My job has become absolutely dreadful. I hate getting up in the morning and making the thirty mile drive to "hell." The company I work for has become extremely large. There's a great deal of micro-managing going on and the majority of the employees are pissed off about it.

That's not the only thing that sucks. On a strickly personal note, my route is complete rubbish. I haven't hit goal in several months. This month is the worst I've seen in well over a year. It would take more than a miracle for me to hit goal by tomorrow night. Unfortunately, I must remain at this job until after Jeremy and I have purchased our new home. Then I can work on getting into a hospital.

Have you ever noticed how easy it is to become "stuck" in a job? Once you've been with the same company for years, it's far too much work to find something new. The thought of starting over is even more unpleasant than dealing with the day-to-day bullshit that I have grown accustomed to. Besides, I have awesome benefits that I simply can't live without. And, as much as I may bitch about it, I have stability in my current position. As we all know.. stability is priceless these days.

Well, it seems that Blogrolling has some type of malfunction. At least the "ping form" portion of it. I have been getting an error all day long. It's very irritating when things don't work properly. They can't possibly claim to be unaware because I sent them an email including the error code. Perhaps they simply do not care.

Here is my latest desktop. It's nothing new, but when I deleted the previous several years worth of entries it went into the trash with everything else. So, here it is again...

To get your own copy visit "Sin City" on the sidebar.

American Eyes is a really awesome new band that Jeremy and I love. We are bummed that they leave the Taste Of Chaos tour seven days before it reaches Detroit.

If you are interested in checking them out, take a stroll over to their my space profile. Listen to their debut album and decide for yourself.

Have I mentioned how much we love our video store lately? It's the absolute best! Last night we watched Corpse Bride with Evan. We all agreed it was a really cute movie. It will have to be added to our movie library in the near future. After Evan went to bed I ran back to the video store and rented In Her Shoes. Jeremy and I loved it.

Why do we love our video store so much? Technically neither movie will be released on dvd until Tuesday. That's why.

Well, the first move has been made. I called the mortgage representative that was recommended by my sister this afternoon. She called me back this evening so I could give her some information over the phone. Tomorrow evening Jeremy and I will know what price range we're shopping for. We've found several in our area that we are interested in. Of course, there is one that we fell in love with online, but it's a bit out of our price range. This is such an exciting time!

Some people totally rock. Joelle over at Moxie Design Studios is one of those people. She doesn't know me from Eve and yet she did everything she could to help me with my bandwidth issue when I asked for her assistance last week. She also upgraded my MT today! Thank you so much!!

I just finished all 2nd week assignments and took the test that isn't due until next Sunday. I am making good time this semester. It's important to stay on top of things when it comes to school. I have nothing left to do for week two now except a discussion board question - which I can't start on until tomorrow. You can't have a discussion with only one participant. I get off work at noon tomorrow so I'll have that done (hopefully) by the end of the day.

Jeremy was searching websites based on our names. Most turned out to be nothing much to speak of, but when he looked up my oldest son, Jamie, it redirected him to this amusing game. I can't believe the crazy things that can be found on the internet.

I am so thrilled about the weekend. Why? I didn't have to work today. I have worked the last three Saturdays in a row. Last weekend was my fault, actually. I chose to work it so I could leave early the previous Monday. It's so tempting to have that option. I'm the type of person that likes to take the time off now and worry about making it up later. I always regret it. This past week was different. I forced myself to stay at work so I could have both days off this weekend. I'm so happy I did.

What have I done so far? Not much. Isn't it great? I love days that I'm not obligated to do anything. I will probably do some course work this weekend to stay ahead of the game. My class started last Tuesday. I turned in all assignments and took the test three days ahead of schedule. Everything is due by midnight on Sunday. I was done on Thursday. But I will probably begin the work for next week later today. I'm glad I only took one class this semester.

I am really looking forward to this show. Jeremy and I are buying tickets next week and we are going to have a blast! Don't you wish you were going? What a line up! Can you believe that tickets are only twenty-eight dollars to see that many great bands?

And the award for best host goes to... Yoshi.

I wouldn't trade my hosting for anything! Yoshi has fixed all of the problems with this site and has even offered to do the one thing that no one else wanted to do - upgrade my MT. You are the best Yoshi and I want you to know that I will never stray.

If you are looking for an awesome hosting package with phenomenal support - visit Ymelrose Hosting.

