Strange week

The weather is reminiscent of mid-to-late spring when last week we were freezing in our boots with snow and negative wind chills! Gotta love Kansas weather: it requires you to be both hardy and flexible. In the end, though, we're not nearly as hardy with the cold as our neighbors to the north, and everyone's excited for nicer weather. All I could think yesterday was how much I wished the pool were open. Because it felt more like late April to early May than the middle of March. Although, supposedly, we may get some snow tonight. If we do, I wouldn't expect it to stick.

It's only Tuesday and the week before Spring Break. I have a take home exam to work through this week. It's only eight essay questions, but some of them require a lot of work, so, I will be doing a few questions each day until I'm done. Probably straight through to Saturday when it's due. No sense turning something like that in early and/or killing myself to get it done in a day.

Tomorrow is the meeting for my team for further instructions regarding my team's presentation for pitching our business idea. We made the first cut, so I have no reason to expect that we won't place, but I'm sure our competition is stiff. A top prize of $4K has everyone's mouths watering. There were 31 teams apply, but only 20 made it into the semi-finals. I'm not sure, but I think all the teams may have been from ESU even though the local tech college was also involved.

I've also applied for a paid summer marketing internship at one of the offices I worked in as an undergraduate student. No guarantee there, but it is strange how much of this has gone full circle yet again. Maybe I'll learn something vital to my own entrepreneurial pursuits. The extra money, again, would not be bad for our current situation.

The hours at the funeral home and the pub have not been kind to John lately. There's no guarantee with on-call work, so that's nothing new.  But we've both decided it would probably be best for John to find something else with steady hours even if it's only part-time and leave the bouncer job. I think as long as he leaves on good terms, there should be no real issue there. The pay for the funeral home is too good to give up, though, even if it's irregular work.

I suspect this summer will be a slow start to the business, but my goal is that we will have a storefront shortly after I graduate with the MBA. This summer will be about putting some stuff on etsy, getting the website going, and possibly having a booth table at the Dirty Kanza with some merchandise.

One of my goals today is to go walk around the zoo besides the necessary learning and business-building goals. It's supposed to get up to 70 again and I definitely want to take advantage of the good weather. I will probably grab some photos and maybe put a vote in for the new lion cub's name.

Now for a bit of humor to end this post since I've been getting into Magic: The Gathering lately:

Grand Prix Richmond Crackstyle

All I can say is: wear belts, gentlemen, and clothes that fit you or your exposed ass crack might be featured on the Internet. I'm all for encouraging a bit more class in the gamer community especially for widely publicized events.

Dreaming Leads to Creation

My team's executive summary for ESU's 3D Event - Dream It, Design It, Develop It - made it in well before the deadline. I am curious to see if we make the cut for the top 20 to be able to further pitch our idea. The goal is the prize money more than anything. We intend to use it towards starting capital. We have two dice trays in process at the moment. Photos to come later. We used pine and birch on these to keep expenses fairly low since they're just going to be showcase models. They're taking the stain fairly nicely though, so it will be interesting to show as part of our display. Or they might be going up on etsy sometime soon. I'm a little hush-hush on too many details as to our plans yet for this business, but I think it will be fantastic. My actual class assignments were wrapped up this morning so I have some time to work on research for both business and end-of-the-semester projects.

John's job searching has been frustrating lately. We are still both employed part-time at the funeral home and he is still working the door at Mulready's every other weekend, but some more steady income is definitely needed. It shouldn't be this difficult to get out of a one bedroom apartment, but the job market in this town is becoming exceedingly more questionable despite expansion and new business. I guess that's just another sign that we need to run our own ventures.

I would much prefer that March came in like a lion with thunderstorms, not a possibility of 3-6 inches of snow. My work shoes that I just bought (to replace the ones that broke) are not exactly snow friendly. They're intended for spring and summer. If there's still snow on the ground come Monday morning, I might be in an uncomfortable situation. Somewhat related to cold days, Jim Butcher is evidently going to be in Kansas City to promote his new book Skin Game in June. It remains to be seen as to whether I will be there or not, but it is a possibility. Right now, I'm still working my way through the Dresden Files series. I might be done or close to it by June 1st.

