Big thangs poppin or at least im hopin!

 

Sunday- Churrrrrrch! lol Awesome sermon from a guest preacher.  Very refreshing.  Afterward there was a meeting for any of those interested in playin for the church softball team.  So since i was in the area and all... you know... havin to lock up the church, i said why not just... poke my head in and see... lol  Well yeah, i was the ONLY person who actually showed up how awkward is THAT!  She took down all my info and lemme know when they were tenatively tryin to practice and play so bein im unemployed i agreed to the terms and gave her my info.  Locked up the rest of the church and found some flyer from another church in the gym that gave a list of "did you know" type info that was pertaining to iraq.  I thought it was interesting although i cannot factually vouch for the info as i havent pulled out a map nor googled any of it but it was fairly interesting to read and i attached it in picture form below.  From there we had been discussing goin to the farmers market the previous day but due to all their festivities we opted out.  Well today we went down to River Road where we knew of a fruit/vegetable market on the side of the road bout 60th/river rd so we picked up fruits that we feel was a great deal. $24 for oranges, cherries, peaches, plums, strawberries, grapes, cabbage, you name it.  a boatload of items.  Rest of the day just bummed around the house lookin at ads and watchin tv.  My gurl Locks got ahold of me and kinda went to blows (verbally) about what i had wrote a few weeks ago pertainin to silencing my voice when discussing politics & religion.  She was hurt and I felt bad cause i wasnt tryin to "attack" her just express my emotions about bein silenced when I was only tryin to educate.  Was ignored rest of the night

 

Monday- Started out slow and pretty glum.  I didnt wanna get outta bed and the whole time i was thinkin I reaaaaaaaaaaaally dont wanna go to this interview today.  Finally came to shave and shower got all fresh dressed and when wifey got home go to take off when... deaaaaaaaaaaaaaaad battery hahahaha I love life!  I was determined to drive my suv though vs takin her subaru or the pickup so i jump off the battery and head out.  Battle a lil traffic on sr 512 and get to my destination on time if not a few minutes late but I couldve cared less.  I didnt wanna be there.  She gives me a debriefing paper about what the job's about I look it over feeling discouraged because the job started out about $11.00/hr less than what i was makin before bein fired.  Thats like a whole nother job.  They eventually call me in to start the interview and right out the gate i knew i was doomed.  They announced the false advertisement on their part that they had NO positions open in the south end location but had 2 positions open in Bellevue.  NICE.  As im unemployed im not gonna flat out shoot it down and hurt any chances of gettin a foot in the door so i tell'em but of couuuurse im interested!  Finally after goin through the usual 20 questions im always asked i depart and head back home to change out my clothes.  I just flatout disconnect the battery cable so theres no load on the battery draining it while its sittin in the garage for the next few days ( i have no set destination so save gas and let it sit)  worked out a lil for the 1st time in days and thankfully weighed in lower than the last few days (all that food has finally been consumed or thrown out so back to eatin healthy)  Locks hit me up and we txt'd a lil now that emotions had subsided and came to an understanding that it wasnt personal and my initial words (that led to that chapter bein read) were not hostile, non debative, non argumentative.  Just educative and one was a sincere question from somethin i had just heard on the news.  All is well now and GoldieLocks, you aight wit me gurl :)

 

Tuesday-  Ohhhh was i sweatin it.  Today was the day to hear back from the job thats the most in play in the south end.  And i didnt know at what point they'd call but I was determined to wait near the phone and it didnt take long.  Before 10am they were callin askin whens the best time to come down for a polygraph!  I was elated! I told her heck "ill come down tonight!"  i got nothin to hide in my history.  She said she'd call back with a definitive and within 30min called to schedule a saturday am test.  I thought to myself, perfect maybe that gives me time still to get tha SugaCane in the water in Seattle before the crowd comes lol  Normally in this process its "written test, interview, background check, polygraph, medical test, chief (or director) interview, hired."  This puts me over the hump that has always defeated me and brought me full circle back to square one of seeking employment. Although the lady said we're still in the bkground phase i think thats cause she considers the poly apart of the bkground but for me the bkground was the paper trail not the poly.  So long as i got through the paper trail and overcame the correction centers file on me im good to go as i have nothin to hide with a poly, im perfectly healthy, and i dont understand any reason y a chief would have someone ready to start work for'em and go through all that just to say no.  So hook me up to the machine! Saturday will be my "MOMENT OF TRUTH" lol  Later that day i got an email from Virgina Mason talkin about i have a $309 outstanding bill from a dr appt in mid 2007! I was like whaaaaaaaaat?! So i call'em up and they tell me my old benefits failed to pay the tab on it so even though they went after Regence through collections they still refused to pay so in the end i was stuck wit the bill.  Ugh. So the lady offers to take off 10% if i paid over the phone now. I told her that was the biggest problem, that i had lost my job late January so this bill coming out of no where was a huge inconvienience.  She then offered to take off 20% for bein so nice and polite to her the whole convo.  At that point wifey called on the other line so switched over to talk to her for a second and told her what was the hap'nins and told her i had to call her back cause they were on the other line. Switched back over and played it off as if i was chargin up a credit card to pay her their money and got it settled.  HUGE set back of $247 but  savings of $61.90 for bein nice about it.

 

Went out to water the plants and do a lil gardening.... You know... keep myself outta trouble and all.  If i can keep things goin looks like i may pull off a fruitful crop! When i went out to weed i saw a couple corn stalks, Lettuce, Cabbage, Collard Greens, Okra, Snap Peas, Pickle Cucumbers, Carrots, and i think Zucchini.  Strawberry plants doin great, shored up the tomato plants as they're growin stronger, and the variation of pepper plants doin great too.

