Work Situation

Came into work this Saturday, running into my replacement for the cell phone kiosk.

What a great feeling to train the person replacing you.

Especially, when that dude couldn't tell you where the top and bottom of a monitor is.

Anyways, moving to the floor went smoothly. My coworkers already know me and several said I would be a "great asset" at the end of the day.

I guess I will have to get over the fact that my boss told me I should feel lucky that I have a job and I should accept the fifty cent pay cut as a favor.

I'm paraphrasing, of course.

The Lake

Spotted

 The day went by smoothly and I pulled up to one of my places to sleep. As I was curling up under my covers and sleeping bag, a gang of ten or so frat bros appeared walking down the side walk in the snow. I'm assuming they were headed to a party down the street, but as they stopped to draw a giant penis on the bug in front of me, several of them noticed I was laying in my car.


 

"Oh shit! Someone's fucking in there!"

Needless to say, I did not feel comfortable enough to go to bed in the same location. After they left the general area, I got up and drove to another close by safe spot. It snowed all night and all today. I awoke to a huge blanket of snow over my car. Enough, where I felt safe

Night Life

  During the week a coworker buddy invited me out for dinner. Whatever! I'll go. Not really understanding what "for dinner" meant, I showed up to the restaurant to meet coworker and eight plus friends. Apparently, my frugal, shut-in status encouraged my coworker buddies to invite me out to the strip for drinks.

Bar hopping is not my thing. It can be fun, but I don't really understand the fun of going to five or six places in one night basically to talk about the atmosphere differences. Had a couple of drinks, chatted and then went "home" early.

The joke my drunken Uncle likes to tell got me a free drink:
"So, there's this Beer crisis. All the big name companies reluctantly get together to solve this crisis. Budweiser CEO, Coors, Heineken, IPA, Guinness, etc, etc. As they sit down for dinner the waitress asks what they each want to drink. The Budweiser guy asks for a Budweiser, Coors a Coors, and so on. When it gets to the Guinness guy, he orders a Diet Coke. All the other CEOs look and him and wonder what's up, why didn't he order a Guinness. The Guinness guy said, "Well, if nobody else is going to drink real beer, why should I?" BABOOM!

The good thing about living in your car is that you don't have to drive home after a night out. I awoke to a nice down town setting around noon. The white rose I received for Valentine's is still next to the steering wheel.

Photo Snow Storm

Let it Snow

White Roses

 Well, what a surprise.




:)




It's nice to be thought of.

Valentine's Day

Technically, I received this single, white rose over the weekend. In the spirit of Vee-Day and sentimentality, I've hung it on my mirror to dry.

The rose was given in more of a friendship gesture, which means a lot during all this hardship.

Mardi Gras!

German and French club host a Mardi Gras/Fasching celebration every year and I'm not one to miss out on free food and good music. The one benefit of living closer to campus is scoping out free food given to student events. Our student fees technically cover all of it, so "free" isn't the right term, but without some inquiring I would never see any of this food anyways. Cupcakes, hot wings and vegetable trays for all!

More Car Stuff

Driving home from work two nights ago, I noticed a burnt smell from the defrost. Normally, I'm not as worried about my car, but seeing as if it crashes I have no where to sleep...

Anyways! Took it in for diagnostics and they found out that oil was leaking all over the engine. The smell came from the burnt oil. To replace the leaking valve cover gasket and the oil-soaked spark plugs and wires cost $218 and a whole morning.

:(

I did have to rearrange my car to make it look like I didn't live in it. Placed all the blankets and sleeping bag in the trunk and moved the books to the backseat. It did give me a chance to organize and clean out my car.

In the Office

From the office of one of my professors

It's Snowing

From Friday night when it snowed.

 My view from under the covers

 Waking up Monday morning to another blanket of snow

 Part of the frost is on the outside, the frosty condensation is also on the inside of the window

Music Video 1

P.O.S. Fuck Your Stuff

Mouse Trap

After reading this inspiring article by David Cain just a few days ago, Your Lifestyle Has Already Been Designed, I caught myself today falling into the trap.

The summary of the article is that because the forty hour work week has taken up so much time that people have they tend to over spend on the weekends to recover from the droll of the week. As I work twenty plus hours and week and spend the rest of my time school-working, I rarely have time for entertainment or recovery.

