It's the Holiday Season....

...so hoop de doop, and dickery-dock. (Don't ask me, Frank Sinatra sang it.)

It's been an interesting start to the stretch from Thanksgiving to Christmas, more from the personal end than the job end. Heck, the job half of the equation I half-expect to be chaotic, stressful and basically a pressure cooker. I'll start the narrative last Wednesday, when Kel and I put our initial holiday plans into play. Kel and I had planned to go up to her folks' estate in Sauk City, where we would dine with the fam and she would go to the new Twilight: New Moon with her sister (who oh-so-conveniently lives across the street from the parentals) and I would hang out in the basement and watch DVDs. We would spend the night there, take part in the preparation and consumption of the Thanksgiving feast the day after. After watching some televised football, I would drive back home Thursday evening to work at 6 a.m. Black Friday morn while Kel, her sister, mother and aunt would scour the doorbuster ads and plan their early Friday strategy accordingly.

So I get done with work, get packed for the little trip and soon we were off, she in the van and I in the red Neon. The whole way it is raining cats and dogs, so we take the highway instead of the interstate. Once the highway meets Madison's beltway, traffic has slowed to a crawl and we get separated (no doubt because I am an over-cautious driver and she's a decent driver.) So I eventually meet her at the in-laws, which is...empty. They had gone out to eat in Baraboo 35 minutes previous. Kel's sister soon arrives and she is not feeling well at all. So no dinner, no movie. Kel decided to chek in with her aunt, who was staying at a hotel at the Dells. On a lark, we contact the hotel itself to see if they had any openings. The clerk told her the regular rate (which was a little above the imaginary price in our collective mind) but then gave us a much lower rate if we came in that night (which our collective mind liked.) If nothing else, it meant not having to share a twin bed in the basement, which by previous experience is a bit cramped. We left the car in the parents' driveway and drove the van up to Tourist Trap USA, er, Wisconsin Dells.

We checked back with Kel's aunt who gave us general directions to the hotel. We agreed that we would find the hotel and then find somewhere close to there to eat, sicne we were both famished at that point. It only took us one wrong turn and some clever guessing, but we found the place and then took off to the nearest Mickie D's to catch some quick grub. There, we were surprised to find out the assortment of things that normally came to about $11 in town cost over $20 at the Dells! (We should have been suspicious when we looked at the Drive-Through menu and saw no Dollar Menu... the McDouble cost $1.70!) We passed and instead went to a Burger King, where the prices were a little more reasonable AND they had little Twilight: New Moon postcards with coupons on the back. Score?!

At the hotel, we figured out why we got such an awesome rate, because the place was practically deserted -- if the hotel from the Shining had an indoor pool park, that would have been the place we were staying. We ate, watched a little TV and then decided to try out the pool facilities. (Since we knew Kel's Aunt was staying there, we had packed swim trunks anyway in case we decided to do some post-turkey swimming.) The hotel had two separate pool areas on the grounds: we went to the smaller one as it was doors away from our room, but it still had a generous pool with a small slide, a hot tub and a steam room (which sadly was out-of-order.) Kel and I spent most of the time in the tub, and her aunt and uncle joined us soon afterward. We had a lovely conversation that I heard about ten words of; with the hot tub bubblings and a child's birthday party happening nearby, I could basically see jaws move and little else, so I just nodded occasionally, hoping that would cover. After hitting the main pool for a spell and another hot-tub soak, we said our good-byes and headed back to our room, where we watched some DVDs before getting some shut-eye.

Morning found us behind schedule and in packing to leave we nearly forgot our swim outfits. While still at the Dells, we got a pivotal Thanksgiving paper stuffed with all the Black Friday ads and then took the short drive south back to Kel's folks. When we got there, Kel's dad tried to get me to help him out with something on the computer, which we figured out after Kel came in. It seemed a little tense for whatever reason, which was weird because not only was it Thanksgiving but it also happened to be Kel's sister's birthday. So the birthday girl came over, we lengthened the table to accomedate everyone, and the newspaper began to get dissected as the turkey was tanning.