 

Wednesday-  Twas a rather moderate day.  The usual posted up on the couch watchin MSNBC but got bored wit the recyclin of the same news so turned it off and spent most of the afternoon reading and finishing Mario Puzo's "The Godfather"  Its soooo much more better than the movie.  Was glad to finally finsh it cause its been sittin here for 5 months with only 60-80 pages left to read  I stopped readin it to read Hillary Clinton's boring book that Marie gave me to read.  After i finished that book i started reading Obama's 1st book but pre-empted off that one to read my Scott McClellan book that was buzzin ALL over the news on how u ratted out the Bush Administration (again peoples, gooooooooooood book!)  Finished that book and decided to just tie up all the lose ends so finished The Godfather now go back to Obama's book.  Went over my polygraph forms to assure all was filled out and appropriately answered so i wont have to look at it again till saturday sikin myself out.  I cant afford for NOTHIN to go wrong on this poly.  Went to check this mail and got a letter from unemployment basically sayin "own up or pay up"  They want me to come down on 7/1 and show'em my job search log.  Ive filled it out every week so im not concerned at all and the specific week they wanna look at was a week a had a lot of in person contacts with jobs to test, interview etc and even filled out some that week so not sweatin it.  If its the Lord's will the poly will be out the way and i can walk into their office and say just gimme a few weeks and ill be out your hair officially.  And im tellin you things couldve be lining up more smoothly.  My mom called me when i was discussing availability of sporting goods with Lucy at her job so clicked over (sorry Lulu!) and tried to mull over 4th of July plans.  She's been so irratic she went from wantin to go to Ocean Shores, to Canada, to Cannon Beach, even maybe just linkin out boats up on the sound for the weekend.  Later on that day she called up and said "If i can get us tickets to fly to vegas for the weekend ya'll wanna go?"  I was like sheeeeeeeeeeeeeeit.... got my bag packed now! lol First thing i did was got childcare secured wit the in-laws.  BAM! done. child free weekend, all expense paid trip July 3rd-6th! yeah baby!!!  Maybe thats my last vacation before i officially head back to work and ill tell ya ill TAKE it cause im so ready to get outta this house and so ready to get back to work!

 

Thursday-  Whaaaat's goin on??? I get a call this am from the job in the south end.  She advises me that the poly for saturday has been cancelled.  I ask why and she says she didnt know but I was the only poly scheduled that day and if any questions to call the Lt.  So i immediately hung up and call him but get the voiemail.  I leave a message and hangup feeling paniced and freakin out.  I wait 2hrs and still no callback so i call him back and still get vm.  I call another # and get ahold of the lady who called me and asked if the Lt was there.  She said turned out the Lt was sick that day and normally off on fridays but seemed to be checkin his emails.  I say ok and ask her if anythings wrong or will it be rescheduled (tryin not to sound desperate)  She again said she didnt know so i thank her and disconnect.  Pickin up on what she said I attempt contact via email and waited for a reply.  On paper all should be goin my way.  I went and got my bkground packet 2 wks ago (weds june 17th), turned it back into the lady that very day.  She was goin on vacation the next week (15th- 21st) and would be back the following tuesday (24th).  On  the 18th while she was still gone is when I had went down to talk to the Lt one-on-one to plead my case (which was the same day he had gone to the corrections center to look at my now infamous personnel file).  He sounded very open minded and said he'd make no decisions until his partner returned (the lady on vacation). I sent him an email that same day thankin him for the opportunity to come down and plead my case and desire to work there and gave him the #'s of several officer friends as professional references and went back to waiting.  On the 24th (Tuesday of this chapter) she called to set up my polygraph exam for this saturday.  I asked her if we were out of the bkgrnd mode she said no we're still in it.  I take it as the poly is still a part of the bkgrnd but in my mind i was feeling i (finally) weathered the personnel file storm.  But here we are 2 days later (26th) and i get a call that the poly is cancelled, not "postponed" but cancelled (using her word) and she's got no further info (or not telling me)  The Lt sick, and not supposed to be in friday, and i assume off weekends.  The facility outsources poly's to a company who comes to the dept to do them.  So i dunno if the Lt has had a change of heart, wants to be present but cant on saturday, or scheduling conflict i dunno but im paniced that she bein his partner had "no further info".  Watched my political shows, tended to garden, spent time with family and looked up places to tour next week in vegas.

 

Friday-  Came and went.  Did a LOT of praying and soul searching and truly stepped back to let go and let God.  I truly dunno what's goin on with my south end lead but I check the mail now with an ill feeling in stomach prayin a positive lead dont spin a 180 on its heels and result in another dis-q letter in the mail.  No callbacks, no email replies, and no snail mail.  Ive retreated into isolation mode in my house, battery cable still disconnected in my SUV cause i have no plans to leave nor any destination.  Lucy stopped by bearing gifts of fruit which was awesome cause I've switched up my diet and as a result am down officially 7lbs in 1 month.  Thats right the weight ive gained in 5 months is almost gone in 1.  Im takin my life back and in more than one way.  Checked on a job i hadnt heard from with Seatac come to find out they already done closed the position and selected their interviewees and i never heard a peep f/em. niiiiiice. Went and miracle gro'd the garden and planters a day early because ive been under mixin the mixture and everyday is a battle with those slugs so since i was out puttin the slug stuff down may as well miracle gro it too.  Updates?  I now have corn, cabbage, collard greens, pumpkin plant, watermelon plant, okra, snap peas, onions, carrots, pickle cucumbers, tomatos, 4 different peppers, and strawberries!  Looks like i FINALLY will have a successful crop in my 4th or 5th year of tryin!  It really is a positive release to help take my mind off things and channel my energy in a good way.  Even though tmrw is supposed to be mid 80's to 90's i opted out on takin tha SugaCane out.  Gettin her gassed up is just gonna be too expensive and with things suddenly possibly not lookin good i cant afford to waste it.  Even feelin guilty about vegas now even though my parents are payin the way.

 

Saturday-  To wrap up this week, very short and to the point.  Did absolutely nothin but lay on the couch most of the day stayin out the heat and cat nappin.  Nothin in the mail today so that was a plus.  Got so bored at one point i just went ahead and gutted the remaining two toilets in the house and changed it all out to new guts that more state of the art.  No more flotation ball technology, thats old news now and primative ;)  From there worked out for bout 1.5hrs when it all cooled down, watered my garden and planters, planted a peach seed in the planter to see what would happen, showered and right back here on the couch to post this up and wait for a cycle of the laundry to finish so i can retire to the hot abode that is the upstairs. Let the countdown begin! 5 days till Vegas 2008!

Good ol' 20, and nothing exciting about it.

