I am not a rich man by any means. In fact, I have to work a part-time job, in addition to my full-time job. And that is especially important since my wife has been unemployed since July 2009. Her employer at the time rolled up their operations here and moved to them to Ohio. Since my wife was just an administrative assistant, her job did not move. Not that we would have moved anyway.
She has been looking for work doing what she knows how to do, but has not been lucky enough to find an employer that wants her. She and hundreds of her "closest" friends are all looking for work doing the same thing. She found out last weekend that the last job that she interviewed for had over 200 applicants for one opening. At least she made it to the interview part.
Anyway, it is Sales Tax Free Weekend in Missouri this weekend. And my part-time job (and I thank God that it is only my part-time job) is at a retail store in St. Peters. Oh. My. God. It was crazy busy all day long. We finally really had a break about 30 minutes before the store closed last night.
Not that I'm really complaining, just not enough time to really get done everything we needed to get done yesterday. We're always stuck in two cycles of operation: not having enough work coming in and too much work coming in.
On my way to work this morning, I passed by Crossfit-TNT on New Town Blvd and the crowd of participants in the BackStoppers fund raiser was definitely building. The parking lot was pretty full and they were spilling over into the parking lot next door. Which is encouraging. I'm glad they're getting started early in the day, because that 5K run would be brutal if it later this afternoon.
8.08.2010
8.06.2010
A better morning?
The scene was horrible yesterday morning. The sight of two school buses carrying school band members to their fun day at Six Flags met with disaster, leaving two dead. I can't even think how horrible it would be to get that phone call from the school.
Here is a short list of articles around the net covering the accident: St. Louis Post Dispatch; NPR; Chicago Tribune; USA Today; KMOV; CNN; Salon
And to add further injury, the bus that was dispatched to pick up accident victims has brake failure and also crashes. Fox2Now
If you are going to be in St. Charles this weekend, be sure to check out the Backstopper Fundraiser - Heroes For Heroes Challenge - Aug 8 @ 8am. The fundraiser will be held at 3683 New Town Boulevard(Crossfit-TNT gym) in St. Charles.
8.05.2010
How much is enough?
Story posted today in the St. Louis Post Dispatch (http://is.gd/e4bI9)
about a bill sponsored by Councilman Richard Veit to give a big pay
raise to the mayor of the city of St. Charles, MO.
about a bill sponsored by Councilman Richard Veit to give a big pay
raise to the mayor of the city of St. Charles, MO.
For those playing along, the position of mayor was a part-time
position until 2007 when the council agreed to get rid of the City
Administrator position and make the position of Mayor full-time. The
salary of Mayor was increased at time to $60,000.
I agree with Councilman Dave Beckering that the current salary is too
low for somebody managing 500 employees and a budget of $100 million.
However, with the current economic climate I really don't think this
is the time to give a major increase to anybody.
Under the current setting, the Mayor's salary will raise to $64,000 in
January 2011. Veit's bill will mandate a 2.5% annual increase over
three years which will take the salary over $91,000 by 2014.
With tax revenues staying relatively static and casino revenues
dropping, now is not the time to be talking about large salary
increases. Shouldn't the city be working getting more business into
the city and encouraging city businesses to expand? How do we get the
EDC to get business growing in St. Charles?
What do you think?
8.04.2010
It's an Orange Day
With temperatures expected to pop over 100F with a heat index of 115F,
it is going to be a hot one in St. Charles today. The air quality for
today is "Orange". Which means that sensitive children and adults and
people with respiratory disease, such as asthma, should limit
prolonged, moderate exertion outdoors. Looks like we might get a break
tonight though when a front moves through. The high for Thursday is
supposed to be just under 90F. Whew, almost parka weather there.
it is going to be a hot one in St. Charles today. The air quality for
today is "Orange". Which means that sensitive children and adults and
people with respiratory disease, such as asthma, should limit
prolonged, moderate exertion outdoors. Looks like we might get a break
tonight though when a front moves through. The high for Thursday is
supposed to be just under 90F. Whew, almost parka weather there.
