03 September 2005

i love this time of year

college football is here, and happier i could not be. i love it. plus, my beloved Florida Gators won today against a game Wyoming Cowboys team. the wife and i both get so hyped up during this time of year. each Saturday is devoted to nothing but football. and, this year will be no different. my Gators have a brand new coach and everything points to a us having a great season. i certainly hope so.

i've been getting a few calls recently from some people at my old job with problems and issues they need help with. i told them to call me if anything were to come up, and i meant it. i cared a lot for the people i was in charge of and with whom i worked directly, but all of these calls only let me know that i made the right decision to leave.

Monday is Labor Day and i don't have to go to work. hopefully, the rest of you (in America) have the day off as well. enjoy yourselves!

01 September 2005

the move, the job, the new apartment

i neglected to mention how the move to the new apartment went. well, it went about as well as could be expected. the chest freezer i was so worried about turned out to be easier than i thought. with a little ingenuity, some muscle and some luck, it zipped up the tiny staircase and right out into the Budget rental truck.
the thing that nearly killed us was this huge and tall (nearly 7-foot) armoire we had in our bedroom. it had to weigh well over 750 pounds. we had two other people helping us, and with all four of us we still struggled. the armoire got some wall paint marks on it, some scratches on the side and bottom, but all is good and we survived with no fatalities.

the apartment we moved into is tiny. a small one-bedroom with a little kitchen, a small (barely existent) dining room, decent-sized living room and bathrooms and wee little laundry/utility room. it'll do for the next 6-8 months as our house is being built, but it's certainly not something i'd want to live in for too long.

the new job.
ah, the new job. well, the new job is a new job. it's slow now, as i learn my way around the building and laboratories; as i learn my way around the regulations and protocols; as i learn my way around the personalities, office culture and unspoken mores.
i can't wait until the Training Department considers me fully trained so i can jump in and get to work, but until then i can do nothing but sit around, read procedures and slowly get trained.

31 August 2005

i'm baaack

it's been a week since my last post. and, oh, how things have changed.
we've moved to a new place; a small one-bedroom apartment. the computer i am typing on is on the dining room table, most of our stuff is packed away into a storage shed, and the dog and cat are constantly fighting because they've no room to escape from each other (i'm sure the wife and i will end up in a similar fate before long).
i also have a new job. things are going well, so far. i've only been there 3 days, and it's been nothing but reading of SOPs and testing methods, but this is typical for a new job in this industry. it's only a matter of time before i get fully trained and can begin doing real work again.

i have some good pieces of poetry news to report, and one bad.
first the bad: i received a rejection from The Great American Poetry Show. this is an anthology in its second volume. i might try with more pieces. it would be a great anthology to get into.
now, the good:
1) i received my contributor's copy of The Flatlands #2. it's a nice-looking (albeit thin) journal out of Ohio. i have two poems in this issue. other contributors include Owen Roberts, John Sweet, William Taylor, Jr. and Christopher Robin.
2) i received an acceptance from Main Channel Voices for a poem to appear in their Fall 2005 issue.
and lastly (something i'm most excited about)
3) i've received a solicitation from Eric Dejaeger out of Belgium to translate some of my poems into French to be published in Belgian and French poetry journals. this is so freaking cool. it'll be neat to see my poems in French.

last thing. when i moved i had to convert my internet account to another account and for some reason my email abilities were turned off. therefore, any emails any of you might have been trying to send me since Friday have been lost. i'm sorry. please resend any emails you might have tried to send me. everything is copacetic now.