Things are starting to fall into place for me.  This move has certainly proven to be a very good decision despite seeming kind of risky at the time.  I'm happier.  I'm more comfortable.  I don't worry as much, and life just feels a bit easier.  With the prospect of this job, things are looking to be nice indeed.

The new job is going well.  I should say job prospect.  I'm going through a week of trial work before I get offered anything.  So I'm not officially hired yet.  I'm enjoying the work that I'm doing.  I'm finding it simultaneously fun and challenging.  So far, each day has forced me to really use my logical reasoning.  I'm starting to get used to the people there, but I think that'll take a bit yet.  So far, everyone seems nice though.  I'm keeping my hopes high.

On the same topic, I finally finished all the freebie freelance I had on my plate.  Only I can be unemployed and overwork myself.  I've decided that really with the prospect of working full time again, I'm not really going to seek out any more work on the side.  I want my free time to be just that...free.  If I get bored, I will consider doing some fun projects here and there.  Lord knows I have ideas.  I'd much rather have fun doing videos for my own fulfillment than someone else's anyway.

Let's see...the 4th of July was this past weekend.  Chris and I drove down to Milwaukee to see the fireworks.  Those actually take place on the 3rd instead of the 4th so that local communities can have their celebrations on the 4th.  The July 3rd fireworks are a family tradition.  I think my family has gone to see them every year since I was alive.  The only time we missed them was a couple of years ago when it was raining out.

Anyway, I have to say, I'm starting to get a little burnt out on the fireworks show.  It was an hour long, which as Chris put it, was a half hour of overkill.  There came a point several times in the show where I found myself totally daydreaming.  I came out of the daydream and was thinking...shit...are these still going off?!!  We did get distracted by an inner city guy that decided to just stand right in front of the group of us watching the show.  He started scratching his butt, dumped out a beer, was spitting on the ground right by me...it was pretty gross.  Then he and his friends decided to start talking about their sex lives and how they "upgraded".  They were using a lot of graphic terminology all while not more than six feet away is a 4 year old boy with his family.  Eventually, Sylvia got sick of staring through the guy that she got up and said something to the group of them.  They started being a little more courteous after that.  Sylvia has no fear.  That's for sure.

I suppose none of you know who Sylvia is.  Sylvia is a good friend of Chris' from college before he went to UWEC with me.  She got married about 5 years ago and moved to Australia with her husband.  She recently moved back to the U.S. and her husband is coming too in the next couple months.  This was the first time I had seen her in about....6 years.  What's more...she may end up in the Twin Cities, which is near enough to hang out frequently.  So we'll see.  Regardless, it was great to see her.

This coming weekend should be interesting.  The Northern Wisconsin State Fair is happening here in Chippewa Falls.  Both my parents and Chris' parents are coming up to go to it.  Chris' parents will be staying with us.  My parents are staying in a hotel since my mother is allergic to the cats.  Our parents have only met once, I believe...maybe twice.  So, it'll be a strange weekend.

Chris bought a bike this week.  I helped him pick it out over the past week.  He got a nice one, a Trek 4300.  Now I find myself wanting a new bike too.  I have a pretty decent one myself.  It's a Trek 820 Aluminum.  It's also close to 10 years old.  It's been all over the state and served me very well when I was in college.  I may trade it in to get a nice new 4400 or something.  We'll see.

So Chris and I have been going on bike rides now.  Yesterday we were biking around the area of our house and found a park.  We stopped and made use of the teeter totter.  I went down the old school metal slide, and we also swung on the swings too.  It was just like we were 8 years old again.  We had a lot of fun!  I now remember why those parks were so much fun as a kid.

A day later...I was coming home from an electrolysis appointment, and Chris gives me a call.  He was apparently out on a bike ride with a friend and wiped out really badly.  The bike was slightly damaged and he was pretty scraped up.  Figures...brand new 450 dollar bike gets damaged not two days since purchase.  Chris is going to be just fine.  No broken bones or anything.  His leg will have a nasty bruise though.

This morning was a painful experience.  The unemployment hearing took place and let me tell you, I am so glad I don't participate in legal proceedings very often.  I was nervous.  I am not a lawyer, and of course, my former employer had a lawyer.  These things are so skewed because it's obvious the unemployed party is not going to have the money to hire legal counsel.  Regardless, I made my case, and I will get the results in a week.

It has come to my attention recently that I have quite a few regular readers.  I don't keep track with any sort of software of how many people visit this blog or view the rss feed.  On top of that the entries are syndicated into facebook on both my personal page and my fan page.  So it has the potential to be seen by quite a few people.

I talked to a couple friends of mine recently, Dan and @jennaddenda (Jenn Turner of Bucketworks), and both of them made mention of reading my blog.  It just took me by surprise.  I asked Dan why he reads, and he told me that he finds my life fascinating since it's so different from his.  I took a look at my statistics from my web host, media temple, and found that I've been getting roughly 1200 pageviews  a week, and that's just the main blog landing page.  That makes me feel like writing this blog has been worth it.   I'd just like to say thanks to all of you that read my musings on life.  If you'd be willing to share, I'd love to hear what brings you to my blog and why you keep revisiting it.  Is it my writing?  is my life just that fascinating?  is it just a nice time waster?  do you like to laugh at my nerdiness?  is it because I write regularly?  I'm just curious and would love to hear what y'all have to say.

I'm off for now.  Have a lovely night!