I know that publishing my most recent desktop isn't the smartest thing to do at the moment, but I am not going change the way I do things here just because of the bandwidth issue. If it isn't resolved already I will keep working at it until I find the "cure." So.. with that said.. here is my latest desktop.

To get your own copy of this desktop, visit "Sin City" on my sidebar and click on the thumbnail image. I don't think it needs to be said, but save the file to your own F*ing server!

I just don't know what to do about my bandwidth issue. I have done everything in my limited power to fix the problem and it's not getting any better. I say limited power because I have no idea how to stop someone from stealing my bandwidth. I've never dealt with this issue before. Does anyone know how to remedy this catastrophe? I contacted my host and he suggested I upgrade MT, but from what I understand it's not an easy project. Many things can go wrong. I don't know anyone that is capable and willing to do it.

I've got major bandwidth issues with this site. I keep getting an email warning me that my bandwidth has exceeded 80% and that I need to contact my site administrator immediately - or something along those lines. Seeing how I am the site administrator.. who am I supposed to contact? *grin*

I honestly don't know what the problem is. I don't have a lot of large music or picture files uploaded (because I delete them from my server once they are no longer needed) and I don't have an overabundance of people flooding my site. The only other thing it could be is a plethora of spam robots - which according to my cPanel is the case.

I went through the "trackbacks" in MT and found somewhere in the neighborhood of seven hundred coming from a wide variety of spamming sites. So, I deleted them and closed my trackbacks. I finished that "project" three hours ago. So why am I still getting the email that warns me of the critical level my bandwidth is approaching and why does it still say 84% of my bandwidth is being used when I visit my cPanel? I have no fucking idea.

Just a friendly reminder...

There is a new Grey's Anatomy on tonight! It's about time, eh? I haven't seen a new episose in weeks! Last week was a "recap" episode, the two weeks previously were reruns and the week prior we missed because of a freaking football game. Can you believe that the network ran the episode after midnight? That's a bunch of bullshit if you ask me. They shouldn't run the show if it's going to be 2.5 hours past the regularly scheduled time. It's just not fair. So, yeah.. Jeremy and I are looking forward to seeing a new episode tonight.

I love Sundays. It's the one day of the week that I know for sure I can do whatever I want. No obligations to deal with.

So far today Jeremy and I have done absolutely nothing. We like it that way. He has been playing Splinter Cell: Pandora Tomorrow while I have been surfing the internet. I have been spending an awful lot of time on this site looking at houses in our area. I've found several that we are interested in looking at. Our plan is to be in our own house by summer.

I don't know what it is about this image, but I fancy it enough to put it on my desktop.

Classes start again on Tuesday for the Spring semester. The break was nice while it lasted, but it's time to get down to business again. I am only taking one class this semester. I registered for two, but I went to the campus this past Monday and dropped one of them. I just figured that with Evan preparing for his first communion over the next several months and with everything else I have going on right now it would be OK to take it easy this time around.

Actually, I am contemplating taking a detour from my "regularly scheduled program" once I finish this semester. I don't plan on straying too far off the beaten path, but I have been thinking about enrolling in the Surgical Tech program (which I should be able to complete in two semesters) or perhaps enrolling in a CNA certification program so I can get a job in a hospital and then continue with my original goal of getting into the Nursing program. There are two reasons for this...

1. I want to get a job in the field I am going to school for because it will look better when I apply for the Nursing program.

2. The bigger my company gets, the harder it is to work for them (and drive 60 miles round trip every day to deal with their bullshit).

So.. there you go. Those are my plans.

Jeremy and I booked our flight to Florida this afternoon! We are very excited! It's our first real family vacation in three years. We are going in April - which couldn't possibly get here fast enough. Neither Jamie nor Evan have been on a plane before so that should be quite an adventure. Luckily Evan has his Nintendo DS to help entertain him and we will hopefully have a PSP by then as well. We are going to have so much fun!

OK, well.. scratch my previous entry. The Sims Bustin' Out sucks ass! And not in a good way. I imagine we will either spend the evening watching a movie or throwing darts. Evan got an electronic dart board for Christmas. Jeremy and I are very happy about that.

NEVER rent The Sims Bustin' Out. That is the moral of this entry. Not that you are as big of a loser as I am, but please learn from my mistake.

