No blog in a few months, but this morning I saw this about the American Academy of Pediatrics:

Man, this just pisses me off honestly...

It has been a little bit since my last entry, my bad. Things have been rather high paced at home and at work and I really do not want to try to remember things that have happened since my last post since my memory is jacked, so I will go forward.

I bought 3 100% polyester ties online today. Now, some would ask, "Why polyester? Just go with silk since they are nicer." Well, I used to get only silk ties, but it seems that I cannot hold on to a good tie since I am a sloppy eater. Even if I try to eat nice, something ALWAYS spots on my ties, and BAM! It is as good as trash since the stains are basically impossible to get out. Eureka! Why don't I buy ties that can be machine washed?! Well I got 3 on the way for my sloppy self. If someone wants to be all self-righteous about my lowly polyester ties, well they can go to hell. I am not Mr. CEO of GE that needs to wear several thousand dollar suits. I am a lame ass Security guy, and when I wear a tie not at work, I am not trying to look like a rich man, just good enough to make Shannon happy.

A rant.

I really hate business orientated jobs. I really do. As some of you may know, I work at a hotel as a lame ass security dude. Yes, my job sucks. I am unarmed and tasked with upholding rules and stuff with little power to do so with a management that expects us to be customer service ambassadors first, property protection last. Now on to the rant: with business jobs like the ones that the hotel management have, you have all these fake numbers to meet, X amount of revenue and Y consequences if they are not met. Employees take revenue so we lay them off then tell the remaining ones that you are lucky to have a job then toss the laid off workers jobs on everyone else backs. There is political and social backstabbing and working the system and generally fucking people over left and right. It has come to the point with me that I don't even want to talk to anyone here at work since I don't want ANYTHING to fall back on me. Even that is against the rules and will get you in trouble. My craptastic job pays shit, but me being a crippled dude with no college education out of the military, there is not much out there for me. Sure, I want to go to school, but I need to make money for the family so they got food and diapers. So I am stuck here.

Now here is the kicker: in the military, similar shit happens, but generally the pay rocks and at least when you bone someone over on something, it is either funny and friends in the end, or you get in trouble and eventually you get your ass kicked. I was an Airborne Infantry Sergeant... in charge of 3 paratroopers and all their equipment. I was making decent money and now I am some lame ass security dude, making barely over minimum wage. And even this job is getting me my ass kicked over the finer details of finesse. On top of all this, you got the business people running this bitch all wound up tight that they end up screwing their underlings over and over, all for a buck. Now I love Capitalism, but the business area is just not for me. It is just a crappy field where you don't get home till after 12 hours+ shift and then you do it all over to make a buck for a business that just sucks.

I really need to get a city/state/federal job. This whole civilian crap is just not for me honestly.

Sometimes, things just crack me up. For example, just 15 minutes ago I was chatting with a guy at work. He saw my hands and noticed a pair of scars on my left fist around my knuckles. Here is about how the conversation went down:

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Work Colleague: "Hey man, nice scars. I got the same ones *shows fist*. Fighting, you know, in Mexico City."

Me: *caught off guard then looking at fist for a second* "Oh yea those... I got mine when I was in Iraq."

Work Colleague: *silence* "Right on man..."
-----

Now, what I didn't say was that I got the mean scars from a fist fight with a sharp metal object accidentally. Sometimes things like this just crack me up, since I really did not mean to look like a hard ass or anything, I just was trying to be polite.

At work =(. Tomorrow though, the family heads to Grandma Apryl's place for a BBQ so I am pretty stoked about free food. With me being totally broke with all the fallout from Dominic being born, I have to be creative if I want to continue to buy camping gear. So, my latest solution is to collect aluminum cans for cash. I know that it will take plenty of cans to really make any decent change, but it is alright. I see tons of cans every day at work, and if I get other people to collect them for me also, I will be doing much better. Besides, it is free money for me just being conscious on what is on the ground. Hell, if I am able to get a $20 bill out of it or more, then that is better than nothing since that right there is some gear.

Yesterday I got involved in a Transhuman Space play-by-post so I am totally stoked. THS is one of those settings that totally rock, but you never get to play in since no one really runs the setting since it is pretty intimidating. Combined with that I have gotten an interest going for the Pathfinder RPG, new stuff keeps me interested.

Today Shannon is taking Dominic to the mall to look at stuff, so since I am working right across from the mall, I asked her to swing by here. It would be cool to see them, and I get to show Dominic off a bit more. He is such a sweetheart, Mr. Giggles. Who would have thought that this whole daddy thing would rock so hard?

On Sunday, Dominic, Shannon and I went to Grandma Apryl's house to watch the Bears/Broncos game. Shannon left early to head off to work, and Domi knocked out on my shoulder in the 3rd quarter, but it was a good experience none the less. For our first football game, everything went well enough to consider making it a regular weekly event. Now the real question is whether we are going to go Saturdays to watch college football, and/or Sunday to watch the professional games. I will talk it over with Shannon, but I anticipate me and Dominic spending plenty of time at Grandma's place glued to the boob-tube. Oh, and by the way... the Bears won =).

I have been eying the new Pathfinder RPG. It is pretty interesting since it continues support for the d20 line, and is a very attractive book. About the only thing that is hideous about it is the price: $50 for the hard cover. Now, the PDF is only 10 bucks, but I rather have the $50 version since it is basically the D&D equivalent of the Players Handbook and the Dungeon Masters Guide. I can get the book on Amazon for like 30-ish plus shipping, so it is on my list, but how high on the list is something else. I will be needing to make discussions with my group to gauge their interest, because if it is not something that they will be interested in, I rather spend the 40 bucks on camping gear.

