all fresh and begging for a martini. Did I mention the desserts? One variety of little cake sat in a made-of-chocolate teacup. TOO cute!!

It was Westborn Market.

After walking around doe-eyed for a while, I picked out a sandwich on freshly-made bread, with a cut of cheese, and crackers. (The France experience is coming back to me) I also went to the dessert counter and was proudly walking away from the fabulous selections when my eye caught on a 9-layer strawberry shortcake. “I’ve changed my mind!” I said proudly, “I’ll take a strawberry shortcake!”

Yum. The cheese? $16.99 a pound. My cut was less than that of course, and of COURSE my company is paying for it b/c HELLO! I’m travelling!

Yumm*9 layers. Yeah.

I’m almost certain that what I picked out was healthier than McD’s. Almost.

It’s amazing how a small thing like finding a fabulous fresh-market can turn your day around.

Now when the hell is Mr. C gonna call me back?!

Dear Fucker Who Let His Kids ‘Work Out’:

I just wanted to thank you for letting your fucking daughters play on the (only) treadmills in the workout room. My room? The one right across from the workout room? Yeah- I heard EVERY beep that came from that damn room. EVERY time your daughters pushed the button to raise/lower the speed OR incline, I heard it like I was in beeping hell. Sure, I could’ve worked out on the stationary bike, but your fucking son was playing on the damn thing like it was a jungle gym.

 So thank you, Fucker, for preventing me from working out tonight. My fat ass really appreciates it.

                                                                 Sincerely,

                                                                       ROOM 128

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Thank you all for your comforting words about my ‘relationship breakdown’. I’ll respond back to your comments once I get a decent wireless connection. And Mr. C? Totally got me beautiful flowers yesterday that I could smell when he was still ten feet away. And today? He woke me up with a kiss and a “Happy 2 year and 1 day anniversary sugar.” He doesn’t read my blog, but sometimes I think he reads my thoughts.

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Side note: Watching Oprah from my hotel room in Michigan. This woman has put her family in horrible financial debt. She’s a stay-at-home-mom, he works and makes what Mr. C and I do combined. They have $135,000 in credit card debt. No health insurance. $2800 a month mortgage (I think she said the mortgage was $650,000), and three car payments of $1700 a month.

Holy shit.

Scene: Driving to Michigan last week with two male coworkers.

Coworker1: It was neat seeing the octopus. It’s testicles were all stretched out…. (continues with story, but he lost me after testicles)

Pause.

Coworker1: Did I just say testicles? *Cracks up laughing*

heh. I laughed pretty hard about that one.

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And a relationship scene quiz for the day:

In what scene did Mr. C turn to me and say “Did you put the chickens up for the night?”

a.) After dinner

b.) While I was in the shower

c.) IN THE… err…HEAT OF FUCKIN PASSION

d.) Before I left for work

If you answered C- the most wildly inappropriate moment to be bringing up the chickens, you would be correct. What. The. Fuck.

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Did I mention I got a raise? A 5.23% one? Oh yes. I make more than Mr. C. So take THAT chicken boy!

Family Guy Quote of the Day:

Peter: Oh my god, Brian, there’s a message in my Alphabits. It says, ‘Oooooo.’
Brian: Peter, those are Cheerios.

 I love Family guy.

Tonight I’m in Room 206 in Fenton Michigan. Do you see the non-smoking sign on there? NO? That’s because the hotel is sold out and I got stuck in a smoking room.

Nothing against people who smoke, I just don’t do it and prefer not to smell it. Guess I have to suck it up for tonight. (Although another guy I’m travelling with offered me the Honeymoon Suite he got ’stuck’ with… complete with a heart-shaped jacuzzi)

The hotel is sold out because of some Golf thing going on in the area. I am not impressed.

I’ll end with a family guy quote b/c they’re so stinkin’ funny. (And maybe a little truthful of the voting public? heh.)

Dennis Miller: I don’t wanna go on a RANT here but America’s foreign policy makes about as much sense as Beowolf having sex with Robert Fulton at the first Battle of Antetum. I mean when a neo-conservative defenstrates it’s like Raskalnakov filibuster dioxymonohydrostinate.
Peter: What the hell does RANT mean?

By the way… I copied Kitty Concerto’s idea and I started replying to your comments ON the comments, so check back and respond again if you’d like!