I'm Back!

Hey everybody! And by everybody I mean all two of you who actually read this blog. I'm back! I know I said I'd be back in a week. Two weeks ago I was away in Kentucky on a mission trip. The night I came home my girlfriend fell and hurt her ankle. It's a small break but a bad sprain. I spent all week with her last week helping her out so that's why there were no blog posts last week. She is recovering well. In fact, she went to the Purple Door arts and music festival with me this past weekend. We saw bands like Anberlin, mewithoutYou, Deas Vail, Seabird, Farewell Flight, and a few others.

The mission trip went well. We accomplished a good amount of manual labor as well as spending time with the girls at the Hope Hill school. Some of the people who came on the trip shared stories about their lives, we did arts and crafts with them, and had some recreation time with them playing basketball, softball, and throwing water balloons at each other. We spent hours making hundreds of water balloons and they were all gone in less than ten minutes!

I'm still looking for a job, but I have experienced so many things this past month that I could not have experienced had I been working. I was able to help out by taking pictures at VBS (Vacation Bible School), I went on a mission trip, and was able to be there for my girl when she needed me. So even though I'm not working, I've been pretty busy for the most part. I'll talk more about Purple Door and my trip to Hope Hill later, I just wanted to update everyone (both of you) as to what's been going on the last two weeks. I also need to finish up talking about my past jobs in the Work, Work, Work, Edition (WWWE).

Pennsyltucky

I have come to the realization that I have been laid off from my job at just the right time.

"But Dan, what do you mean by that? How can anytime be the right time to get laid off?"

Well, I'll tell you. I was laid off at just the right time so I could help out by taking pictures at VBS this year. I wouldn't have been able to do this if I was still at my job. Also, while I was still at my job I wasn't able to get the days I needed off to go on a week long mission trip to Kentucky, but now I can.

"But Dan, what will you do for income?"

Well, for now I'll be collecting unemployment. Things were very stagnant at my former job and I felt uncomfortable there because my boss and I didn't get along very well. I think it's a good thing that I'm not there anymore.

"But Dan, aren't you worried that you might not find another job?"

I don't think that this should be a time for worrying, in fact no time is a good time for worrying. How does worrying help anything? Like I said before, I was let go at just the right time so I could help with VBS and go on this mission trip. I get a chance to serve God in ways that I was not able to while I was working.

"But Dan, how will you live if you can't find another job?"

How will I live? Well first of all, Christ is life. It is not a job that will provide me with life. Too many people put too much emphasis on how important their job is to the point where their job becomes their god. Yes, I know that I need to eat, sleep, and pay the bills, but I also need to trust and have faith that God will provide. God has provided me with a family and with friends who won't let me end up in the gutter. I pray for those who aren't as fortunate as that. But I also know I can't just sit on my butt and wait for God to drop things out of the sky. I need to meet God halfway and get out there, do things, make things happen. I know that God will provide me with a new job, but that doesn't mean I shouldn't be looking in the newspaper or online because I feel those are sometimes the outlets he chooses to reveal these things to us. How pointless would life be if God just handed us everything we wanted while we just sat around?

"Well Dan, you make a good point. Thanks for clearing things up for me."

You're welcome.

"Hey Dan."

Yes.

"Uh, don't you think people will think you're a little schizo talking to yourself like this?"

No comment.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

So yes, I will be going to Kentucky next week, so there will be no blog posts next week. I will be out of range. No internet. For a week. Pray for me. Seriously, I will have a great time. I'm going to a school called Hope Hill. The school takes in teenage girls who have had a rough life. Many have been abused, abandoned, been into drugs and alcohol. So we're going there to do some maintenance work on the buildings they live in and the grounds. Weed whacking, painting, hammering nails and all that good stuff. But we'll also spend time with the girls teaching them about God and about what he has done in our lives. And we are going to talk with them not just at them. I find that the best way to connect with people is to interact with them individually and show them and tell them what God has done in my life. Just standing on a stage and talking at people and telling them what God is about without mentioning any personal stories is not as effective. We'll also do some fun stuff with them. We have some activities and games planned out. We need to let those girls know they are not alone in their suffering and that they can overcome whatever they've been through. Hopefully those who never heard of Jesus will come to know him and those who have heard of him will truly come to know who he is and what he came to do. He came to liberate.

I'll be back after next week, keep me in your prayers. God bless.

