Weather here has been alternately rain and sun, warm and cold- typical Tennessee winter in other words.

The dachshund had a reasonably good Christmas- most of his favorite people came by, and there was plenty of extra turkey. His hearing is completely gone and his eye-sight is going, but the nose is still good. I took him out front the other morning, and he snuffled up a piece of stale bread I had put out for the birds. He absolutely would NOT put it down- his whole attitude was- "This is WILD bread, that I stalked and brought down myself. This food didn't come from a can- it has rain-water and leaves on it."

Hope everyone has had pleasant days and good company.

Omg folks ... I had the busiest craziest 3 days of work over Christmas Eve to the day after Christmas that you could imagine. On Christmas Eve the other clerk wanted to only sit down .. sit at her ordering .. sit at the computer studying ... while I was totally busy at the counter. This is a 7/11 okay? We don't get breaks - we stand for 8 hours straight altho we are allowed to eat anytime while waiting on customers. This girl took 4 cigarette breaks! And she'd get peeved if I called her to help me when I got a line of 6 or 7 costomers. So I finally told her that I was going into to the office to take "my coffeebreak" and she says well she had to finish her ordering ... but that didn't interfere with her 4 breaks did it? Oh and Walmart at the next light closed unexpectedly at 7pm and EVERYONE came to our store. Then we got lines of 20 - 25 people from 7pm until 11:30pm when I finally went home. Miss Ciggie left at 9pm and the 3rd shift was an hour and 10 minutes late.So I was alone for 2 & 1/2 hours.



On Christmas Day I have to work with the same girl and she's pulling the same sitting in the big comfy office chair routine until I just went in and told her .. it's too busy Christmas Day for you to be studying, I need help on the counter because we were the only store open for miles around and we were busy. She comes out and proceeds to sit on a milk carton! Grumbling that she's gonna quit, gonna transfer stores, gonna go home. And she was saying Bah Humbug to the customers and telling them she hated Christmas. I was giving out Christmas candy at my register becasue I love my customers and love my job. I flat out told her "nobody is bringing down my Christmas." So around 5:30pm she calls the boss and tells him she has to go home. He asks me by phone can I handle it alone? I say "Yes, if you will schedule me the days that I need" because he'd been shorting me a day - a little blackmail I hope will be honored. So I worked until 11pm alone in a busy 7/11 - the 3rd shift was only an hour late Christmas night. But it was actually much pleasanter working alone without the complainer. And our clientelle is great - they alll visited and socialized in line with each other and no one got mad at waiting. Many ppl told me I was doing an awesome job and thanks for being there.



The day after Christmas was a great relief because I worked with a very professional older man whom I really enjoy working with and the night shift was on time ... but I was just so tired. I had my Christmas dinner of Tyson Chicken Wings and large mixed fruit cup that day because Christmas day was too busy to eat any but half a breakfast burrito.



Thanks for listening to me rant. If you read that wall O text I love you. Happy New Year Pappys ... I hope mine goes alittle bit better. But yup, I'm scheduled again for the vital days. Thank god the air force always completes its mission. If I hadn't I don't know who would have.

So winter came to Sweden! it's -14 degrees Celsius and SNOW!!!! yayyyyyyyyyyy. Now my dear fur-ball doesn't approve, he's constantly lying on a chair near the radiator. When he needs go go out he wants me to stay at the door so he can come back inside as ASAP

Cats you know!...

Thats cold. Somewhat too cold.

It never snows much here, the sea wind carries enough salt to melt it. To be honest I love this, snow is horrible stuff.

No idea how cold it is here, below zero but only just probably but the wind blows all the heat out of old houses so the fire's been burning for almost a month without stop now. Mulled wine all the way.

So, um. Hi.

It's cold here, snowed up. Orthodox Christmas Eve and whatnot. I'm at my comp, lonely as ever, trying to get back to form and make '09 a better year. It just might work.

