Westward Ho!

For those of you who have been following my blog, and know me, I have to tell you that I moved West.  I left Kansas and moved to Utah.  Other than finally finding a full-time job after looking for three years, I'm not sure why the Lord wants me in Utah.  I found a job with Ancestry.com, the genealogy website.  I'm a project lead helping put together the databases that are offered online.

I miss my friends in Kansas/Missouri, especially those in the 70th Explorers/149th War Wolves.  Wish I could come back and troop with you.  I really miss my friends from the Stanley Ward, and wish I could transplant all of you here in Utah.

However, I am now a member of the Alpine Garrison here in Salt Lake City.  I am currently living in Sandy, but may move to Utah County (trying not to think about that) because the commute is killing me.

On another note, I just read my sister's blog about my Dad and holidays.

4th of July Remembrances

Which made me cry (at work no less) and laugh remembering the cars screeching to a halt because they ignored the "Road Closed" signs and found their way blocked by fireworks.

Caprice, the game you can't remember is the card game Waterworks.

And all I can say in remembrance is also:

Dad, I love you and I miss you more than you can imagine.

I'm finally officially a Member of the 501st Legion - Vader's Fist!!!

For those of you who have been friends with me for a while, and read this blog, you know I'm into Star Wars Costuming, and primarily it is for charity.  Well, I have been working on my Imperial Security Bureau Costume (it is the least expensive costume for me to make) and submitted it last week and was approved!  My lifetime TKID number for the 501st Legion is 4053.  I chose that number because it is a slight reversal of my father's birthday (5/3/40) and he was the person who took me to see Star Wars back in 1977, and started this whole crazy thing.  Now I'll always have the number to remind me of him and seeing the movie together.  Okay, for those of you who won't recognize the uniform, it is from A New Hope (the original SW movie) and can be seen in the scene where they are all in the conference room.  The officer sitting next to the idiot who challenges Darth Vader and gets Force choked because of it.

My Imperial Security Bureau uniform.

My first official troop:

As for the job search, it is continuing.  I'm applying for jobs in Los Angeles, CA; Redmond, WA and of course several here in the KC area.  Just wish I was having better luck. 

Happy Valentine's Day everyone!

Christmas Blog Woes

Okay, I was going to post during the Christmas season, and add a snappy new background, but wouldn't you know it...when I added the background, it completely erased all my posts.  I couldn't post anything new, and I couldn't do anything with it, even though the background said it would be compatible with my template.

I guess I'm going to have to make my own backgrounds from here on out.  It just isn't worth the aggravation.  I went through 2 different websites, different designs both with the same result. It just is incredibly frustrating.  So I'm going to have Caprice show me where to get the different elements to make my own backgrounds, then I won't have to rely on others and my blog will always look like I want it.  Besides, Valentines Day is coming up so I'll shoot for that for a new background.

Okay, to bring everyone up to date, I still don't have a full-time permanent job.  Getting rather frustrated, but I'm not giving up hope yet. Spent Christmas with some friends as Caprice and family headed to Denver and her in-laws for the holiday.  Had a great time, and wished I wasn't working retail so I could have had the whole weekend off instead of just one day.  The day after Christmas...

Holiday retail jobs...life-savers, but also aggravating at the same time.  No, do not expect the store to have gift boxes at 5pm on December 24th.  Most likely they won't.  No, we aren't going to have anything coming in later in the day on a truck when it is 2pm on 12/24.  I don't know what stores are still open at 6:30pm on 12/24...I'm only concerned if the one I need to get to before going home will still be open, (Thank you Wal-Mart.)  Do not expect the store to be open after 7pm on Christmas Eve, we also have families or friends we want to be home with.

The Day after Christmas?  No, we didn't have that item in stock on Christmas Eve, and no, we haven't received a truck yet so it is still out of stock.  Please expect long lines in customer service.  Everyone else is also trying to return the gifts they received and don't fit or they hate.  We are working as fast as we can, and most likely are feet are hurting, our heads are hurting, and we would love to snap back at you after you've complained about the wait, but we won't.  Please have patience with all retail workers this holiday and every holiday season.  They work long hours for little pay, and little recognition.  I bet most of you don't even know how long it takes to put the store back together after it has been shopped.  It takes a lot of effort.

Okay, back to the grind of job applications.  I'll probably blog again soon though.

TTFN