I was going through an ad so I missed the main brunt of it, but words were exchanged between parents and kids, Tracy was out the door and we soon followed. Tracy walked back to her house and after getting the Aunt and Uncle from the hotel into the house without actually entering the house, we decided to head back home. Kel's folks have had a lot of stuff on their plate this month (we had just buried Kel's grandma a few weeks before) and rather than take part in potential fireworks just decided to bow out. Don't get me wrong -- I love eating turkey, potatoes and all that jazz but it seemed to me there was a black cloud looming over the whole thing. So we headed back to home and had a quiet Turkey Day with us and the doggies. (Kel's sister returned to the house after a bit and the rest of the party had their dinner as scheduled, and even went to the nearby casino.) Kel cooked up some cocktail weinies and that was our holiday dinner. Obviously it was not at all how we planned it, but it was still cool, and it really showed how tight a couple we are that we were still able to enjoy it. I really can't commentate on what went or will go on with Kel's folks; I guess time will tell.

Among the notable drawbacks to un-inviting ourselves to the Thanksgiving meal was leaving the ad paper at the house -- we visited a gas station because the Neon was running on vapors, and a large paper right by the doors said "SORRY NO PAPERS." I suspect they weren't the only ones. As it turned out, the only Door Buster sale I attended was the one I, you know, get paid for. Working at a 24-hour store makes doing early morning sales a bit strange, as the whole need for someone to actually open the door to begin the sale is eliminated. Previously, we had started the sale at 6 a.m. and had someone behind each and every register, which guaranteed at least 90 minutes of white-knuckle cashiering. This year, the powers that be decided to start the sale at midnight, which meant the white-hot portion of shopping was handled by our graveyard shift, who reported that they were crazy busy for about two hours. While it must have sucked for them, it was nice to have a pretty quiet, unpanicked morning as far as customers went. Of course, we did have to unload and put away a 550-plus piece truck, so at least we weren't bored -- and it did seem to pick up after 1pm. After my shift, I looked for a few things at Target, went back to my job to get the best sales there (Patroit Candles 3 for the price of 1 and $1.99 Red baron Pizza and $1.99 pints of Ben and Jerry) and cleaned up my office as Kel had gone to Madison with her sister to see New Moon and 2012.

Saturday we cleaned the house a tad before visiting one of Kel's cousins for an early dinner in Rockford. We took a scenic route to avoid the tolls and made one wrong turn so we were a little late to meet cousin and hubby. The place had the same general idea as Kel's current fave Madison restaurant Hu Hot, so we went to see how close it was to that. I thought it was OK, but I am also not as big a fan of the "put all your ingedients in a bowl and we'll cook it" style. Since my knowledge of cooking techniques doesn't go much beyond preparing freaking Jello, I'm not the person to know what sauces and spices go with each meat, etc etc. So I basically wing it with each successive trip and while I like everything, nothing knocks me out enough stay with something consistently. (Once I get a combination I like at a restaurant, it's always good, which is reflected in my loyalty to my local Subways and Qudobas.)

After our meal, we departed to head back home and decided to hit the Target in the next town north and see if there were any great sales left to test our newly expanded Target card limit. Without saying too much, we gave it a good test. Kel got a new jacket, we got a new scanner and I got new work pants and a crap-ton of DVDs and milk (which was the only thing we truly came in for.) We were home by 8:30pm, which still gave us enough time to go to my work's holiday party which was fun, if sparsely attended. (We had the party at a bowling alley, which allowed me to display my sub-triple digits bowling dominance, which paired with three other co-workers who actually bowl more than once a decade guaranteed me last place.)

The next day brought a new wrinkle to my day-to-day, which was working on Sunday, which I hadn't done since I got promoted back in March. I had forgotten what a different pace and wavelength working on Sundays is. That might sound funny for those of you reading who don't work retail, but every day has a different vibe -- both referring to days of the week and the weather outside. Sundays happen to be the first day of our sales flyers, so we get a steady stream of bargain shoppers who fill their carts to bursting. It was also cold, so people seemed more likely to wheel around the store leisurely. Normally, Sundays in winters are quieter but since the Packers had already played Thanksgiving Day, that didn't seem to be the case this Sunday. Whether it was working Sunday, having three days off or working more of a mid-day shift (I started at 10am when usually I come in at 7:30am at the latest) I wasn't feeling it 100% but still got most of my projects done. With time and routine, that'll change. The worst thing about working Sundays mean I'll have to miss a few Packers games, but that's why there are DVRs, I suppose.