I had a really stressful day at work.

I had a really stressful day at work.


I'm going to type it one more time: I had a really stressful day at work.

I am at my three strikes at work. My manager basically told me that this meeting should of been my termination and that I should talk to him in two days to change positions in the company (or face the "responsibilities" of my job).

Let me elaborate here: I am one of those annoying cell phone polo shirts that interrupt your shopping and use every tactic in the book to get you to buy a phone.

One of these desperate people

Source: http://www.printapromo.com.au/uniforms-and-clothing/custom-polo-shirts/mens-unisex/pp-2mp-jbs-wear-embroidered-podium-moto-polo-shirt

The first time, my manager wrote me up: a customer threw a tantrum in the store because their cell phone bill was higher than the brochures. Apparently, they decided not to understand the concept of TAXATION. That was my fault for telling them that their cell phone bill would be X and not X + taxes.

The second time was a couple of months ago, when I showed up on the wrong day and skipped the right one. My room mate thought it would be funny to fuck with the written down schedules I posted on the fridge. A no-call, no-show called for a coaching.

Today would of been my last day. I have been late for work once a month for around 11-16 minutes for sixth months. The last time I arrived tardy happen to be the day that my mom's pug vomited blood on me.

He was cuter as a puppy. A puppy that didn't vomit as much.

Fortunately for me, my late hours working, covering shifts and building good customer repoire has paid off as I didn't get fired. Unfortunately for me, I've been "suggested" to leave my position and be a regular sales associate on the floor. I wouldn't mind as much (working on the floor is fun), except for the pay deduction.

Source: http://www.foodspotting.com/reviews/324180

Feeling rather stressed, during my break I fumed my way to the sandwich shop across the parking lot and "treated" myself to a 6 dollar meal, complete with cookie.

Breaking my food budget and personal goals for a sandwich and a cookie I fell into the trap of convenience and want. I had food in the car. I already overspent my budget last month. I can't really afford to be homeless, let alone be homeless and eating out.

Lesson of the day! Watch where every cent of your money goes.

Leveling Up

I leveled up today!

While I do strength training at the Rec Center too, running is far easier to watch the improvement. This week (Mon-Sun) I ran thirty miles, ten of which happened today and yesterday. In comparison to my first five mile run, I improved by 34 seconds and added more running to my weak.

Working Out = Leveling Up in Real Life

A proud moment back when I played WOW

The Men

I'm beginning to get a little paranoid.

Just sitting in my car, eating breakfast, officer.

After driving by my car, slowing down when it passed me, turning around, driving back down the street to slow down near my car again AND THEN turning around and pulling out in front of me - I'm beginning to get a little paranoid.

Now, this isn't the first cop that I've run into.

1.) Pulled me over due to my headlights not being turned on (my fault)
2.) Came up to me when I was reading in the park
3.) Asked why I was pulled over off the street (I was looking for a laundromat on my phone)

and then there's this guy.

I've literally had a run in with a cop every single week I've lived in my car. Apparently, sitting in your car doing nothing warrants attention.

The Police officers who stopped to see if I was
okay gave me their business cards.

The Diet

Here's what I eat regularly!

Soy Milk for Protein

WestSoy doesn't taste that different from regular cow milk and it doesn't have to be refrigerated. Although, it has stayed cold enough where the milk is still chill throughout the day.

The Basic Fruit

Oranges, apples and bananas are cheap, keep well in the car and I like to eat them (which is important).

Nature Valley Bars (30 cents) and
Some Discounted Protein Bars (50 cents)

Snackies! I've pretty much replaced a meal with one of these bars, in between classes or the time before work. Once again, tryingin to focus

Nom Nom Nom Nom

Carrots are great because they keep long enough when I store them in my little lunchbox cooler. When the weather gets warmer I'm probably going to have to switch out the vegetables I eat, or get them in cans. 

Foods not listed are peanut butter, tortillas, chips, mixed nuts and craisins. I still pick up a dollar hamburger at least once a weak, partly for the protein. ALSO, I don't like not eating dead cow for extended periods of time.

My Car

Where my food and books go.

The blue ottoman is used to support my legs, when I sprawl out to sleep.

The view from outside the car