What a great last couple of days. Saturday I was invited over to a friends house in Big Lake to just hang out with the guys. We rented this game for PlayStation 3 called “Army of Two”, and sat around drinking beers and vegged out and played for nine hours straight. We haven’t done that in years, and it reminded me of our childhood when we would all just sit around and play video games for hours on end. I think we finally called it a night around four in the morning or so. My buddy John has the ultimate set-up, he has the gigantic state of the art TV, hi-end surround system, cooler next to the couch to keep the brews cold, a room simply dedicated for your gaming pleasure. He spent more on his TV remote control than most people spend on their entire TV. We had a blast, and need to make it a point to do that more often. I am so anxious to get settled, I am excited to get a similar set-up, that way we can all play together over a network anytime we can find time. I guess John gets into a bit of trouble with the wife, because when he has a day off, or anytime really, he basically parks himself in front of that wall he calls a TV and disappears for hours and days on end. Divorce by TV, that’s a new one. I don’t know if a huge plasma TV would be my first purchase for my new home, but it’s one of the few toys I am most excited about getting.

Sunday I slept in pretty late and then got up and worked on the computer for most of the day. I planned out my week, did some laundry, made some phone calls and payed a few bills. I also ate at Bonanza yet again, I think that was the fourth time this week. I am still keeping myself to a fairly strict budget, and for six bucks, it’s all you can eat, and that one meal a day usually does it for me. Plus, for some reason, I really like the food. Yes, it’s not three star dining by any stretch, but I find myself craving that salad bar. We would always eat their when I was a kid, maybe it’s a nostalgia thing too. It will wear thin at some point. I haven’t really watched any television the last couple of weeks, so Sunday night I got caught up on a few shows, Big Brother, Jericho, Lost, Survivor, and a few others. I have yet to catch any episodes of the current season of The Riches, but will try and find some time this week. I now prefer to watch most of these shows on either Hulu.com, or most of the studios offer the reruns on their own website. You don’t have to put up with any commercials, and you can usually get all your weekly shows watched in a single evening. If you are a fan of lost by the way, or any ABC program, be sure to check out what ABC.com offers on the their site, you can watch Lost and many other shows in streaming 1080i Hi-Def, and it works simply amazing. Those who say streaming Hi-Def content isn’t feasible, wow are you wrong. And just a reminder for those of you who don’t know, yes your computer monitor or laptop screen is a true Hi-Def HDTV display. Dish and cable providers better start to worry, because down-loadable content is the wave of the future. And the future is almost here.

Monday was a pretty busy day. I got up pretty early, dug out my car from the unexpected snow fall, I hadn’t watched the weather updates at all the night before, so was utterly shocked when I saw how much had fallen. I went down and took the drug test that was required for the interview I did on Friday, I was expecting to sit there for hours, waiting for a doctor or something, but was pleasantly surprised when I was in and out in five minutes. All she did was hand me a cup, and point to the bathroom. It was a facility dedicated to just these tests, located in a little strip mall, luckily I had drank plenty of water, so everything went well. I also dropped of my resume at a few places that I had planned out the day before. One position I found on a recruiting website was for a Human Resources Manager at a very large, well known company. That position is very similar in description to my last job, which I worked for over ten years. I would be perfect for it, and I hope I get a call back. The starting salary and benefits are simply out of this world, and I know it would fit me like a glove. I will tell you though, not having my degree is really a handicap, and at some point, I don’t care how old I get, I need to go back and rectify that. I cannot tell you how different things would be if I had that peace of paper. And yes, I will say it again, if only we could turn back the clock.

Last night I realized yet again I hadn’t eaten, it was to late to hit up good old Bonanza, so I went down to Apple-bee’s, they have one dollar beers and half price appetizers during the week. For a ten spot you can have three tall beers, a giant plate of nachos, and a tip, what a bargain. I watched some baseball, chit chatted with some random locals, and just hung out until around closing. And was asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow around twelve thirty.