 

Sunday- Churrrrrrrrrrch (gettin repetitive like on groundhog's day the movie huh?) lol.  It twas fathers day of course. Had a mtg to attend immediately after service for all the men.  We briefly discussed a member who applied with the program to have their house painted for free but was turned down due to an access of callers so they wanted a hand count to see who all would be willing to volunteer at some point to help paint the exterior of the house.  I of course threw in my house.  Im very pro-volunteer work and giving back to the community even more lately.  They also discussed gettin more men in the Men's Choir and i aint gonna lie, I did give it some thought.  They need a lil non-singer affirmative action in that choir hahahahahaha.  From there i did my church lock-up duties shuttin it all down lockin all the doors.  The whole time thinkin of an announcement they had made in the bulletin of the church softball team starting up.  Id been approached about it before and gave some thought but now that Ive been workin out and stuff i thought hey its another good form of exercise.  problem?  I havent legitamently swung a bat since elementary school/Junior high! hahahahaha  From there we all went to Black Angus where i had be dyin for a good steak.  Got so full of the appetizers and soup just had'em straight box up my entree and didnt even eat it.  Went home and muddled around doin a bunch of nothin

 

Monday- Was Tamia's last day of school.  She had an outstanding book that was lost back in April.  We've known about it for a few weeks now and they sent a bill for $16.99 for it (that i had NO intentions of paying)  So what did your boy do? took the smart route.  Went to amazon.com, ordered a used copy of the book for $4.99 ($7 after s/h) and had that shipped that arrived in Saturday's mail! lmao  took of any identifying marks of past ownership and slipped that badboy into her backpack to be given to the school and it sho nuff on the get down worked!  They took ownership of it (knowing what i had done cause i expressed the situation to them) and that caper was closed.  One of my good friends, Cake-a-licious stopped by for a few to conversate and when she left me and the boy walked around the corner, camcorder in tow, to pick up Tamia for her last day of school and last walk as a kindergartener!  Door was open to the new school store so took a lil preview pic of what i hope to be running again for the 08/09 school year.  Spent the rest of the day low-key (thanks to gas) filling out a background packet for the job up north still in play that i also recieved in the mail saturday.  it entailed soooooooo much.  beyond filing out initial app stuff it wanted copies of diplomas & certificates, official copies of transcripts, info of your driving history.... the works

 

Tuesday- A Very low-key day.  No where to go nothin to do.  Read a lot of my book "What Happened" and filled out as much of the background packet as possible and called to assure all I needed to pick up the following day was going to be ready.  Lastly called the job in the south end to inquire if he was available to talk on weds as well.  He agreed.  I needed a lil redemption from Saturday's bad batch of blueberry muffins.  I tried to make homemade muffins from scratch and followed the recipe but they didnt come out right.  They were stuck to the muffin paper holders and a lil too firm.  So i whipped up another batch usin blueberrys AND cranberrys, no paper holders just greasin the pan and sho nuff, chef homeboy-ardee waas back in the game one mo gin! mmmmm! (the attached pic shows the darker 1st try at the bottom and the fluffy yummy golden tan ones on top)

 

Wednesday- Started out with a bang as usual.  Got up expectin to hit the floor runnin but we hopped in the trailblazer... deeeeeeeeeead battery. ugh.  NOT amused.  Pulled up my pickup and jumped off the battery so i could get goin. (thankfully i opted to leave early so all that didnt cut into my time).  Stopped at B of A to get more papers notorized (Lord only knows how many forms they stamped for me through these last 20 weeks.)  Hit the freeway and just as i was gettin onto hy 18 from sr 167 my phone rang and it was my girl Lil Momma.  she had dropped her car off in renton and was lookin for a ride back to kent.  Well since some of my errands took me into kent i told'er i'd be enroute.  But since I was already in Auburn, I stopped by my old high school to pick up my transcripts and what a mind trip that was!  I havent been inside those walls in 9 years!  Just seein the halls, the Lockers, it all made me smile lol  Bought back a lot of good memories and seein my transcript made me laugh even more cause before 10/91 literally i was all a's and b's and a gpa of 3.86.  Thats right your boy was a near prodigy!  But after i met wifey in high school? A's, B's and D's.  Now i'll give her SOME slack, I was in running start so college classes vs high school but still!  While i was there i saw my sister had ordered her transcripts too back in april and never picked'em up! lol so i snatched those up and headed out.  From there i went up Lea Hill to my parents to swoop up some items my daughter had left, but their screen door was locked so i pre-empted and went over to GRCC to pick up my transcripts there as well.  By that time my mom called to advise the screen door was not unlocked so i stopped back to get the stuff then headed on down to the corrections center.  Pull up and ring the bell to which the homie C.S answered.  I reply " its your former thorn in the side here to pick up papers " she laughed and responds " hey Lonnie, I'll buzz ya in " walk up to the counter wave at'er and ask hows shes doin.  She slips me my manilla folder of property just like I am checkin out of a corrections center.  I cut the $20.55 check for the 3 performance reviews i had needed. (thats right folks, paid $20.55, official outcast/reject style)  Just as i was about to walk away asst warden Mark walks by.   "Hey Lonnie!" i swear under by breath and reply "hellooo....." and turn and walk away out the door.  Cross over the parking lot to my dear dear friend Marie's car that i had arranged for her to leave up front so i could slip in my surveys for other former co-workers.  Headed out and down the hill to the freeway pre-emptin off anything else i had needed to do and raced up the freeway to get Lil Momma who was walkin Rainier av like a street walker LMAO! No im playin but she did look tired.  Scooped her up but she called the dealer to get an eta for her car come to find out only another 20min left.  By that time i was nearin 212th on the freeway so i jumped off and took backroads back to the dealership while we discussed a song on lil wayne's "the carter 3" where he's blasting rev al sharpton for talkin smack about him and then discussing prison overcrowding (we're known to have pretty deep intelluctual convos).  I come on back down to kent and pick up my 5yr driving abstract from DOL (only one ticket on my record! yes!) Cross over the valley up to tha cane to check on her and pick up a power strip that i wasnt usin and drop off my sisters transcripts since where the cane is moored is mutual.  Came on back to the freeway and stopped at wifey's job where she was able to get my copies of all i needed to give to both jobs in play. 