Anyway, it's good to be back. Hi Sarge, Minkey, Alex, Trey, Ibis, Olen, everyone... Merry Christmas and happy new year.



p.s.: free coffee [or tea, what the hell] for everyone who wants it, as always

Yayzorrrzzz!!!! Milanius is back!! Hi Milan, glad to see you! It is rather lonely here too although Cullen got FO3 two days ago and I got Diablo 2 yesterday in the mail. Our late Christmas presents. After working like a dog over the three days of Christmas my reward was to get laid off along with the other part-timers. So Unemployment here I come. And I got a phone call the other morning from one of the full-timers who just found she was getting laid off too. She was afraid she'd not be eligible because he's the new franchise owner instead of corporate like before. But I told her you are always eligible as long as you were not fired for malicious behavior.



So nice to see you again, Milanius.

Yeah unemployment isn't fun, I've been there before. I feel sorry for you miss Ibis. I hate my job but I also feel lucky to have it.

Unemployed right now myself, and it is definitely not amusing. Getting into the spring hiring cycle for biologists though, so I am hopeful of getting an interview soon.

Actually although we are having to tighten our belts I am relieved to not have to work for such a jerk. That's about all I can say. Applied for Unemployment already and waiting to hear from them. Applying online tonight to food stamps because the larder is getting a bit bare.

uhmm....yeah, I feel sorry for you guys who are unemployed at the moment, I, too have been but that was long ago...Now my job sucks from time to time but I'm grateful to have it.

Just now I'm home though, should have been my three days of nice holiday on my own but it has turned out that I'm not well, I got some kind of flu, all joints are aching and well....no I shouldn't whine but I was so much looking forward to these days...

Darkness always seems to deepen, Ibis -_- the trick is to clench teeth and keep marching forward.

Other than that, having been unemployed for long periods of time, I can only tell you that sometimes it may be a change for the better. Here's hoping that you and my sister, who is also out of work, both find better jobs soon.

Today, just about everything broke down at work; programs we use, printer for receipts, even the climatisation; this last made our boss cut down worktime to 6 hours for now, since we already have 2 men coming to work ill. We need to stay healthy until this snowstorm wave calms down. But hooray for 6-hour worktime, anyway.

Sorry to hear about the job woes, Ibis. But it does sound as if you are moving forward.... Getting laid off was one of the most wrenching experiences I ever went through. However, it also motivated me to finally take those Computer Science classes I had been muttering about for years. If you are still thinking about the Graphic Arts classes, check the jobs board at the college- usually employers who post there are willing to accomodate student schedules. It might also be possible to find an on-campus job- certainly worth a look.

Minque- I know how you feel. Mrs. Treydog developed a sinus infection during our trip to see the grandsons (late November) and still has a cough that persisted through her 2 weeks off at Christmas. Illnesses always seem to lurk in the weeds, waiting until we think we can relax...

In the meanwhile, I have some fresh-baked apple-oat bread (new recipe- made with real apple juice) with cinnamon for everyone. Pull up a chair near the fire and I will toast you a slice. Goes great with honey.

Mmmmm, that sounds very good good, Trey.

And I'm sorry to hear about your troubles, Ibis. If you need anything just hit me up.

Thanks friends, it is wonderful that I can always count on you guys. Milanius you have just created my new Siggy Motto:







Treydog the apple-oat bread is marvelous and very rejunvenating for trampled spirits. Oh and I picked up my final paycheck today only to find out that there was no holiday pay from the new franchise owner on Christmas despite the fact that he assured everyone that we WERE getting time and a half holiday pay. So once again I am grateful at least that I'm not working for such a blantant fire-fire-pants-no-hire liar. And I told my friend Debra there that she is working now in Bizzarro-World and she sadly agreed. As I was leaving with my check the other two clerks behind the counter checked with me on the process for applying for Unemployment, so the franchise owner has put the scare into everyone there. What a way to run a business = NOT!!!



Minky, I so hope that you are feeling better again dear. We had a touch of something here that made one feel very dizzy and a bit nauseous feeling; but seemed to be cured by diahrea .. gross but true. At least neither of us had it long. Was about 3 days ago and Cullen's had a slight fever since then but that nor nothing else will keep him from being glued to his FO3 monitor screen. Hehe



Redsrock, please keep my recent unemployment woes under you hat at TESFU, ok please? I don't want a pity party at the homesite. I look at it there like I am just getting more time to work on TESFU Town Mod and I don't know if you've looked at our thread here in Older Games Forum but wonderful news! Minque/Serene is already our healer besides Dr. James but now Treydog the Adventurer is occassionally going to submit articles to you the editor for The Union newspaper and Alexander the fearless leader here of Chorrol is going to be our Head Librarian on the upper floor above FC4's Flaming Phoenix Bookstore in front of the Mage/Tower. And of course for his background we will have him be a scholar/peacekeeper who migrated to Neacrythe from Chorrol, Cyrodiil.



