What a day I had yesterday!
First off, the original plan for work (a plan put in place by the guy I'm working with) was to sleep in a bit and start at a Walmart between 8 and 9. However, I got a phone call from the guy at around 7 saying that he was sick and asking if I could pack out the route by myself. That's fine...I need to see what it will be like by myself anyway.
If I learned one thing, it's that I will need to get an early start on Fridays if I want to get home at a reasonable hour. I got to my first store at 9, and finished my last one a little after 6. I didn't get home until almost 8. And no, my last store was not almost 2 hours from home. The reason it took so long to get home is because in my effort to avoid traffic, I used my StreetPilot to take the shortest way home, and on a very narrow backwoods road, at a point where another car was coming in the other direction, I hit a pothole so hard I blew a tire. So I had the wonderful task of changing a tire in pitch black darkness (note to self....get a lantern to keep in the car). Funny, my first thought was that I'm paying almost $100/year for the BP Motor Club, and I've never used it in 10 years, and I should call roadside service and use it. But then I considered two things that dismissed the thought. First, I probably would have sat there for a couple of hours waiting, and second, real men don't call roadside service to change a friggin' tire.
Anyway, now I have to get to the dealer and either get the tire fixed (maybe it just got the wind knocked out of it?) or replaced, and have them check and make sure I didn't fuck up the front end at all. It felt ok driving home...didn't even feel like it got knocked out of alignment. I have to say it's really cool having a full-sized spare, including it being the same exact tire that's on the car.
Nine months, one week, 5 hours
11289 cigarettes not smoked, saving $2,822.76
Life saved: 5 weeks, 4 days, 4 hours
Saturday, January 21, 2006
Tuesday, January 17, 2006
Quick update
Not much to report today.
Second week on the new job and so far so good. Physically, it's a breeze compared to Kraft. In 7 work days so far, I've probably only put in about 40 hours. It really is essentially a 4 day work week. Sure, I know it will have it's ups and downs just like any other job, but it's still a huge load off not having to deal with that damn truck.
Had another good night at bowling on Monday. I wasn't thrilled with the progression of the games...you're supposed to improve with each game, but I'll take it. I shot a 234, a 206, and a 197 for a 637 series. My season average will probably go up to a 199. I'd really like to finish with a 200 or above.
I signed up for the Nearfest Patron program lottery. It's a lot of money but it's something I'd like to do at least once, and the difference in cost is a tax write off.
Hopefully I'll get picked, and then be able to get decent seats. It seems that Nearfest is getting like Giants Stadium. Pretty soon all the seats will be patron seats.
I guess that's about it for now.
Nine months, three days, 23 hours
11198 cigarettes not smoked, saving $2,790.03
Life saved: 5 weeks, 3 days, 21 hours
Second week on the new job and so far so good. Physically, it's a breeze compared to Kraft. In 7 work days so far, I've probably only put in about 40 hours. It really is essentially a 4 day work week. Sure, I know it will have it's ups and downs just like any other job, but it's still a huge load off not having to deal with that damn truck.
Had another good night at bowling on Monday. I wasn't thrilled with the progression of the games...you're supposed to improve with each game, but I'll take it. I shot a 234, a 206, and a 197 for a 637 series. My season average will probably go up to a 199. I'd really like to finish with a 200 or above.
I signed up for the Nearfest Patron program lottery. It's a lot of money but it's something I'd like to do at least once, and the difference in cost is a tax write off.
Hopefully I'll get picked, and then be able to get decent seats. It seems that Nearfest is getting like Giants Stadium. Pretty soon all the seats will be patron seats.
I guess that's about it for now.
Nine months, three days, 23 hours
11198 cigarettes not smoked, saving $2,790.03
Life saved: 5 weeks, 3 days, 21 hours
Thursday, January 12, 2006
BucketStamp
Here's something cool. It's called a "BucketStamp" that's created with pics from your own photo albums on Photobucket.com
Job Update
Almost done with my first week on the new job. I think I'm gonna like this. I'm already ecstatic that I don't have to do anything dealing with a truck.
As a result, I'm not nearly as tired when I come home.
It's also nice not having to worry about back-door receiving times.
As it turns out, the District Manager likes to keep guys as close to home as possible, so I'll be taking over the route that I am training on right now. Even better, except for one cluster of stores in the Union, NJ area, it's essentially the same route I had with Kraft. Today, the first 5 stores we did were all within 15 minutes of my house. It was so nice to be able to service them without having to drive 48 miles to Perth Amboy first to pick up a truck.