 

When i got to the south end job that i had the mtg with I had the guy paged and we went into the interview rm kids in tow.  (Yeah i know reaaaaal professional but hey, look at where my life is now? I have no choice.)  I thank him for meeting with me (its not normal for the bkground investigators to meet with the applicant) and give him the copies of my reviews and my high school transcripts.  I explain to him that this is the stage where i was disqualified on with Seattle and Sumner and that i really need this job and couldnt afford to have it happen again.  I told him that the background investigators disq'd me for my disciplines NOT KNOWING the interview panels of BOTH those jobs were already in the know and accepting of them.  Right hand didnt know what the Left hand knew so therefore the Right hand made a uneducated decision to disq me and that was the final say.  With this job I was tellin him i wanted him to know that the panel knew about what happened with all the disciplines in the interest of full disclosure.  He asked me what DID happen so i told him the story from ebay scandal in 11/05 to the resfir in 12/09/07 that they didnt tell me about untill 1/21/08 and expected me to have a plausible justification on.  He was a lil bewildered (as i was too) and then admitted that he had been up there that same day to look at my file and was greeted with attitude and abrasiveness.  He felt it was pretty unprofessional and i was a lil stunned myself about it but thought hey, well maybe he'll see a perspective that its not all sunshine and flowers there and things arent all as the corrections center wants themselves portrayed as.  I got a lil off base and scatterbrains after he inquired about that and a few other comments but I summed up my case as best i could and departed not feelin i said all i could.  Went home and typed him an email thankin him for hearin me out and then gave him the side of me i wanted him to know that i didnt say in the room.  Also gave him addt'l references of officers that are friends that could vouch for me on my professionalism on the radio.  Made sure i had all sealed up for the packet to be mailed up north and got that priority 1 day mailed to arrive on their doorstep on Friday, 1 day before the deadline.

 

Thursday- Another low-key mellow day.  Alot of readin and tv, playin wit the kids.  Toward the evening I had to run over to my PTA boss's house to pick up a fundraiser order that i knew nothin about.  Come to find out Kelitha had ordered it mistakenly (changed her mind but failed to cancel the order) so had to fork over the doe for that.  Came back home, and switched out vehicles grabbed my pick up, grabbed up my girl Lulu and went over to cake's house to pick up furniture she needed transported and moved.  Took it all and got it all safely transported and socialized for awhile before droppin cake back off and returnin home.  Watched some tv and fell asleep on the couch.

 

Friday-  Today was kinda eventful but not really.  Alot of readin and watchin tv.  My girl Lulu stopped by after work and picked up some household items i was no longer usin that i was givin her for her new place.  She grabbed up a plate of food to go as well since she's livin in true bachelorette style (not havin to cook if you dont have to) lol I came back upstairs and started doin a few things on the pc done.  Went down the street to the water company to pick up a free conservation kit they were giving all local residents that helps conserve water on all faucets and free showerheads.  I talked'em into givin me 2 addt'l faucet ones to conserve on all 4 of ours (excluding kitchen).  Started typin some of this Book of Lon chapter and talkin to Lulu over a video call online when  (killed power sound) the computer died.  Its been doin it off/on for a few weeks and i know its cause it was overheatin wit all the stuff i had put in her last year.  So i opened'er up and took out one of the 3 hard drives i wasnt usin and just left the side wall open for now to assure that was the issue (which as of now it hasnt crashed again).  Left to run up to Lowe's and pick up 2 more toilet bowl replacement kits to gut the remaining 2 toilets in the house (the downstairs one sounds like its startin to leak, this house is 10yrs old) and headed up to the church for a busn mtg and oooooooooooh what a show! I go mostly for the entertainment people be cuttin up in there almost forgettin they in church!

 

Saturday- Lounged round the house till noon since wifey had to get her hair did.  Came home we all got dressed and went to downtown puyallup to go to the farmers market.  In passing we ended up pullin up next to Cake and her dude goin to get her license renewed lol small world! Well everyone and they momma was there for several other events goin on so we werent about to get into that mess.  All we wanted to do was check out the farmers market to see if we could get better pricing on fruits and veggies vs the grocery stores (Saw on the news thanks to gas prices and even price of oil some of that mark up is bein reflected in the price we pay for food so bein farmers dont have all the transport fees etc today you get better deals).  So abandoned that task and cut back up the hill to Costco.  Dropped that off and headed up to Pt Defiance Zoo with our kids for a day at the zoo.  It was sooooooo depressing.  If any of you have been to Disneyworld and went to the Anmal Kingdom im sorry but the bar is raised sooooo high lol.  The elephants had this look of "id rather be hunted down and SHOT", the tiger was  busy lickin himself to put on a show, , the monkeys were a lil amusin they were an exotic type not your typical ones.  They put on a show for a second swingin around on vines and ish but then they went up to the highest corner of their exhibit and looked to be doin some stuff that had you questioning whether you should be shield'n your kid's eyes! the walrus was lickin the concrete like it was saltlick or somethin, the beluga whales just swam around and around in the same circle cause the tank was so small, the reindeer were just posted up layin in the grass as if it was too hot to move, polar bears the same or as if they were obese to move, and the wolves? oh they just started trippin howlin over nothin.  I was sooo ready to go.  The ONLY animals that put a smile on my face and i enjoyed video'n were the puffins!  they were soooooooo cute!  I want a puffin! lol they were so filled wit lil personalities and puttin on a show there were an abundance of'em and i wanted one lol But what i listed to you thats all we saw.  It was soo small of a zoo and 1/2 the animals werent even there that you could memorize what you saw.  We didnt even go into the aquarium we knew we'd be disappointed.  We headed out and came on home for dinner and i went out and miracle gro'd my garden and planters.  everything in the planters is on point and making great progress.  The garden im seein results from the replant.  A whole row of okra plants, looks like one pickle cucumber plant, cabbage, lettuce, collard greens, snap peas, sweet peas, thats it thus far.  Still no corn so i dunno what im doin wrong there but i miracle gro'd the row just in case it needed the extra umph to push through.  Came back in to dine wit the fam and watch a lil UFC wrestlin wit wifey.