Believe it or not, we're looking pretty good coming up to Christmas. Almost all of our holiday gifts are purchased and ready to be wrapped, and that for me is the most stressful part of all. The tree, the trimming, the endless parade of Christmas programming, all of that is a little easier if the gifts have been bought already. So whatever holiday or holidays you have coming up, I sincerely hope your next few weeks are plagued with as little stress as possible. And maybe Santa Adam will write a blog or two in December.

Weekend notes

I tend to leave my little blog corner a little dusty, and for that I apologize to the ones and ones of you that actually read this. There is a rather large blog post that is ongoing and will dwarf any of my other posts, but as it is ongoing, I will make a pitstop and describe my weekend and what I did.

When I came home Friday afternoon, Kel and I did some last minute house-tidying. This was our weekend of respite for two sets of two kids (we will refer to them as M(f), M(m), R and A, as per foster care decorum in concealing identities.) M(f) and M(m) were to arrive right around 5pm, but they had some home issues to resolve and they didn't find their way here until just about 6:45pm. We are quite friendly with their foster mom so we were told that they would be in trouble for a few things, and we followed through once they got there. We've had all four kids in the past so we know what mischief they can get into, but it helped that M&M would have an evening to themselves to get settled in. A & R were to arrive Saturday morning, and lucky Kel would get to supervise/police/referee their morning and afternoon monkeyshines, as I (irony alert) would attend a foster care workshop. (Our agency requires foster parents to procure 24 hours of workshop training -- Saturday would enable me to lob off a quarter of that in one fell swoop) Everyone was supposed to pass a dish around so Kel found a recipe and I did some late-night grocery shopping to get some ingredients, as well as returning some overdue library stuff. I picked the grocery closest to the library, which is not my favorite but it's lack of customers ensured my full slob dress attire (generic Madison t-shirt with flimsy Gears of War sweats) would be noticed by as few folks as possible.

As Saturday morn arrived, I beat everyone to the morning sun, and was able to get a load of dishes and laundry going before attending to kids waking up. M&M got up around 8ish, we talked for a little bit and then Kel came down as well. R&A came about a half hour late, which wouldn'tve been an issue had we not said M&M could eat when they arrived. So as all four kids got situated, we realized the number one requested breakfast option (toast) was scandalously low, and so off I can to the local gas station conveneince store. Grabbed the bread, went up to pay...and my debit card is not in the debit card slot. I have the cashier hold my purchase, I mentally re-trace my steps, and start rifling through the car in search of my card. I fail to find it, realize my wife's purse (and, by extension, debit card) is in the back seat, and jazz improv off of that to get my vittles. I get home, breakfast continues to be served, Kel goes through a list of house rules and responsibilities charts to keep the Four Horsekids at bay, and before I know it, I'm off to Milton and training.

The training was pretty low-key; it was me and one other older couple. The first half was a DVD on parental guidence of teens based on logic and love, which Cliff-Notes into letting your child have choices and have them learn from the mistakes they make along the way. Some of it made sense, some of it I questioned. Overall I'm noticing with these presentations the people doing them try too hard to be comedians, so it comes off like open mic night for doctors and pyschologists. After a lunch (spicy chili and the dessert Kel made for me) we went to the second half, which was an audio presentation on grief and coping by the same guy that was on the DVD. Having the voice with nothing to attach it to was a struggle, as the educator guy had a sing-songy, melliflous voice that caused more than a few eyelids to flutter. His main brunt of handlibng tough sitautions was to talk it through with the kids by asking the right questions and offering your own analysis of it as one of many tactics. Again, thumbs up on some, thumbs down on others, and the two minute examples of his plan "working" sounded unconvincing. We were able to wrap up a few minutes early, so I headed back to the car and searched a bit more for the debit card, which I eventually found in that half-inch of carpet floor between the passenger seat and passenger door.

