I'm baaaaaaaaaaaack...

I hate to admit this, but I actually forgot this blog was here. I stumbled across it today by accident and thought I'd start it back up. I don't think I can completely catch up 4-1/2 years of personal history, but I'll give you the Cliff Notes on the major things that have changed since I abandoned this blog in '06.

We have added several pets. When I last posted we had a boxer named Paden and a cat named Phoebe. We still have both and they are both healthy and well. A few years ago, Leilani's mom moved in with us for a while and brought her Chihuahua named Petey. He and Paden bonded pretty quickly and when her health worsened and she moved into assisted living, Petey stayed with us. She passed away a little over a year ago so I guess he's ours for good now. About 2-1/2 years ago, Leilani's friend Penny gave us a kitten from her cat's litter named Patches. A year after that, a grey kitten showed up on our front porch and made himself at home. We named him Payne and he and Patches have become inseparable. I call the two of them "The Smash Brothers" because of the havoc they can wreak. So, somehow we went from 2 animals to 5. Go figure.

Almost 3 years ago now, I took a job as a contractor at large financial company in Charlotte. After a few months, the person on our team working nights was let go. Back then, the company had a policy that you could not be a contractor for more than 2 years and the night shift guy hit his 2 year mark and had to go. My manager at the time asked for a volunteer to go to night shift and said it came with the benefit of getting to work from home. Since Leilani works nights and the commute was 58 miles each way (at least $100 per week in gas) I jumped at the chance. I worked nights at home from then until February of 2010 when I hit the 2 year mark and had to go just like my predecessor. I was out of work for a while. I did get a 2 week contract at a manufaturing company that stretched to 6 weeks, but they didn't have the budget to keep me and it was an even longer commute so that ended too.

In August of 2010, I was offered a new contractor position at the same company that had laid me off in February. Their policy says that after you leave for the 2 year rule, you can come back after 6 months and it starts over. A few days after the 6 month mark, I was back, but on days and in the office. Unfortunately, it was only a short term contract and in a lower level position than I had been in before. However, on November 1st, they hired me as a permanent employee and promoted me back to my previous level. After several weeks of training on my new position, I got to go back to nights were I preferred it, and after a couple more weeks of training, I got to start working from home again. So, after all that I'm right back to working nights from home... only this time I'm not a contractor anymore. It all worked out in the end.

Also, because of the odd schedule and other distractions, I quit shooting in IDPA matches for several years. I'm trying to get back into that since I enjoyed it so much. I have shot 2 matches in the last 5 months and plan to shoot another one next weekend. I am hoping to get to the point where I regularly shoot a match every month.

I also started another blog a couple of years back specifically about my gun hobby. If any of you are interested, it is called "Watch Your Six" and there is a link on the right hand side under "My Other Blog".

Well, I think that is all the news that is fit to print for now. I will try to post here whenever something happens interesting enough to write about. Until then, I hope everyone is happy and healthy out there.