 

Yooooooooooooo.........  well... lets get to it:

 

Sunday: HAPPY BIRTHDAY LIL MOMMA!!!!  Yezzur! Church. Big day though cause it was my niece's 1st church solo.  She rocked it I was so proud of her, even my very off beat daugther did good lol.  I posted the full performance up on my myspace page (www.myspace.com/lonnielon) click on my videos to see it there.  Afterward I had a quick trustee mtg discussing the purchase of AED's for the building.  Thats to be continued though as we're still doin a lil price quote shoppin.  From there locked up both the chuch bldgs went home to change and we all headed over to my parents house for awhile.  Ate some chinese and watched "I Am Legend" which was ooook i guess.  Played a lil mariokart wii with the kids then took my niece home and checked on tha Cane. 

 

Monday: Was a pretty lowkey day.  Daughter to school and back.  Apparently one of her school library books has been M.I.A. for sometime now and we've been lookin for it but dunno where it is.  So the night before i went online to amazon.com and ordered a copy of the book to give to the school.  they wanna charge us $16.99 for the book and i got it online for $8.00! hello!  They called and "reminded us" that the book was outstanding and she wouldnt get her report card w/out it.  I told'em ok im still workin on it and think i know where it is (buyin myself time till it arrives).  Afternoon came and it was time for me to head out up north to Seattle for a 2pm interview i had with an agency up there.  I leave round 12:47ish from my house and get up there round 1:37ish.  I try to find parking on the street but its all full so i go to a pay parking lot that i had went to previously since i knew it was reliable ( so i thought ) I step to the pay machine and its sprinkling outside pretty good.  the LCD screen is blank.  I push a button thinkin it'd come to life. After 2 min the screen finally displayed the options.  I push a button.  nothin.  After 2 min it goes to ask for my card to pay, i slide it.  nothin.  after 2 min (and im nearly soaked its 6min time elapsed now) it tells me processing card.  I wait impatiently only for it to tell me "error processing request" YA THINK??!!  now its around 1:52pm, 8min till my interview and they want you there 15min prior!  Just then a car on the city street in front of me pulls off to leave so i hop in my truck to covet that spot before someone else came down the street.  My tab now only cost $1.00 vs the $7.00 for the parking lot.  I get inside with 5min to spare looking for the appropriate floor to go to when 1 of the interviewers meets me in the lobby.  I sincerely apologize and tell'em ive been out fightin the machine and he can judge by how soaked i was!  The interview soared quickly only consisting of 7 questions!  Couldnt we have done that over the phone?!  Mail me a survey to fillout?! 

 

I leave after 20min and head south.  Run into my girl Lucy who had swooped up some garden seeds for me and a garden ornament!  Thanks Lucy! Went home and sowed those seeds in 1/2 the garden.  Doin appraisal on the garden over the last couple weeks ive seen some sprouts but majority negative.  The seeds I had sowed prior were from 2004 and 2006 so im sure they were bad by now and i shouldnt have expected anything.

 

Tuesday- Very slow day.  Fielded a phone call that i had been waitin on for for a job thats the only prospect i currently have in the south end.  They wanted me to come down and start the background phase.  Got that all worked out and arrainged.  In the process of surfin the city websites as i do weekly seekin employment i found that another city in the south end... the 1st to reject me after seein the correction centers 100% negative personnel file on me in march had RE-posted their lateral position.  Oh i was HIGHLY amused on that.  Maybe their elitist attitude backfired as whatever applicants they did have whether lateral or entry level nothin seemed to have panned out.  Theyve since lost one of their contracts with a city, so Lord knows what their future is but I said hey! i dunno if they have a waiting period before you can re-apply but im gonna give it a 2nd try.  So i filled out all the info, updatin the saved templates i still had on my computer for'em and drove down and re-submitted my app.   I dont know if its gonna go straight to the garbage but I have to try.  From there went to the hardware store and grabbed MORE garden seeds, came home and sowed those seeds as well.  So over 2 days i basically replanted the whole garden with 2008 seeds.  (in the garden is: 2 types of corn, lettuce, cabbage, collard greens, green bell peppers, pumpkins, watermelon, cantelope, okra, sweet peas, snap peas, carrots, and onions!)

 

Wednesday- Another big day. I arrived to the agency to do my pre polygraph scantron afterward went to get fingerprinted.  When i was back there I felt eyes all over me and it felt creepy that these dude obviously was thinkin they were gettin some fresh meat!  Not today guys sorry no new booty! hahahahaha! While i was back there i did give a few a "whaddup" nod. Never know when you may need that street cred lol! Just when they were bout to process me a city transport arrived wit the real new booty so we had to evacuate the intake.  They took me back to the lobby and asked me to hang tight so i did.  20 min later they retrieved me and processed me finally and got me on my way.  She sent me away with a personal history statement packet and told me i had 15 days to complete and turn back in.  I told her i'd be back that day. I dont think she took me serious but i was!  I went home and filled that bad boy out fully, got copies of degrees, birth certificate, all the stuff they asked for and within hours, kids in tow i was back in the lobby.  She was just goin into the office for an unrelated reason and saw me and came out.  "Wow that was quick!" she said.  I told'er yeah i told you id be back!  I gave her all she needed and re-iterated to hold another form IF they call me back for the polygraph.  She bein optimisic tried to correct me and said "you mean WHEN?" I looked at her with a frown and said "ive done this several times already so forgive me for bein pessimistic"  She kinda frowned back and said "well ok ill say good luck to you"  I thanked her and with my kids turned to walk away.  She commented that i had beautiful kids (yeah the kids were to try to work a few sympathy points lol).  Came home and watched a lil tv, worked out.