Good news may come of this work lay off my friends. I have long planned to attend college for Computer Animation after we got a car and would have had to work part-time and pay the classes myself. But now after I start on Unemployment, as a veteran I become elligible for VA vocational rehab grants = so my college preparations for the Game Design world may get paid for federally although I will attend community college via bus/bicycle. I did take the tour for Computer Animation at Full Sail Media College and it was an awesome process. However, not wanting to be hugely in debt to the various loans involved with Full Sail aside from the grants and scholarships - I have opted for our community college program. I am hoping that some of my associations with Bethesda personnel and reputation in the TES Community and my planned release of some of my MW mods (and hubby Cullen's Oblivion mods) at Great House Fliggerty might maybe give me some added consideration in the Gaming Creation World once I graduate. *fingers crossed*

Of course.

Thanks Reds. You are a good friend and you always understand me with little or no words.

No problem, Ibis.

Comiserations to all those unemployed, I hope you find jobs/courses/whatever you want soon.

Its all change for me, I'm back in Edinburgh now (I'd been staying with my parents in the obscenely long winter holidays) and my flat is freezing (it was five degrees in my room before I turned the heating up). I start uni again on Monday but I have much less work this semester - only 30 hours on campus and only 23 of them in classes so lots of free time for me to write, read, walk and devise interesting practical jokes in.

I have been playing "road tech" this week- 2 days in Newport and then 2 days in Rogersville setting up users on a new domain. It's kind of nice to get out of the office, but 4 days out of 5 was a bit much.

A lot of my Dad's family was from this part of Tennessee, so today I stopped at a little cemetery on my way back to work and ate lunch with my g-g-grandfather and grandmother. He was born in NC in 1814 and died in 1879.

Maybe now that my road-running is slowed a little, I can spend more time here.

Ibis- definitely save any work you have done in the CG field. I recall one of our Computer Science profs telling us that our portfolio was more significant than the degree itself-

"When an employer asks what you can do, you pull out a program or disk and say, 'Well, I wrote this.' "

A couple of more hours and I can go home to read, write, and relax.

Wow nice tip Trey, and I should include mentioning our little indie game project of FarFallen that Mazelure, Bofra, Kiln & I and a bunch of really talented artists and programmerw were working on for quite awhile until things fell apart. And the site is still up. That'd be a heckuva good example although I did minimal artwork I did do alot of advertising for the project. Good idea .. and my Morrowind mods, I want to put them all to one disk anyway.

How wonderful for you to enjoy your heritage like that Treydog. You are a longtime Tennessee resident to be sure.

I seem to have spent this evening (well, morning now but my sleep pattern is a mess) looking up old forums I used to post on. So I thought I'd drop in and say "hi" even though I never spent much time here.

I do that sometimes too Ramirez and I remember you although I also don't post here that often. So HI!

I'm surprised someone recognises me here.

I have no idea why I've been revisiting all these old forums. But its something to do in the hours of the morning that most of the people in my timezone spend asleep.

Of course you're recognized! Nice to see you back!

Really? Am I recognised in a bad way

I figured since I'd only had one post between now and 2006 and less than 70 total I couldn't have made much of an impression.

I need to get back to looking for a job tomorrow. I miss my job at the bank

While I don't remember much of a presence of you on this forum, I definitely remember you Sensei

I like how you've still got exactly the same avatar. Hows the world been treating you?

Yeah, how unoriginal can you get eh

I'm doing good though, thanks. And yourself?

Well as my post up there says, currently out of work but I did a fair bit of overtime and saved in my last job so I'm not in a financial mess just yet. Just been enjoying some time off to relax, working 5 months straight including some Saturdays without a day off (save one when I was ill) is tiring. Aside from that everything is fine.

I don't think at your stage though you can really change the avatar. I could foresee people campaigning to have it changed back.

You are not alone in your unemployment Ramirez. I lost my job the day after Christmas and there are some other people here too who are out of work.