12.15.2009
An eventful weekend
Life keeps getting in the way of everything. I wasn't feeling well a couple of weeks ago. Ended up with a high fever and the staph infection in my leg coming back to bite me. Fortunately, I caught it early this time and the doctor perscribed some good antibiotics and I spent the next 5 days either on the recliner in the living room or in bed. It was not a very exciting or pain free time. We also received a large quantity of rain which ended up making a lot of our Christmas lights fizzle out.
All that being said, most of last week I was still taking pretty easy. The operative thing is to try and get better as soon as possible. But this past weekend ended up being very busy.
Friday night, my wife and I went to the Scottish Rite Holiday Party, in mid-town St. Louis at the Scottish Rite. I was disappointed that attendance was down this year. However, master Chef Eric Strong, as well as Chef Jim, did an outstanding job with the food. The prime rib was delicious!
Saturday was my parent's surprise 50th anniversary party. We rented one of the upstairs room at Pio's Resturant. We had selected fried chicken breast and pork lion for the entrees. Oh the food was soooo good. And it was great that my parents were able to celebrate with family and friends. I'm glad they were really happy about that. We're looking at renting those rooms again when Mo's parents have their 50th anniversary. I can't say that I've ever had anything that I didn't enjoy at Pio's.
Saturday night was a little hard on me. My wife has been wanting to attend the Journey To Bethlehem at Harvester Church for the past several years, and we just always seem to miss out because of different events going on. We made it this year. There is a lot of walking involved and although it didn't really bother me while we were going through it, later in the evening when we got home my legs and feet had swollen up because I had spent too much time on them. Anyway Journey was great! We'll definitely do it again next year. Hopefully we can find a night where it doesn't rain hard. We ended up being very wet by the time we reached the end.
Sunday we were back down at the Scottish Rite for the Officer Installation. I'm also in the Knights of St. Andrew and we held a knighting ceremony for all members that had not yet been knighted. It was very cool, one of our brothers plays the bagpipes and piped us into the auditorium where we had the ceremony. The officer's for the Four Bodies of the scottish Rite were installed later in the afternoon. And after installation, everybody headed downstairs for another excellent meal.
I'm going to need this week to rest up for another weekend!
All that being said, most of last week I was still taking pretty easy. The operative thing is to try and get better as soon as possible. But this past weekend ended up being very busy.
Friday night, my wife and I went to the Scottish Rite Holiday Party, in mid-town St. Louis at the Scottish Rite. I was disappointed that attendance was down this year. However, master Chef Eric Strong, as well as Chef Jim, did an outstanding job with the food. The prime rib was delicious!
Saturday was my parent's surprise 50th anniversary party. We rented one of the upstairs room at Pio's Resturant. We had selected fried chicken breast and pork lion for the entrees. Oh the food was soooo good. And it was great that my parents were able to celebrate with family and friends. I'm glad they were really happy about that. We're looking at renting those rooms again when Mo's parents have their 50th anniversary. I can't say that I've ever had anything that I didn't enjoy at Pio's.
Saturday night was a little hard on me. My wife has been wanting to attend the Journey To Bethlehem at Harvester Church for the past several years, and we just always seem to miss out because of different events going on. We made it this year. There is a lot of walking involved and although it didn't really bother me while we were going through it, later in the evening when we got home my legs and feet had swollen up because I had spent too much time on them. Anyway Journey was great! We'll definitely do it again next year. Hopefully we can find a night where it doesn't rain hard. We ended up being very wet by the time we reached the end.
Sunday we were back down at the Scottish Rite for the Officer Installation. I'm also in the Knights of St. Andrew and we held a knighting ceremony for all members that had not yet been knighted. It was very cool, one of our brothers plays the bagpipes and piped us into the auditorium where we had the ceremony. The officer's for the Four Bodies of the scottish Rite were installed later in the afternoon. And after installation, everybody headed downstairs for another excellent meal.
I'm going to need this week to rest up for another weekend!
12.02.2009
Rainy Days
It is a good thing we're in a drought with all the rain we're getting.