Back home, Kel had a friend of hers over I hadn't yet met as well as her infant son. We chewed the fat for a bit, got dinner ready as by now it was almost 5pm, and brought the kids downstairs. The rest of the night the kids watched a Halloween movie on one of the Disney networks, played a Press Your Luck DVD game and then some full band Guitar Hero where I played roadie/band manager/instrument assigner. And then, after a few too many interband arguments/ego trips (which, considering their instrumental acumen was roughly The Shaggs Pop Warner level, was a bit funny) I played Yoko Ono and broke up the band with a quick flick of the power switch. It was almost time for them to head up to bed, anyway, but they managed to soothe over any hurt feelings. After going through their responsibilities charts and figuring out the perfect balance of in-room lights (for the boys, one night light; the huge lamp for the girls), I computed while they and Kel went off to dreamland.

When the alarm went off Sunday morning, I habitually did my snooze tap and turned to Kel's side of the bed, which was empty. I took this as an excuse to sleep in a little, and had it budgeted to be longer, but even the best of dreams will be interrupted by a black lab sitting on your head. (The dream as I remember it was quite a doozy; Kel and I had bought an old Prange Way department store as the rent was low --- $200/month -- and we actually lived in the department store, except people still tried to enter the store to shop and the dogs kept going out the automatic doors. So we took our complaints to the mayor, whose office told us to wait as he was "getting prepared" and as Kel and I waited in the lobby, we saw people frantically taping up sheets of paper to the mayor's door. Curious, I peeked through a corner of the window that had not been covered up and saw a bunch of people creating this paper mache fellow with bits of newspaper and rubber cement. That's when the alarm went off.)

All the kids were scheduled to be gone by 9am: R & A's ride came almost right on schedule and M&M left about 35 minutes later. (They forgot their school folders, which had projects they were to do that day.) I picked up here and there, pleasantly surprised at how smoothly things had gone and how much of the day I had to loaf around. Then, Kel decided to go see her sister in Sauk City, leaving me to myself for the rest of the day.

It's amazing how much little I did. I watched the Pack game, which was probably one of the most underwhelming 26-0 victories an NFL team can have. (The New England Patroits in the 3pm slot took it upon themselves to deliver the Week 1 Tecmo Bowl stomping we should have delivered.) The Ravens came **this** close to ending the Vikings' perfect season, which I didn't mind much as it keeps the hope alive that the Pack can hang their first L on them in Lambeau. I did a little computing, way too much Bejeweled, made a half-hearted stab at re-organizing my CDs, which are mostly corralled in cardboard boxes at the moment, and watched Amazing Race which was fun, despite my favorite team being booted the week previous. (And which I would have missed had it not been for me coming down to check on it -- CBS having a football doubleheader almost always wreaks havoc on the primetime schedule, and so my 7pm show did not start until 8:15pm!)

So another five days of work loom in the morning. Plus, Kel's grandma has been in the hospital, and she is having some procedure done Monday, and having loved ones around at times like those always helps. So I end this at the stroke of midnight, which will guarantee me yawns for most of the morn.

A Body at Rest Does Not Tend to Blog....

....but how about we try to refute that truism I just made up?

So yeah, today was the first day of a seven day break from my job. At my work, taking vacations the final two months of the year is a no-no. This means you must use your vacation days before October 31st and you lose them unless you can bank them. I had 8 days remaining and could only bank three, so I took Monday-Friday off and had the weekends off anyway, so that worked out well.

We had planned for about a month or so to head up to our parents' cottage in the northeastern part of WI, about 20 minutes away from the Michigan border. The cottage is nestled deep in the woods, and quite rustic; there's no indoor pumbling and our electricity will come from a gas generator. But I think it will be quite nice not to be tied to the internet or my Playstation or DishTV for a little bit. Not in any kind of Walt Whitman-esque yearning for the sanctity or nature, but just to be....away? If anything, it will be an adventure.

The last time we were up there was the last weekend we had the boy we had in our care for 1 1/4 years and he had a blast. My middle brother came up with his wife and their five kids and my folks came up, too. It was a nice goodbye to him under some less-than-ideal circumstances, so now hopefully this trip will allow Kel and I to have our own memories of "The Shack", as my mom refers to it.