I worked this morning from eight until eleven. When I got home I passed out. I thought I might just take a little nap, but it ended up being close to four hours. Geez. I guess I needed to get "caught up" on sleep after the past week. Jeremy and I have played The Sims 2 every night until at least midnight. We ended up returning it this evening, but since I am so addicted I rented The Sims Bustin' Out for PS2. What is wrong with me? Jeremy rented America's Army for xBox and Evan rented Spiderman 2 for his Nintendo DS. It looks like it will be a gaming night for this family.

Evan's dad called my cell phone the other day at two o'clock in the afternoon - claiming (on my voice mail) that he wanted to talk to Evan. I say "claiming" because if he was really calling to speak to his son he wouldn't have called my cell phone at two in the afternoon when I am at work and Evan is at school. Right? Right. Let me back up a little here..

Evan hasn't seen his dad in months. A lot of months. Perhaps almost six. I don't know for certain. I've lost track. It's sad, really. Eddie thinks that calling once every few months is OK. It's not. I was stupid enough to let him talk to him on Thanksgiving after he hadn't called in at least two months. I didn't make the same mistake on Christmas Eve.

It's just not right. He can't pop in and out of Evan's life whenever he feels like it. I feel that it's better for Evan if he just doesn't talk to him. Maybe I'm wrong, but I'm doing what I feel is right. Eddie is a self-absorbed loser who sucks the life out of everyone that he comes into contact with. He's a life-sucking vampire. If we never heard from him again.. I would be just fine with that. It's not a nice thing to say, I know. But it's horrible to hear Evan say things like, "maybe in a few years when my dad gets his life together I can go over his house." WTF?

What kid deserves to have a low-life father like that? I just thank God that I am able to be here for him and provide the love he needs in life. In he "dad" area.. Evan got the short end of the stick, but in the "having tons of family that loves him" area he is richly blessed. I wish that it was enough to make him forget about his dad altogether, but I know from experience (having a dead beat dad myself) that will never happen. I sometimes wish that I would have divorced Eddie when our son was too young to even remember him. He's nothing short of a huge disappointment in my son's life.

When I called Eddie back to find out what he really wanted, I wasn't surprised when our "conversation" turned into a horrific argument within a handful of minutes. The thing that did take me by surprise is that he didn't call back to terrorize me after I hung up on him. It's so unlike him not to "morph" into a total psycho and blow up my phone for the remainder of the day. Wouldn't it be a dream come true if I never heard from him again? Yeah, again that's not a nice thing to say. And for Evan's sake I will always have to hope that he pulls himself together enough to at least be a part of his life. I'm not holding my breath, but in the back of my mind... I have to hope.

Every January my company picks the top two collectors from each office, based on their performance from the previous year, and sends them to Florida for four days - all expenses paid plus spending money. I just found out that I won this year. How exciting is that? I'm not sure that I want to go though. Isn't that strange? Four days with a group of "co-workers" from other offices that I don't know. What's so great about that? I don't know. I'm torn. There's a part of me that wants to go simply to be a part of it all, but there's a bigger part of me that doesn't. I'm leaning towards NOT going.

I figured it was about time I changed my desktop. It's funny how I tend to choose images that portray my latest obsession. Meet a few of The Sims.

The Sims has been around for quite some time and I've never really been interested in playing it. That changed for some unknown reason. Well, actually when we were at the video store this evening Ryan (Jeremy's brother) mentioned that The Sims 2 was a pretty good game so I decided to give it a chance. Now it's possible that I'm addicted to it. I can't believe how fast time flies when I am playing it. I have been looking for another video game to play and now I think I've found one that suits me.

Me and Jeremy

Evan and Allison

Ryan and Jeremy

Me and Jamie

Me and Jeremy at midnight

Evan and Allison at midnight

Ryan at midnight

Evan at midnight

Evan and Allison - New Years Day

I took a lot of great pictures last night. Pictures of Evan and my niece. Pictures of Jeremy, Jamie and Ryan - which needed to proven because Ryan doesn't let anyone take his photo. Pictures of me and Jeremy. Pictures of me and Jamie. Pictures of me and Ryan. And now, because of my lack of patience this morning, they are all gone. I unplugged the USB too quickly and iPhoto flipped out and needed to restarted. The pictures weren't there when it came back up and I told it to delete originals from the camera. I never do that! What would make me do that this time? I can't believe they are gone. In a matter of minutes I have lost all of our New Years Eve memories. What a drag.

11:56 AM update: I found the pictures on my hard drive! Thank God.