 

Thursday- Writin this while its fresh cause its botherin me THAT much and the person dont know it ( and probably never will cause of their present ignorance level ).  I was watchin MSNBC this morning and they discussed a new website launched by Barack Obama ( www.fightthesmears.com ) a website solely dedicated to debunking rumors spread around the internet about him, his wife, and his beliefs.  I was like coo that'll be a helpful tool for many people out there who solicit fwd/chain emails filled with falsehoods and start believin the ish w/out even checkin the facts.  I txt a friend of mine ( who at least in ONE instance has looked at such email and fwd'd to me for my opinion ) and said hey heres this website you can check out  that'll give you insight into what he's really about if you get such an email again.  This person flat out replies "well there's a site I wont be goin to." I was absolutely FLOORED.  I reply back im not tryin to impress anything on you i feel your a creditable and intelluctual person as myself and thought this would be a tool you could use.  Reply txt? "STOP"  right then and there i was so through.  Are you kiddin me right now?  Someone is tryin to HELP your ignorant a** and you would much rather your head in the ground?!  I cant believe people still act in such a manner to just rather in the 1st place sayin "ok thanks" and just deletin the msg since she didnt care to further educate herself but instead wants to run around figners in ears yellin "la-la-la-la-la-la" like a kid.  In all the friendships ive had ive never been so censored in what i can/cant talk about.  Top 2 things i do deem myself knowledgable about and love to discuss (religion and politics) and its the top 2 things i cant even talk about (with her).  Even my wiccan friends would at least semi discuss (at times debate) the matter with me but not put me to SILENCE.  Fact of the matter is whether your ONE vote is cast for him or not either way theres a very likely chance he's STILL gonna be your president so I think its best if you know what he truly stands for.  Lookin over the other side of the fence (mccain) this dude DOESNT STAND FOR WOMENS RIGHTS.  Time and time again he's voted against legislature for a womans right to choose, single mother health benefits, he even voted again FMLA! How many of us with kids rely on that law at times?! Dont just take my word for it, google somethin as simple as "mccain, womens rights"  You get websites such as " www.plannedparenthood.com , www.aflcio.org , even www.womenforbarackobama.com " who gives you BOTH candidates voting records on such issues important to you women.  Now who WOULDNT want to educate themselves? just doin that google search i found out about the vote against FMLA and that pissed me off!  Its bad enough he originally voted against makin MLK day a recognized holiday in Arizona but you wanna court my vote as a African American and shrug it off like "that vote was a mistake" yeah a mistake now that you NEED my vote.  It bothers me knowin the intolerance of people out there today.  Even one i now know is in my own crew.  No i cant change anyone and wasnt tryin to but I try to send EVERYONE back into the world with the FACTS and you do with'em as you will from there.  Id expect all of you to do the same with me and not let me walk around in ignorance about someone or something.

 

Later that evening was another test I went to take not too far f/my house.  I headed out but forgot my typing certificate so had to turn back around fly home and get it in rushhour traffic!  I got there wit 2 minutes to spare as they were checkin all in to take the exam.  14 people total (including me) competing for unknown amount of positions.  Debriefed us on what they were about etc etc and i personally was gettin highly irritated wit the high amount of joking around testing people were doin wit what they deemed were funny answer back remarks to make all laugh.  Im here to test not a comedy improv go down the street for that crap.  We do 3 tests which were fairly interesting.  One just a personality test, the other was the most fun which was seein a color (4 total) in a column and writing the corresponding 1st letter of the name of that letter in another column.  Another was a bunch of comprehension questions that i totally bombed im sure.  Oh well.  Went home not feeling good at all about that test which ive always passed the testing his was the 1st i felt i didnt pass.  Oh well, i truly had no interest in goin to test there at all but bein unemployed couldnt count anything out.  Came home and finished watchin "Hairspray" (i know i know im sure they rolled up under the couch somewhere lol)

 

Friday- Just another day in the life of! Tamia to school and back.  Watched a lil Msnbc until the breaking news in the middle of my shows that Tim Russert had passed away.  Such a tragedy.  Ruled the airwaves for the rest of the day.  Had to go up to the church to help prepare for Men's Health Day that they were puttin on for the men of the church educatin on the hazards in men's health that most arent aware of.  But i got there come to find out they had already set up and didnt even call me to tell me! waste of gas! ugh!  So since i was already in that area i stopped at the am/pm gas station at portland av/pacific hy cause the gas there was still $4.09/gallon the cheapest around.  And please believe it was a madhouse as if there truly was a gas shortage!  My niece wanted my daughter to spend the night so i eneded up drivin home to pick her up but wasnt about to drive out that $95 of gas i just put in so took my pickup thats been in the driveway for awhile and went on up and dropped her off.   Stopped by the Cane to put her new tabs on for the 08-09 season and headed on back south.  My girl Lucy Lu finally got her apt Im so happy for her! Welcome back to Puyallup!  We all gonna have to come over and have a lil paaaar-tay! lol :)  Came back home and ended up crashin on th couch and fell asleep till 3am, went on upstairs and retired in bed.

 

Saturday- Ha! whaaaaat a day!  Got up round 9ish.  Decided not to go to Men's Health Day to unfortunately save gas.  Come monday its Tamia's last day of school so unless a job prospect calls i dont forsee usin the trailblazer at all.  Lucy got all her movin done friday so no need to help her move either so that scrapped that plan.  Was expectin the in-laws in the evening.  So me and wifey crashed on the couch for awhile watchin tv.  Well then I asked her did she want me to do the cookin for the in-laws whereby she said no before quickly recanting and answerng yes! lol  So i made a list of all i would need to pull off the perfect dinner.  After hours of slavin away we all sat at the dining room table with a meal of: Gumbo, Chicken and Sausage Jumbaliya, Meatloaf, Macaroni & Cheese, and Blueberry Muffins.  ALL of it from scratch nothing from the box!  Thats right ya'll for those that got to taste my cookin in the past your man Chef Homeboy-r-dee is back!  Ohhhhh did we feast! Kicked it back with a Miller Genuine Draft.  Then came the moment of truth, turned on Wiifit to see the damage and true to the game just off the meal alone my BMI shot up in a never before seen spike.  Said i went up 4.2lbs just in that 24hr period!  I was HORRIFIED.  It was so funny cause when I sat down to eat i FELT it was too much on my plate and wanted to stop.  But my in-law was pokin at me and eggin me on to finish what was on my plate lol.  Who ever heard of peer pressure at the dinner table?!!  So not tryin to look like a punk i ate all that was on my plate.  The meatloaf was good but it didnt set like it was supposed to so we had fuly cooked meatloaf that you could eat with a spoon lol  The muffins was a 1st timer creation and they stuck to the cupcake paper holders so i wont use those again.  Over dinner my in-law told me i guess they pullin up outta town come August and headin south to Vancouver, WA.  Pros and cons there of course.  Its like a HUGE crossroads comin together at once and hopefully wont be a trainwreck.  Jumped on the Wiifit and worked out for over 2hrs burnin as much back off as i could with aerobics.  In the end i brought it back down to where i was avg'd and lost a lil over 2lbs in the workout.  Coolin off now bout to shower and off to bed! Got church in the am and got a background packet from the job i placed 3rd in post interview to fill out and return.