I'm a Sell-Out

Yes, I did it, I went and monetized my blog by allowing ads on here, but hey, people do crazy stuff when they're unemployed. Don't know if it will really help, but hey, it's free and it can't hurt, right?

Blogity-Blah-Blah-Tube

I'm gonna take a little break from telling stories from the different jobs I've had over the years today since today is a busy day for me. But I wanted everyone to know I set up a YouTube channel to correspond with this blog. The channel I made is called Blogityblahblah. Below are the four videos I have up so far. I'm hoping to do some video blogs. Look for the first one to be up in the next month or so. Enjoy these videos.



This first one is a trip we took to Knoebels. I went with my girlfriend, her little boy, and a few other friends. This video features the Moon Bounce, The 1 1/2 Mile Train Ride, The Haunted House, Mini-Golf, The Log Flume and some pictures as well.



This is a hike we took this past January in Rauchtown, PA near Ravensburg Park. I went with my sister and a couple friends.



You've heard me talk before about Valley Mosaic on this blog. This is a mural of a mosaic we painted on the wall. The song featured is "Cover What You Can" by Copeland.



I took some video footage of a crazy lightning storm awhile ago, edited it together and put together a song in Garage Band.

Hope you enjoyed those.

WWWE: I Made $20!

So after I left the Shoe Dept. I found a job only a couple miles from my apartment. I worked for Blockbuster Video in York, PA. There were about five Blockbuster Video stores at the time in York, I worked at the one on the corner or George St. and Rt. 30 just in case you were wondering.

The cool thing about this job was that we could rent five movies a week for free! We also got to rent movies two weeks before their release date. The uncool thing was how I got tricked into working on Christmas. When I interviewed for the job, the manager told me we had to work at least two holidays out of the year. I told her I wanted Christmas and Easter off and she said that was okay. It was around Thanksgiving of 1998 when I was supposed to start working there. The manager told me that I didn't have to start working until after Thanksgiving so that it wouldn't count as one of my holidays off. I thought it was a good idea. So I started working after Thanksgiving. I told the manager what days I wanted off for Christmas so I would have enough time to go home to see my family. She said that's going to be a problem and I asked her why. She reminded me that she told me in the interview I had to work at least two holidays in a year. Then she said there are only two holidays left this year, Christmas and New Year's Eve. Not only did she tell me in the interview that I could have Christmas off, but she made it sound like a good idea to start after Thanksgiving. See, if I would have started before and worked on Thanksgiving I could have had Christmas off and worked on New Year's Eve. That's how I was tricked into working on Christmas. I was still able to go home and see my family for a couple days before Christmas, but what my boss did was just conniving and evil.

Fortunately, the big wigs in the company like conniving and evil managers so they promoted her to become the manager of a different Blockbuster and her replacement at our store was really cool. We got along great. Everyone who worked there was pretty cool. There was a kiddie section in the store close to where the cash registers were and when it was late we would put on movies that we liked, but still with a PG rating like Labyrinth or Star Wars, and we would watch them from the front counter.

One night I was working with one of the assistant managers and we were bored, really bored. The guy I was working with was only about 5'3" and he said "I bet you can't do this" and he jumped straight up and onto the counter. The height of the counter was almost at my chest. I figured if he could do it, I could do it. So I hopped right up there and I did it! But I landed on just the tips of my toes and I started to lose my balance. Both my feet came right out from under me and I came down on both my shins on the corner of the counter. It hurt so bad I just started laughing. I sat in a chair and started rubbing my shins. I looked at the assistant manager, he looked horrified and he told me he would pay me for a new pair of pants. I asked him why. I looked down and my one pant leg was soaked with blood. I didn't even know I was bleeding at first. So I went to the back room and cleaned it up. It was pretty sore for the next few days, but the bloodstain came out of the pants and I made $20! I don't think I would ever try doing something like that again though. To this day I still have a little white indented circle on my right leg.

It was fun working there, I was even voted employee of the month twice while I was there. But the time finally came where I had to move back home to Jersey Shore, PA. It was sad leaving that place, but I was able to transfer to the Blockbuster Video in Williamsport, PA. It wasn't as much fun working there as it was in York. It was the only Blockbuster Video in Williamsport so it was very busy. Usually on a Friday and Saturday night I would work an 8 hour shift and not even get a chance to leave my cash register because the line was never-ending, and this was with four registers open! It was busy! People around here have nothing better to do I guess. I don't have to many memorable moments from working at the Williamsport Blockbuster so I think I'll end it here. It will probably take a few posts to talk about my next job since there are a lot of stories to tell about that one. Till next time, adios!