I went with Nathan to purchase his Glock 17. Good for him being a new gun owner.

Today Dominic got his first round of vaccinations at the doctors' office and he was such a brave little boy. He took all 3 shots and swallowed some goop, all with minimal fussing. This marks his 2 months of life and the doctor said that he can sleep through the night if he stays asleep. This means that I can get some solid sleep finally, and only feed him when he tells me that he is interested in receiving some food. Since I found my DV Camera and got it all put together, I managed to capture all the moments on tape and I plan on taping much more. I can rip it to my computer easily, and I think I will appreciate it later in life having as much footage as I can get.

Life has generally been ok, but I am broke as hell. Next paycheck will be a lifesaver since it will be a full check for me and for Shannon as well, so I can go back to paying bills off instead of taking on more. While I appreciate the circumstances, I am glad to have it over with since I only make so much at my craptastic job. Me and Shannon have lots of support and the grandparents have been a lifesaver.

Nathan is taking me to the gun store tomorrow to assist him in purchasing his first firearm. I guess he wants a Glock 17 or 19, but I guess he wants me there for moral support or something. It isn't rocket science, and with a ton of internet research he could come to his own conclusions, but I guess my input was welcomed since he did not factor in the costs of ammunition and holsters... something that he needed to think of when buying a new pistol. What good is a $500 pistol if you can't afford to shoot it or carry it?

Well, once again a blog that has been a while since the last. It has been a bit crazy here with Dominic and all, added to the fact that Shannon has headed back to work. We are still working out the kinks, but I am pretty much at fault for everything here, including when crap changes with the babysitter even though I did not schedule the babysitting deal in the first place. Shannon is super paranoid mom, and I am dad, the guy who thinks that if he gets a few bumps he is ok since he needs a bit to grow up with. Either philosophy, Domi is growing fast and soon will be crawling, causing us more terror than we can imagine.

With my dad going through a bitter divorce after 20 years of marriage, my sister Morgan is not really talking to me or Sandy. I guess I can understand. I mean her whole life is coming down since she had this perfect family life, and now that is over. See, me and Sandy had it rough growing up, so we are not really dependent on our family to define ourselves. Morgan really does not have that, so she will be taking this rather hard. I just hope that she doesn't listen to the peanut gallery and just realize that while we share different mothers, we do not take sides and love her the same.

I have been doing some small gear preparation for my winter hunting trip, assuming it goes on. Today I made an insert for one of my rifle magazines so it will only hold 5 rounds so it will be legal for hunting. I got a line on some camping gear and I got a tailor on hold to make me a 6 round magazine pouch. I just need for the monetary burden to go away from Shannon's maternity leave so I can get back to saving money since I had to wipe out my reserves to make it through. Between that and my work shorting me hours for the past few months, money is tight. Don't get me wrong though. This is not Shannon's fault, but it is definitely a contributing factor. I just hope that I can get a bare bones kit together so I can go on my trip this winter, since I really think that I will need it.

Man have I been busy. Sometimes I am too busy to blog, and when I get a second, I use that time elsewhere. Where to start? Eh, lets start with Dominic.

He is growing up fast. The little guy is cooing, pooping and eating. Sometimes he flashes someone a smile. Mom is for eating, Dad is for sleeping. It seems when I hold him, he just racks out. Hell, right now Shannon has me watching him since she needs more sleep. With my work cutting my hours, me being home more is a blessing and a curse. I get to spend more time with my son and wife, but I spend that extra time relatively dragged out. Don't get me wrong though: I love my family. It is just different than what I was used to. My personal time has been cut into maybe a 1/4th, but I guess it is alright since my little dude is doing ok.

Computers. My new one is working very well, but now comes the payments. Seems like things just keep stacking on, whether it is a dead computer or medical bills that are still rolling in from Dominic's birth. I love the computer, but geez, could my last one pick a worse time to die on me?

RPG's. They are going well. My PbP games on my forum are doing very will and Adam's game is rocking along, especially with it being played PbP-style when it is not Saturday. Now we can progress the plot when it is not Saturday, so it is moving a bit faster.

Computer Games. I have not been playing much Neverwinter Nights or Savage 2 lately, since I am in the Heroes of Newerth Beta. It is a great game, but the community is lacking and rather "Elitist." The game is based off the Dawn of the Ancients map for Warcraft 3, so there is a community that came from there: a notably elitist community. Learning the game is difficult when there are soma ny jerk players but I got the ropes down I suppose. I will be spending my time testing this game and playing the occasional match of Counter Strike.

Wow. It has been one hell of a week I tell ya. My dad has been in town since last Friday and now there is all sorts of drama between him and his wife, Sarah, who is accusing him of sleeping with my mother, Apryl. Even though he has not (at least I think... only they area able to say for sure), Sarah is throwing a shit fit and wants a divorce now. That boat sailed long ago, so I do not really understand it. Coupled with the fact that Morgan is down here, getting hit with all this crap as well. I mean, she is a pretty sheltered girl, and this is going to crush her. It is going to be one ugly divorce assuming that it goes through.

Dealing with Dominic has been difficult this week since he has been fussy and needy. I am doing what I can and so is Shannon, but we are just too new at this to say for sure. I am just glad that I got Shannon to help me out since this would be too damned hard without her.