 

Lastly a very very special shoutout to one of my best friends Cake who turned a very special 29 again for the 8th year now lol  Happy Birthday Cake-a-licious!

Well... not too many developments to report, still overweight, still unemployed, still broke!

 

Sunday-  Churrrrrch! Its my month again to lock up the church but wit a twist this week.  Kelitha didnt go and neither did the rest of my family lol so was just me and the kids.  I had to also lock-up the adjoining family life center as its bein used by Eastside Baptist Church (the church that burned down in Tacoma about 1-2 months ago)  They are usin the gym for their service and some of the classrooms for their sunday school so i had to check allllll doors in that bldg then alllll doors in the main church.  Now imagine doin that wit a 1.5yr old on your hip and a 6yr old in tow!  Oh i burned some serious calories that day!  Came back home and bummed around the house for awhile watching the Puerto Rico primary then met up wit my gurl Lucy Lu-Lu to talk a lil religion for awhile and retrieve my planter waterer thingy she had picked up for me since she was out and about and i was conservin gas (lol)  It was nice to see her eyes start to water after explaining to her what she didnt understand about the old testament and the sacrificing on the altar they were to do to make atonement for their sins and how Jesus in the new testament became that sacrifice for ALL mankind to make an atonement.  She was baffled at the thought of "a loving God" would send His son to die.  I explained to her while reading the scriptures of the old testament of the people bein told to bring the BEST of their flock.  The flawless of lambs bring forward and spill its blood and basically gut and clean the insides.  And how Yahweh did the same for US.  Sent His best, he only begotten son to die on the cross for OUR sins that we may have eternal life if we believe.  It even made me step back in amazement of my explaination cause even I hadnt drawn that parallel in my 27yrs and certainly have NEVER had it explained to me in such a fashion.  While talkin I saw my gurl Cake pull up on the side of the store ridin shotgun wit her dude and Lucy saw how i suddenly became distracted grumbling under my breath at the sight of his presence.  Lucy suggested we go say hi but Cake wasnt feelin well so we refrained.

 

Monday- Pretty mellow day.  Happy birthday to an ol' friend E.C.  Sorry you didnt get to do anything for your B-day but i have no doubt you'll make up for it at some point lol.  My gurl Lil Momma stopped by for a couple hrs seeking new music for her mp3 player.  Oh we had it out about that!  Told her before to get an ipod and stop bein cheap so i could have her in and out within 30min!  But nooooooooo.  I had to upload the cd's of her choosin on my laptop THEN zap them over to her sony mp3 player.  Total of 20+ cd's! That was gonna be a task so she arrived wit a dozen Krispy Kremes and i was like what the heck?? we had JUST got finished discussing health and workin out and you arrive wit that??!!  I refrained (that day) from eatin any (but later in the week ate a total of 5 lol, she had 4.5 my daughter 2, my son the other .5 of Lil Momma's) We knew it was gonna take awhile so she left wit me to return when it was done.  As a payment for services rendered I asked her to drop off a prepared app for me up north to a local city hall so i could save gas and she was headin that direction anywho lol.  Gotta network people we fallin on hard times here with these gas prices!  I had a trustee mtg at the church that day so before leaving i yet again posted up the 2 organs for sale that have been posted almost weekly for the last couple months.  Got there 15min late and was STILL on time! hahahaha.  It was a small turnout this month so the mtg breezed through quickly.  Out within an hour so went and had a drink wit my gurl Lucy and discussed the finer points of life and how she was doin and her future.  Never a disappointment for a laugh I was watchin what i was eatin so ate 1/2 my fish sandwich i decided to try but inhaled my Mai Tai and headed home to work out.

 

Tuesday- Biiiiiiiiiig day!  FINALLY the last of the primaries!  Glued to the tv as much as i could but had to pause for the cause to go pick up my daughter and head up to the church to show a guy one of the organs.  In this day and age you take no chances.  Im goin into a back room unannounced no one even KNOWS im there and this guy bought another dude wit'em too... f that yo if this is a robbery you got the wrong dude.  Went in that bldg clipped up not playin NO games.  Unlocked the door and proceeded to the far back of the bldg FINALLY gettin to the organ and lettin them perruse it.   To my amusement they liked it and agreed to purchase the following day.  Told'em coo ill be up here when they wanted to get it. Stopped by Cake's house for a few to say hey (Hiyee Cake-a-licious! lol) and drop off Lil Momma's mp3 player to be returned to her at the corrections center.  Went back home, watered my strawberries, tomatos and peppers and fielded a phone call from the agency up north who advised from the test i took last week that i had passed and was selected to be one of the 3 to advance on to be interviewed!  My now 1 in 6 chance now increased to 1 in 3 shot! still only a 33% in gettin the job as only 1 bein hired but still better than the 16% shot!  Scheduled interview for monday 6/9 back up north at 2pm .

 

Later that evening watched as triumphantly Obama made history becoming the 1st African American to secure the nomination of a MAJOR party in contention for the presidency!  I was glued watchin his speech that fired up the 17k people inside and the 15k outside that couldnt get it.  It reminded me of when i got to see him in Key Arena before the WA caucus.  What a moment in history and so happy to be apart of this milestone in US history.  I also watched in disgust as Clinton's advisor had announced as she was to come to the stage "Ladies and Gentlemen the next president of the United States!"  Are you dillusional?? She just LOST.  Obama secured the nomination before she even took to the stage winning over the 2118 delegates needed and against her rhetoric lies he actually LED the popular vote as her #'s included florida and michigan, gave obama 0 votes for michigan and not countin the caucus states (including washington)  Yet her supporters were just sooooppin it up like she was robbed and mistreated (rolling eyes) like Obama didnt get the short end of the stick at times for the fact he was Black.  Come on now stop crying and accept you lost a close one (haha why am I typin this like Clinton is a book of Lon fan or somethin?)