Of course, as seems to happen with any long-term plan we start executing, we hit a few snags on the road. The main one came to light about three weeks ago when I got a call from Chris, a former co-worker who had worked her way up the ladder to where she had recently become the Operations Trainer for the group of stores in our territory, or "District" in our vernacular. I am currently doing the job she did when she worked at our store, and she helped train me when I was promoted back in March. I can't remember how the conversation flowed word-for-word, but basically she told me there were openings for her position at the Milwaukee district office and in her opinion I would be a great candidate. After a few fits and starts, I applied electronically and had it on my mental back-burner until this Sunday, when I realized going for the interview might mean curtailing or even cancelling the shack excursion. Obviously, for such an amazing opprotunity, I'd cancel it and not think twice about it -- you're not guaranteed any shots at the fabled "brass ring" so you go for it when such a chance falls in your lap.

One of the fellows whom was to interview me called just before I got home Tuesday, but he was gracious enough to give me his cell number, so I quickly called him back and it turned out he wanted to talk to me...but for scheduling purposes it pretty much had to be Friday morning in Milwaukee. It was nice that I didn't have to eat up part of a vacation day, but my store has a supply truck come in Friday AM and part of my duties entail scanning all the merch. I explained this to my interviewer and he said he didn't think it would be a problem and just to let my manager know. His intuition was correct -- my manager gave me the thumbs up and got the second-in-command to come in and replace me (thanks again, Troy!) so I could make my way. Since I was looking fairly shaggy, I got a haircut and -- for the first time in about eight years -- ended up with a complete lack of facial hair. Kel purchased me a nice little outfit, and by early Friday AM I was ready.

I took my Neon, which was badly in need of an oil change. As a result, I budgeted time for an oil change along the way. I stopped to the local lube joint just before 7am. The lights weren't on and there were no hours of operation posted, but there was a fellow behind the register, emmersed in a magazine. I got his attention, but he stated the store wouldn't open til 7:30am, which would not fit into my timetable. Instead of trying to Lincoln-Douglas my way into him opening early or finding another place, I made my way to the Cream City. "Hey," my internal logic joked as Janesville shrank in my rear-view, "if the car breaks down along the way, that's a big sign the job wasn't for you, anyway." My internal logic is such an optimist....

My voyage to Milwaukee was fairly smooth, my soundtrack provided by the newest Mew album (I won't type it out, this blog is long enough already) and Grizzly Bear's Veckatimest. The only minor hiccup was a minor misunderstanding of the Mapquest instructions I had transcribed in my notebook. (General hint: following step 8 becomes much easier when you make sure you've complete step 7 first. Oh numerical order, what would we do without you?) Even with the lovely detour around downtown Milwaukee, I still managed to end up at the locale with 20 minutes to spare.

It's weird how little I remember of the actual interview itself. I remember seeing my store's old pharmacy manager, as he had been promoted to a district position earlier in the summer, but other than that, I have snapshots in my head rather than discernable YouTube clips. I think by watching too many inspirational sport movies, people tend to equate Potentially Big Events with the dramatic slow motion scene where a second or two of real-time gets elongated to gain suspense and drama. That isn't really something you can convey by having two people on one side of a desk asking questions to a fellow on the other side. Still, the interview lasted right around the time budgeted and both of my interviewers seemed pretty upbeat at the end. I guess the future will tell. After stopping at the Walgreens for some liquid refreshment (my interview took place in a building with a Walgreens on one side, an empty shoe place on the other, and the Office up the stairs of an unmarked area between the two) I headed back to Janesville to finish my shift, but took a lunch break at the local Burger King as I had a Buy One Get One coupon for a chicken sandwich.

As I came back to work, I estimated I had three hours before I could punch out. Funny related note: if half your day is travelling multiple counties to take part in a potentially life-changing interview and then coming back, the other half of your day is going to go as slow as Paris Hilton doing long division. Maybe even longer. Still, eventually the little hand got 90 degrees to the right and my vacation time could offically begin.

Today was supposed to be Packing Day, and tomorrow we were to leave bright and early in order to meet the parentals in Green Bay at noon. But Kel has been sick all week, and my motivation to do anything is solely lacking. (Although I do have my clothes, most of my tolietries and a crap ton of books and board games ready to go as I type this.) I'm bringing a notebook and will hopefully have a few reflections while up there I'll jot down. Considering how earnestly I blog and transcribe stuff in my notebooks, expect the read the results... by 2010? Maybe?