I like the schedule too. You order on two days, pack out/merchandise on two days, and the fifth day is a "market day", which is the day that you either get ahead for another day, or do resets, or whatever. It's basically a free day...sort of like what study hall was in high school. I've been told that for most guys, this is a 3rd day off more often than not. :-) This past Tuesday, I was home by 11:30 AM. Sweet! ;-)
So Monday is a pack out day, Tuesday is my market day, Wed & Thurs are order days, and Friday is a pack out day.
Oh, and since the route is the same area that I already had, that means I know whether or not some stores have yet been serviced this week by the guy who took over my Kraft route, which means that I was able to "tailor" the shelf space to my benefit with the other guy being none the wiser. :-)
The thing that is the hardest to get used to is the incredible diversity of products compared to Kraft. With Kraft, I just had to worry about pizza (DiGiorno, Tombstone, California Pizza Kitchen, and South Beach Diet). With this job, I'm responsible for Freschetta, Red Baron, Tony's, Red Baron Breakfast pizza, Tony's Pouches, Red Baron Stuffed Slices, Pagoda Asian Sensations snacks (egg rolls and such), and Larry's Stuffed Potatoes.
But it seems a lot more fun so far. I think I made a good decision. Time will tell.
2006 is shaping up pretty good so far. :-)
Eight months, four weeks, one day, 11 hours smober
10939 cigarettes not smoked, saving $2,735.38
Life saved: 5 weeks, 2 days, 23 hours
As a result, I'm not nearly as tired when I come home.
It's also nice not having to worry about back-door receiving times.
As it turns out, the District Manager likes to keep guys as close to home as possible, so I'll be taking over the route that I am training on right now. Even better, except for one cluster of stores in the Union, NJ area, it's essentially the same route I had with Kraft. Today, the first 5 stores we did were all within 15 minutes of my house. It was so nice to be able to service them without having to drive 48 miles to Perth Amboy first to pick up a truck.
I like the schedule too. You order on two days, pack out/merchandise on two days, and the fifth day is a "market day", which is the day that you either get ahead for another day, or do resets, or whatever. It's basically a free day...sort of like what study hall was in high school. I've been told that for most guys, this is a 3rd day off more often than not. :-) This past Tuesday, I was home by 11:30 AM. Sweet! ;-)
So Monday is a pack out day, Tuesday is my market day, Wed & Thurs are order days, and Friday is a pack out day.
Oh, and since the route is the same area that I already had, that means I know whether or not some stores have yet been serviced this week by the guy who took over my Kraft route, which means that I was able to "tailor" the shelf space to my benefit with the other guy being none the wiser. :-)
The thing that is the hardest to get used to is the incredible diversity of products compared to Kraft. With Kraft, I just had to worry about pizza (DiGiorno, Tombstone, California Pizza Kitchen, and South Beach Diet). With this job, I'm responsible for Freschetta, Red Baron, Tony's, Red Baron Breakfast pizza, Tony's Pouches, Red Baron Stuffed Slices, Pagoda Asian Sensations snacks (egg rolls and such), and Larry's Stuffed Potatoes.
But it seems a lot more fun so far. I think I made a good decision. Time will tell.
2006 is shaping up pretty good so far. :-)
Eight months, four weeks, one day, 11 hours smober
10939 cigarettes not smoked, saving $2,735.38
Life saved: 5 weeks, 2 days, 23 hours
Sunday, January 01, 2006
Happy New Year!
Quite a few things to follow up on today.
First, here's a pic taken on Christmas of me holding my newest baby cousin.
Her name is Sophie, and she's the first child in my family born of my generation.
But boy do I feel old....she happens to be the child of my now former "baby cousin".
Funny, it didn't really hit me until Christmas day, but we just recently lost the last of the "elders" of the family, and it occurred to me that my mom and her generation of cousins are now the elders of the family. It was a strange thought to say the least. The timeline has definitely shifted.
The job situation.....I finally cleared all the hurdles for Schwan's, so that's done. I gave two weeks notice at Kraft and I start Schwan's on the 9th. Considering that I had originally wanted to take this week off, I expect the next 4 days to be as minimally productive as possible.