 

Wednesday- After droppin of Tamia at school and gettin the boy ready we headed back up to the church to get that organ officially sold.  This time i let them through a side door so it was only a few steps from organ to truck.  Got it loaded w/out incident and we headed on back.  I text the PTA pres askin if she was expectin me there since there was technically no more school store for the year.  She made it QUITE clear she was expectin me there lol So i arrived round 1030 to assist in cleanin out one of the school's storage closets that was to be the new school store.  Apparently the district will be tearin down the portables so they are movin the store to just outside the office.  It was a pain movin some shelves on a handtruck and either hold my son, lettin him ride on top of the shelf on the hand truck or lettin him flat out walk but we got some stuff done and logged 1.5hrs to my volunteer sheet (up to 69 hrs for the year... i know what a fitting number for me huh? lol ) Before leaving she made a formal offer askin if id run the store again for 08-09 school year (she later also offered the position of pta secretary to me as well!) I told her im flattered by BOTH and would love to but couldnt make any formal decision till i get this unfortunate employment situation worked out.

 

Thursday- Alot of msnbc watchin and readin my Scott McClellan book (oh its JUUUUUUUICY ya'll!!! a definite must read! and NO ONE has discredited it yet including the white house! lol all they keep sayin is "oh he's so disloyal, disgruntled, he shouldve waited till bush left the white house!" but not denyin all that was in there!)  After pickin up Tamia we headed north to Bellevue for a 12pm appointment with a software development company called "Dreambox".  I saw it on the news and they asked if anyone wanted to be a part of their study group to sign up so i said hey! anything that accels my kids learning and gives her the slight advantage/edge over others its worth the gasl  So I drove on up there and sat in watchin her interact and find the game very entertaining and answering the ladies questions about it.  Lasted bout an hour and they were just so in love wit my kids that my son was sooooo well mannered and behaved and quiet lol I hear it all the time and everytime i just attribute it to perfect genetics btwn me and their mom. They validated the parking and gave me a $5.00 giftcard to Starbucks (which i handed over to wifey since theres no current reason for me to drink coffee all i do is sit in this freakin house).  I called to one of the jobs locally to follow up on my app i had turned in last week and she advised me that they were in the process of callback and "if they were interested they'd give me a call" that kinda took me back abit cause im thinkin, well if i turned in an app i fill i DESERVE a shot to be heard, not just "if youre interested" wheres the equal opportunity in that??  I swung by tha Cane to check on her make sure she was doin ok sittin there grounded in the rain thanx to the weather and gas prices.  (she's doin fine and says hey! lol)  Then stopped by the corrections center to drop off Cake lunch that she didnt have time to get on the way to work.  Was hopin to go undetected but was spotted by a senior dispatcher goin to pick up some dude in the parking lot.  He said hey and i grumbled but replied in return and quickly got back in my truck to leave.  Id rather be IGNORED then half a** greetings.  Ive been ignored since 1/31 when i was fired dont feel obligated to speak up now you shouldve said somethin then in a card or a farewell party like everyone else got.

 

Friday- Another low profile day!  alot of readin and msnbc.  Pickin up my daughter f/school i ended up seein her teacher in the office and she flagged me down wit a quickness.  "lemme ask you a question..." im thinkin oh Lawd what did Tamia do or say now?!  But just as what im known for she asks me a technological question hahahahaha "what do you think about wiifit?"  I smiled wit joy and explained to her its the best $89 you can spend!  Told her ive lost about 2lbs in 2wks already doin the strength training (crunches, lunges, push-ups, etc), aerobics (running/jogging in place, step aerobics, hula-hoopin, boxing), and yoga!  So now she's sold on it and plans to get one lol.

 

It is well worth it ya'll.  I work out 1hr/day and i (now) focus only on the aerobics as i wanna get this weight off then ill turn focus to strength training and yoga.  The formula i found is, 20min of jogging, 5-10min of step aerobics, 10min of boxing, 20min of just free step walking on board, and 6min of hula hoopin (lol yeah you look like a dork but losin the love handles!) Totals out to a lil over an hour.  Now lookin at my graph I see a slow but steady decline.  Starting up the system it does a body test weighin you and checkin your center of balance.  I do the body test before working out and after to see the progress. (to also see what the effect was of the foods i had that day including those krispy kremes)  weds I had 2 krispy kremes for breakfast, a bowl of honey nut cheerios for lunch, and 1/2 my fish sandwich and fries from red robin.  my tues nights weigh-out (as i call my final weighing of the night) was 27.03 bmi.  weighin in that day i had went up to 27.14 bmi.  After workin out? back to 27.03 bmi!  Lookin at my chart it appears im losin .2 bmi a day (which equals 1/2 lb a day it seems as last nyte i weighed in at 168lbs weighed out at 167.5).  So at that rate I'll have this 10lbs off that ive gained very soon and maybe lose an addt'l 5 to bring me down to 155 which is deemed "healthy" according to the BMI.

 

Saturday- Happy Birthday to my gurl Adrienne (in best Rocky voice) yo Adrienne!!!!!  Today was choir practice so ran up to the church to watch my niece perform her practice solo.  She did good! big day tmrw for the performance.  After that came home w/my niece in tow and staaaaaayed grounded to save gas.  On the way home stopped to get pizza from Dominos and just a quiet day wit the wife.  Then a knock on the door.  The in-laws UGH.  So i immediately "find somethin that needs to be done" (lol) i go tend to my plants outside and the garden doin an inspection of what s sproutin up and as of now its 50/50. some showin signs of growth others either bad seeds or not sproutin yet.  So as a precaution i miracle gro'd all rows and my planters.  Came back inside and sat here in silence while wifey and my mother in-law signed (she's hearing impaired).  Eventually they left and we all sat down for dinner.  I text my dad and told'em i'd keep my niece overnight to save all gas but apparently  he didnt get it.  so he drives alll the way down to pick her up!  He takes my daughter as well so its just me, wifey, and the boy.  We watched a movie called "Warm Springs" about president FDR which was very good.  Worked out on WiiFit showered and here I is!  Tune in next week maybe ill have somethin juicy like how the interview went next monday and the testing on thurs!