Some good news on the home front, well, somewhat good news. My wife and I have at-least exchanged a few voice-mails, and the line of communication at-least appears to be opening up somewhat. She called at one point to ask if I was in the cities, and could drive her to the doctor, she apparently has not been reading my blog or listening to my messages, because I don’t think she even realized I had left town. Well I wasn’t in town, so she would have to find another ride. She then called yesterday to have me help her relight the pilot light on the water heater, it is a very tricky thing to do on this particular model. I tried to explain the procedure over the phone, but she wasn’t able to get it lit. I think she may have had the neighbor come over and give it a try. It’s at-least nice to know that she can still count on me in these situations, I have told her from the beginning, no matter what happens between the two of us, I will always be here for them, and I will. We have a long way to go, but the bitterness between us will subside at some point, and I hope we are able to work out the issues with the kids, united. That is my hope anyway. But sometime soon we are going to have to have a conversation about how things will play out, arrangements, and getting her some financial support. I still call everyday to talk to the kids, I hope they know I love them very much, and I miss them immensely.

I have only been here five days, but already have made a couple of new friends. Karley is day care worker, and is just a breath of fresh air to be around. She has been a very positive person for me rite now. She is so young, the stresses of life have yet to affect her, I hope it never does. Her boyfriend lives in the cities, so no, don’t get any ideas. She loves watching movies and hiking, both things I really enjoy, so we get along very well. And I think we will be friends for a long time. Kieth is a twenty nine year old local bartender, how can I describe Keith, well he is one of those guys that has been at college for twelve years. He lives with a bunch of other late twenty somethings in a house, pays a couple hundred bucks a month rent, and then just has fun the rest of the time. He takes like one credit every semester, and hopes to graduate within a couple of years. This guy is a character, and from what I can gather, he has probably ten to twenty different girlfriends that he is shuffling around. I almost feel sorry for him in a way, there is no way I could handle it. But he loves poker, baseball, football, and playing games so we have no problems finding stuff to talk about. I don’t think, actually I know, I couldn’t keep up with his lifestyle. But he offered to help me find a place to rent, and he knows the area very well from growing up here, so that is a big relief to me, and the help is welcome. I also want to start a guys poker night once every couple of weeks once I get settled, I think we found another player. It will be real small stakes just for fun two nights a month, and maybe rotate between places. My friend John is giving me a very nice poker table that his brother in law left in his garage, I am planning on just getting a glass top, and using that as my dining table. Oh, the life of a bachelor.

So the other day I said I wanted to comment on a few emails that I received. Well it is in response to the post “A goodbye letter from a husband to his wife”. To this day that is the most viewed entry in this blog, and still gets the most traffic of all my other posts combined. I also receive the most feedback and emails from this particular post, and it has partly to do with so many outside sites linking to that page. But last week I received a very amusing email from someone I have not met, asking me if I would consider accepting a ten dollar paypal payment if I would send him the original copy without any screening or editing. Apparently it was driving him nuts wanting to know what was originally written in places I screened with X’s. I had to chuckle, but not even for a hundred pal. But I should say, I did spend a couple of days writing that entry, and I still read it almost every day. And I have received many other emails from random people stating how they found similarity’s in their own relationships, or were in the same position as me, and it had helped them make some very hard decisions. I am proud of the fact that others have found it helpful, and glad I ultimately decided to post it. But no amount of money would persuade me to release the original, that was written for my wife, and her only. It’s not mine anymore.

So today, back to the grind. One foot in front of the other, keep the ball rolling, try and make some headway. I feel good about things, my attitude is as good as it has been in a long time. I have for the most part stopped worrying about things I cannot control. And I feel like my future is mine to make with it as I will. I still have the feeling though, I am David fighting Goliath. I just have to remember, we all know how that story ends.

“And David put his hand in his bag, and took thence a stone, and slang it, and smote the Philistine in his forehead, that the stone sunk into his forehead; and he fell upon his face to the earth.”
—1 Samuel 17:49