Didn't get to do a whole lot tonight. We did have to run out and pick up more extension cords for the Christmas light display. We find that we're needing to move the electrical sources around the house so we don't overload a circuit. We arrived home to see that the front of the house was dark. I figured that the rain was probably most of our problem. Indeed, the GFI circuits keep popping, so somewhere there is a connection that is not dry. We'll have to content ourselves with just the wreaths on the windows tonight. I'll attempt video tomorrow night if all goes well.
I heard from Jeremy, a lodge brother, this evening. His father passed away this morning. That so totally sucks. He didn't have any information to pass along at this point, but I'll make a special effort to head to the wake. I sent out a note to the brethren as soon as I got home to let them know.
I am looking forward to Lodge next Tuesday. My "nephew" doesn't read this blog, nor do I think he even knows of its existance. *chuckle* Anyway, I asked the Worshipful Master if he would mind if I did the Worshipful Master role during the initiation. He agreed to allow me this honor. I have been going over the part now for several weeks. I feel 90% confident that I won't have any serious glitches. I'm really hoping to do it well. Adam is signed up for the Marines and will be heading to bootcamp in January. Only thing that would make this better is that his father, Rob, is also very seriously considering joining the fraternity as well.
Didn't get to do a whole lot tonight. We did have to run out and pick up more extension cords for the Christmas light display. We find that we're needing to move the electrical sources around the house so we don't overload a circuit. We arrived home to see that the front of the house was dark. I figured that the rain was probably most of our problem. Indeed, the GFI circuits keep popping, so somewhere there is a connection that is not dry. We'll have to content ourselves with just the wreaths on the windows tonight. I'll attempt video tomorrow night if all goes well.
I heard from Jeremy, a lodge brother, this evening. His father passed away this morning. That so totally sucks. He didn't have any information to pass along at this point, but I'll make a special effort to head to the wake. I sent out a note to the brethren as soon as I got home to let them know.
I am looking forward to Lodge next Tuesday. My "nephew" doesn't read this blog, nor do I think he even knows of its existance. *chuckle* Anyway, I asked the Worshipful Master if he would mind if I did the Worshipful Master role during the initiation. He agreed to allow me this honor. I have been going over the part now for several weeks. I feel 90% confident that I won't have any serious glitches. I'm really hoping to do it well. Adam is signed up for the Marines and will be heading to bootcamp in January. Only thing that would make this better is that his father, Rob, is also very seriously considering joining the fraternity as well.
12.01.2009
working on it
Holy Cow. The day just slipped right by me. There was lots of work to accomplish and though I stayed very busy all day, it just doesn't seem like I got all that much done. I did knock out a big project at work and I got one finished at home. I finally took a break around 7pm and put up more Christmas lights. We're finally almost finished with the outdoor decorations we were planning on putting up this year.
My wife and daughter had dinner on the way home after my daughter's ice skating lesson. It's kind of a "girls night out" that they get every Tuesday. I finally had my dinner around 9pm. Started feeling a bit peckish, so I walked up to Beatniks and had a bowl of chili. They know I like it hot and brought me a bottle of hot sauce and some fresh cut jalapenos. Mmmmmm.
Speaking of Christmas decorations, walking down Hempstead Street in New Town last night was amazing. Seems like almost the entire street is lit up with holiday decorations. Huzzah! I'm hoping to maybe take some video Wednesday night when it may be snowing. I'll post that if I'm able to get out and take it.
My wife and daughter had dinner on the way home after my daughter's ice skating lesson. It's kind of a "girls night out" that they get every Tuesday. I finally had my dinner around 9pm. Started feeling a bit peckish, so I walked up to Beatniks and had a bowl of chili. They know I like it hot and brought me a bottle of hot sauce and some fresh cut jalapenos. Mmmmmm.
Speaking of Christmas decorations, walking down Hempstead Street in New Town last night was amazing. Seems like almost the entire street is lit up with holiday decorations. Huzzah! I'm hoping to maybe take some video Wednesday night when it may be snowing. I'll post that if I'm able to get out and take it.
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