I just thought I'd post to tell y'all that I've just completed a 1000 mile move from Illinois to South Carolina. So no more snow for me I have a part time job, but I'm still looking for something a little more full-time. But the best part is that finally I actually get to live with my boyfriend. I may be underemployed, but it's worth it.

Congratulations and welcome to the South, "Dr. Planty". You may believe, at first, that the people down here "talk funny". This is a misperception. Actually, it is just that your ears have not yet acclimated to the new environment....

One survival tip- If you find yourself near a patch of kudzu, keep moving. It has been known to engulf grazing cattle in a matter of minutes.

Finally. The last page of the new story has been written. I'm very curious to see how Treydog likes it, and then how the rest of you like it. Though knowing me, I think it likely I'll do some mop up work and rewriting before long.

YAY! I can't wait to read it.

Is there a link Alexander? I may read it too. I need more dinnertime reading material.

Getting no sleep, after drinking both sleeping medications prescribed, doesn't help. Getting a polite "***k off" from a female who everyone said she was interested in me, it also doesn't help. Petty things and stress at work, combined with this immense cold... guessed it yet? Doesn't help.

">:D MIL HAS NO LIFE OUTSIDE OF WORK MWAHAHAHA"

When I start to post it I'll link you to it.

I'm exhausted. Like Mil said, even after taking the sleep perscription meds, I haven't slept in 4 days. I need sleep !

Other than the sleep thing I'm perfectly fine though. Hoping for a snow day tomorrow it's supposed to be 2 degrees even without the wind. I'm not used to it being this cold in Tennessee so I'm hoping it gets warmer. I'm bundling up tonight!

A little Paradise Lost usually puts me right out.... hee hee. Didn't realize you were a fellow Tennessean- cool. Or, as you point out, cold for the next few nights. Time to put some wood in the fireplace and bring in extra dachshunds for additional heat.

I can't believe I missed this. I'm actually going to Full Sail right now, but for music, not computer animation. And I know what you mean with the loans; I'm already in debt and I haven't even started a (real) job yet. Do you live around that area?

Am at this very moment completing an application for a ranger job at Wrangell-St. Elias National Park in Alaska. That'll be something like a dozen jobs applied for in the last few days. I've been busy.

Be a total kick in the head if I get the Alaska job after being totally ignored for dozens of other jobs in the lower 48 that I'm equally well-qualified (or better) for. I'm not holding my breath on anything.

Job I've applied for of late that I most want is vegetation sampling outside of Mesquite, Nevada (not far from Las Vegas), as it pays $17.64 an hour and would put me in position to participate in the Trouble in Vegas ultimate frisbee tournament.

Here's holding a good thought or three for your job search.... It can be a depressing exercise. But- I have confidence that you will find a good fit for your skills. I remember that I opted out of Forestry as a major when I realized I would almost certainly have to relocate... also because the program I was in was heavily oriented toward "trees are a cash crop, so how can we harvest them more efficiently".

Maybe the Smokeys or Cherokee/Nantahala will find a need for you....

That whole "cash crop" thing is why I never went into Forestry. I avoid the moral dilemma pretty nicely as a biologist or a park ranger. I really dislike the "tree-farming" ethic. The poet and essayist Gary Snyder has some interesting words about in The Practice of the Wild.

I don't really mind the relocating so much, though I would love to settle somewhere in Western Montana for a while. There's some botanist positions available for Glacier National Park, which would be great. I've applied there, but I'm think that the competition for that one will be intense. My odds there aren't so great. But there's also a tiny National Wildlife Refuge west of Kalispell that I might have a better shot at. But there is a lot of chance involved, so I reconcile myself to all the relocation by generally just applying to places that I really want to go. Like the Nevada job I mentioned: it has proximity to the north rim of the Grand Canyon in Arizona, Bryce Canyon, Zion, and Escalante in Utah, and Death Valley in California. Those are all places I either love or want to go.

Don't think I've found a good job to apply for in the Smokies area of late. I was recently rejected for a job working with sea turtles on the Atlantic coast of North Carolina. But if I thought I had a good shot I'd be all over a job in the Smokies--I love that park. I have fond memories of lingering in Juneywhank and Indian Creek Falls early on June mornings, before the crowds.

Good luck job-hunting, they might be hard to find but once you have one that type of job is probably one of the most enjoyable and rewarding.