So far, I've only managed to add another paragraph to The Lazarus Hand but I hope to get a bit more done today. Having enough spare time to write fiction at all is a good thing. Granted, I have been gaming a good bit lately as well, but I am trying to get into different types of game in the event that the business venture comes to fruition. As far as video games, though, I'm impatiently waiting the third episode of A Wolf Among Us. I was a big fan of Vertigo comics back in the '90's, so seeing Fables redesigned as an interactive story game is just fantastic for my nostalgic tendencies.

Hello, Friday

Kansas wanted us to remember that is indeed still winter. Snow is impending and all I can hope is that the director decides to close the mortuary on Monday. Emporia, Kansas cleans its roads in relationship to the income distribution and other signs of political power. Everyone else is shit out of luck until it melts. Not so good for our little car.

My body wanted to remind me that I can get sick still even though I've been extremely robust thus far this winter. Pretty bad timing too. I have two written assignments and some reading to make it through. Never mind the social events I was looking forward to this weekend.

It seems to be the month of losing hours (or outright losing jobs). Right now, I am to the point that I will spit or piss on anyone who praises the glories of a "right to work" state and demonizes unions. Not having any kind of recompense just lets employers walk all over their employees or discard them like trash as it suits them. Employees get no excess benefits from the arrangement. Technically, you should be able to just leave a job without any notice, but you'll get a negative recommendation when those calls start coming in to previous employers. Employers get away with practically murder these days.

In regards to the previous post about Violet the cupcake loving pit bull, she is fine. It turns out that there was some miscommunication about her status. She still needs a home, but she's not currently on a fast track to being euthanized. If that changes, there will be a further update.

Does anyone else have that one friend who seems to make drama out of pixie sparkles and pinches of stardust that they've just randomly sucked out of the air? *sigh* Yeah, I get to deal with that today too. Being sick is making my inner filter turn to a rather unfriendly setting. Don't mind me too much. Just venting ahead of time to avoid saying something later I may/may not regret. I would like to think that this is just a genuine 'misunderstanding' but with the way this week has gone, I'm not so sure.

Normally, I really love Fridays. This is just not 'my' Friday I guess. I really should be in bed, I suppose, but I need to get some work done. I just can't laze about no matter how bad I feel today. It's a hot tea kind of day. No coffee for the fiend. Wish me luck and better health!

Counting Down

The winter solstice is only a couple of days away. Kansas is expected to see snow this weekend, so it will be nice. Despite complaints, this has been a mild winter, so a little bit of snow is welcome. I hope for a summer that will not fry us all like turkeys in a roaster. Snow, I do not mind. To be honest, I don't mind ice except for its slippery effects on roads and walkways. It is beautiful to see.

I have been such a magnet for static shock lately. Every time I walk by the lit up garland on the stairway at work, I get a painful, and sometimes audible, zap to my arm. Even my smart phone has gotten in on the shenanigans. Dry air is my current enemy.

A local resident set up a Christmas lights show to music. Obviously this trend has been going on for a few years as popular seasonal YouTube fodder, but it sometimes takes awhile for these things to catch on in Kansas.

Post by KVOE 1400 AM, Country 101.7 FM, Mix 104.9 FM and KVOE.com.

The video is not complete, but, you get the gist of it. A really phenomenal showing by a doting grandfather for his granddaughter. I believe that the entire winter holiday season gives adults the opportunity to recapture the joy we felt as children by doing good for other people. We also strive to find beauty in the stark cold of winter or we make it through the use of decorations.

May the beauty of the season bring you peace and joy. Merry Whatever and Happy Somefitzes - enjoy the entire span of holidays as it pleases you!

(But, seriously, it needs to snow this weekend and not rain down sleet upon us. That would be great.)