Crazy weekend ahead!

Quick life alert: this weekend we will be performing our first official stint as foster parents with our new agency by performing two simaltaneous respites for two foster families. ("Respite" basically is time you are accorded by the agency whereby the kids are not your responsibility. With our first agency, we elected to not use much of ours.) This means we will have SIX kids sleeping under the roof from Friday to Sunday. The nice thing is that all of them have been here before, they know the rules, and all are generally well-behaved and do not cause much grief for us. As bad as the weather looks for this weekend (to paraphrase the Eurythmics, "Here Comes the Rain Again....and Again...and Again") hopefully we can still have some fun. We are going to a wedding on Saturday which should be entertaining. We are unable to get to a wedding last weekend which both Kel and I deeply regret. So, maybe by Monday I'll have a play by play of all the shenanigans. I also want to give my take on the Brett Favre situation at some point, so to whet your appetite, here's a haiku I found on the web about ol' #4.

Throw It Up For Grabs
Hope That My Guys Bring It Down
Go to Hall of Fame

It All Has to Begin Somewhere....right?

OK, so it's 11pm on a Saturday night, I'm feeling my energy drink pulsing through my body (Rip It's A'tomic Pom, if you're curious -- if people can be liquor connoisseurs then maybe I'll be an energy drink connoisseur) and I'm been reading lots of divergent thoughts throughout the internet, through all forms of media, and it's inspired me to maybe create a blog of my own. Now, I already have a presence on the internet, if only social networking sites... more on that later. But if all goes according to the plan, this blog will serve as a headquarters to my prolonged thoughts on matters and how it relates to who I am as a person. So maybe I should begin with a (hopefully short) summary of where I am now. Kind of like "my origin story" if I were a comic book hero. (Disclaimer: I am *NOT* a comic book hero. Far from it. I mean, do you SEE what they wear?)

OK, so. My name is Adam, I am on the cusp of the 35th birthday, I am happily married for just past six years, to a lady named Kelley. I live in a house in Janesville, WI with Kelley and two dogs. I work full-time for a major pharmaceutical convenience chain as an inventory specialist. Prior to being in Janesville, I spent my childhood/adolescence in a small town near Green Bay, then graduated from UW-Madison with a BA in Journalism. My deeply boring pastimes include listening to music, playing video games and reading. Although raised Catholic, I no longer regularly attend services; however, I still consider myself a fairly well-moraled person. I strive to follow the Golden Rule daily, and also attempt to learn something new each day. Although I've worked for my current company for over a decade, I have a wide and varied work background that includes getting paychecks from such myriad companies as Proctor & Gamble, Virgin Records, Asylm Marketing, The Badger Herald, the State Department of Revenue, Handleman Company, and the Janesville Gazette, as well as a recent stint being a foster parent which will hopefully continue with a different organization.

I've been a follower and fan of the web/internet since the first year of college, when email was a newfangled thing. Through some college buddies I discovered alt.net newsgroups and later, Mosiac, and never looked back from there. I did have a Geocities site waaay back in the late 90s, but have long since forgotten exactly where it was. I've had at least a dozen email accounts, but now have my main two at yahoo and gmail, as well as one I give out for people/companies that I suspect will spam the living daylights out of me. I have a Facebook account where I post all my nugget-sized updates and play waaaaaaaaaay too much Bejeweled Blitz and not enough Mafia Wars. I also have a MySpace page where I **used** to display all my random thoughts before it became overran with bots, famewhores and general clunkiness. My favorite internet extension of meself would easily be my last.fm page, which tabulates all the music I've listened to on my iPod and on my computer, song by song, since August 2006. Look in the "Journals" tab and you'll find a few dozen posts which are more music related -- I haven't yet decided whether I will keep my music blogs exclusively there going forward or drop them here as well.

OK, so a hour or so typing later, and the energy drink is wearing off, so I'll finish here. Where the blog goes from here on out is a mystery. I lead a very reserved life, so maybe this blog will allow me to show more of my opinionated, caustic side as it pertains of matters. Maybe I will unleash my zanier, freakier side some of my co-workers see brief glimpses of and that my older friends seem to relish. Maybe I'll just post a bunch of dirty limericks. But feel free to check in often; it may be fun.