Depends how its done - wood has to come from somewhere and I'd much rather that was from a 'tree farm' than from natural forest. If they're farmed symathetically it can be ok too, the newer plantations here aren't done in straight lines and the larch firebreaks are put in features in the landscape. It looks almost natural until they cut them down.

I had possibly the worst afternoon ever today. Sessions in physics labs are usually painful and this one excelled itself. Hours using a system of levers, mirrors, filters, micrometers and prisms so sensitive it can measure down to half a micron to get the wavelength of some light would be fine but because it was so sensitive if someone in the same corridor closed a door it would shake the whole thing to hell. And twisting a dial while watching tiny lines move get a bit dull after five minutes.

Ah, the problem with U.S. forestry is that they use the natural forests as the "tree farms". The logging rate in our national forests is pretty unsustainable. I've no huge beef with logging done in the frontcountry on a sustainable-yield basis, but I have a big beef with clear-cuts and other forms of unsustainable logging in undeveloped areas.

Actual tree farms on private land are fine by me.

I've know what you mean about lab work and sensitive instruments. Total pain in the rear. One of the reasons I prefer doing my work out in the field.

Someone from the bank called me today and offered me my job back. Not sure when I start so I still have another week or so of sitting in my house.

I think I have influenza- I have had a constant head-ache for 4-5 days; my neck, shoulders, and lower back hurt; my appetite is diminished; and my legs feel like ice all the time, even when the rest of me is warm or hot. I took Tuesday off from work (mostly because of the snow).... And so now, in my stubborn Irish Presbyterian way, I feel guilty about taking any more days off this week. So I am sitting at work, aching and freezing and calling myself 9 kinds of an idiot. And, oh yes, on Wednesday, my truck wouldn't start- low battery + cold temps. So now I am parking it where I can "roll start" (yay for manual transmissions). Kind of wonder how I am going to buy gas in the next day or so... May just have to leave the engine running while I pump- even though they frown on that.

No other real news- just wanted some tea and sympathy, I suppose.

A job just opened up at my old haunt of Guadalupe Mountains National Park, in west Texas, so I am hopeful of getting some sort of gainful employment relatively soon. I'm uber-qualified for the position and know the right people in the right places, so I feel pretty good about it. Mailing in my application today.

Get better soon, Treydog. I am very lucky to almost never get ill, but I do remember the flu (it's been about 15 years since I've had one) being quite unpleasant. Wouldn't wish it on my worst enemies (not that I have much in the way of enemies), and certainly not on a friend like you.

Actually fairly warm (by January standards) in Illinois (where I'm staying with the folks) today. Got to be close to 50 degrees. After I mail off my application I'm going to play some disc golf.

Indeed get well soon Treydog - I recomend the scottish remedy for the cold/flu: put some boiling water on some fresh ginger then strain it into lemon, honey and whisky, I'm not convinced it helps that much but it warms you and makes the symptoms seem less bad.

As for the truck can't you charge the battery? Even really knackered ones will hold some charge if you make them...

I almost had an even worse afternoon than last week, similar idea with the vastly too sensitive equipment but this time with two diffraction patterns out of phase which obscured eachother. Absolute nightmare so I gave up and decided to work out my raw data with maths. Still it reminded me why I don't do pure physics.

Good luck to you Canis in your job search, we used to live in Texas, San Antioio to be exact. And Treydoggie, you take it easy! You shouldn't be working and certainly not rolling trucks down hills when your legs feel like ice .. you should be home in a nice warm bed!

Well everyone, I feel so patriotic .. my first Unemployment check came on Inauguration Day, just a few minutes after .. the mailman couldn't have planned it more perfectly. And until that moment I didn't even know for sure if I was getting it - so go Obama! hehe

I am looking for work but my feet are so happy that I don't have to stand for 8 hours a day without a break anymore. And we are excercising so that I don't just sit a the computer all the time and get fat. And we're walking and bike riding too and I can't wait to start using the pool again. Gonna start as soon as the weather goes back up into the mid to upper 70's which the weatherman showed will be the end of this week.

I hope no one thinks ill of me but after working about 6 or 7 years with no vacation; I am being a bit leisurely in my job search right now and taking the time off for more full time work on my Morrowind Mods. Enjoyment!