Football....the Dolphins had their best finish in 20 years. They missed the playoffs, but finished 9-7 after starting 3-7, and ended up just one game behind division winner New England. Not bad for a team that went 4-12 last year.
Btw, that Monday night game I went to a couple weeks ago was a fun time. The game sucked (48-3 blowout), but still a good time. The picture at left is of a portable "tap" of beer that they bring to your table. It was in the bar in the hotel in Baltimore. I never saw one before, I thought it was pretty cool.
Christmas was very good for me this year. Got some really nice gifts, with the best being a Garmin StreetPilot 2720. This thing is so cool. Not only is it incredibly accurate, but it also tells you how fast you're going and what time you will arrive at your destination at your current pace. One thing that really comes in handy is knowing the distance until your next turn/exit. I have said to people though, that with all this technology, if "big brother" really is watching, we have no one to blame but ourselves.
Finally, I've been seeing a woman for almost a month now. She's really cool, and we have a lot in common. She likes sports and more importantly, has a genuine passion for music, which is something I've found to be incredibly rare in women.
Anyway, we have a lot of fun together, and I'm looking forward to some good times with her. The potential downside is that she's made it clear that she's the type that has no desire to ever "settle down" with anyone. That includes living with someone. She enjoys being self-sufficient and only wants to have someone to have fun times with and hang out with. Her long term goals are obviously different than mine when it comes to relationships, but hey, I respect that she's given me no misconceptions about it, and I figure I should at least enjoy it as long as I can. I don't think my feelings will ever change, in that I do eventually want to find someone that I can come home to, but there's no reason I should be lonely before I meet that person. :-) Besides, she's incredibly attractive, and even better, tells me how incredibly handsome I am. :-)
Happy New Year indeed!
Eight months, two weeks, five days
10528 cigarettes not smoked, saving $2,632.49
Life saved: 5 weeks, 1 day
First, here's a pic taken on Christmas of me holding my newest baby cousin.Her name is Sophie, and she's the first child in my family born of my generation.
But boy do I feel old....she happens to be the child of my now former "baby cousin".
Funny, it didn't really hit me until Christmas day, but we just recently lost the last of the "elders" of the family, and it occurred to me that my mom and her generation of cousins are now the elders of the family. It was a strange thought to say the least. The timeline has definitely shifted.
The job situation.....I finally cleared all the hurdles for Schwan's, so that's done. I gave two weeks notice at Kraft and I start Schwan's on the 9th. Considering that I had originally wanted to take this week off, I expect the next 4 days to be as minimally productive as possible.
Football....the Dolphins had their best finish in 20 years. They missed the playoffs, but finished 9-7 after starting 3-7, and ended up just one game behind division winner New England. Not bad for a team that went 4-12 last year.
Btw, that Monday night game I went to a couple weeks ago was a fun time. The game sucked (48-3 blowout), but still a good time. The picture at left is of a portable "tap" of beer that they bring to your table. It was in the bar in the hotel in Baltimore. I never saw one before, I thought it was pretty cool.Christmas was very good for me this year. Got some really nice gifts, with the best being a Garmin StreetPilot 2720. This thing is so cool. Not only is it incredibly accurate, but it also tells you how fast you're going and what time you will arrive at your destination at your current pace. One thing that really comes in handy is knowing the distance until your next turn/exit. I have said to people though, that with all this technology, if "big brother" really is watching, we have no one to blame but ourselves.
Finally, I've been seeing a woman for almost a month now. She's really cool, and we have a lot in common. She likes sports and more importantly, has a genuine passion for music, which is something I've found to be incredibly rare in women.
Anyway, we have a lot of fun together, and I'm looking forward to some good times with her. The potential downside is that she's made it clear that she's the type that has no desire to ever "settle down" with anyone. That includes living with someone. She enjoys being self-sufficient and only wants to have someone to have fun times with and hang out with. Her long term goals are obviously different than mine when it comes to relationships, but hey, I respect that she's given me no misconceptions about it, and I figure I should at least enjoy it as long as I can. I don't think my feelings will ever change, in that I do eventually want to find someone that I can come home to, but there's no reason I should be lonely before I meet that person. :-) Besides, she's incredibly attractive, and even better, tells me how incredibly handsome I am. :-) Happy New Year indeed!
Eight months, two weeks, five days
10528 cigarettes not smoked, saving $2,632.49
Life saved: 5 weeks, 1 day
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