WWWE: Manure, Strawberries, Manure

Okay, where were we? We are at job #6 or #7, but I don't really count the telemarketing thing as a job since I was only there for three days, so I'll say we're at #6. So in the cliff-hanging conclusion of yesterday's post I had mentioned that I was running low on funds and my roommate had been laid off so we did some job hunting together. We both found a job, at the same place. It seemed cool that we were working at the same place, but we also had the same classes at college, and shared the same room at the apartment (bunk bed of course). So yea, we were around each other a lot, which wasn't always a good thing.

We had gotten a job at the Shoe Dept. at the York Galleria Mall. It was a pretty good job. The people I worked with were friendly. To be honest I don't really have any significant memories of working there, nothing all that interesting to share except for the time Rip Torn (Men In Black, Dodgeball, Bee Movie) came there one day to buy shoes, but I was off that day. My roommate was there though and he told me all about it.

Actually I do remember another story now. One day I was helping a lady with a pair of shoes but she felt uncomfortable to go up to the counter to purchase the shoes. She said she wouldn't go up there because the man working the cash register was black. I thought she was being racist, but she said she was afraid, she had been abused by a black man when she was young. I assured her that he was a good man, but her fear was too great. I tried to convince her there was nothing to be afraid of, but she gave me her money to go up and pay for her shoes for her. It was difficult explaining to the cashier why I was making the transaction for her. It really upset him when he found out why. It was uncomfortable for me too. I can understand why she would be afraid because of a traumatizing incident, but instead of living like that I think she should have sought help. Because even if she wasn't racist, it seemed like she was.

Our boss relocated to a new Shoe Dept. that was opening at the Park City Mall in Lancaster, PA. Shortly after she went there I asked if I could be transferred there. I thought there would be more of an opportunity to make more money since we worked on commission, but only if we made more than what we would make on our hourly wage in a week. The drive from York to Lancaster was about a 40 minute drive and it smelled like manure almost the entire way, except for a candy factory that I passed on the way, then it smelled like strawberries, but then shortly went back to manure. So it was manure, strawberries, manure.

I enjoyed working at the Park City Mall, it's a good sized mall. I got along with everyone there...well, almost everyone. There was this one guy that I thought was a real jerk, but I tried not to let him bother me. There was an older woman who worked there and she enjoyed my sense of humor and she also enjoyed the jerky guy's sense of humor too. He would give me a hard time because he was jealous that I made her laugh too. But she explained to him that we both had a different sense of humor. She said he had an R-rated sense of humor and I had a G-rated sense of humor. I told her "Oh, c'mon, at least give me a PG-rating."

Once our vacuum cleaner quit on us so we had to borrow one from Suncoast Video. They had a weird looking vacuum cleaner, it looked like something from Star Wars. It really sucked...I mean it didn't suck, I mean it sucked at sucking. It sucked in a metaphorical sense, but not in a literal sense...yea.

As much as I enjoyed working there, I wasn't making more like I though I would, plus it was a long trip and I used a lot of gas to get there and back. Also, traveling 40 minutes up and back ate into my study time for school, so I had to look for another job, one that was much closer. My boss was really sad to see me go, she was another good boss, one of very few. I went back to visit every so often though. So that's all for today, I'll continue the story tomorrow. Have a great day!

WWWE: No Job for You, NEXT!

Over the past month or so I've been talking about all the various jobs I've had throughout my life since I was 13. It almost seems appropriate in a strange way that I am laid off right now from work because I'm at a point in my story where I was unemployed.

After leaving Freshlife (the place I talked about last week) I moved three hours away from home to York, PA to start college at the Bradley Academy for the Visual Arts. I was supposed to get a job working for RPS. For some reason they decided not to hire me. They did hire my roommate though.

I had saved up a good amount of money so I was able to live on that for awhile, but it was slowly going away. I interviewed for another job. It was a telemarketing job which only lasted three days, I couldn't stand it. It was so boring repeating myself on the phone over and over and over again, I can't stand that kind of repetition. Plus, I don't really like talking on the phone all that much. After the third day of working there I told my supervisor that this just wasn't for me and I wanted to leave. She totally understood and said it's not for everyone, so I just left. It was the first time and only time I didn't give a two week notice before leaving a job.

The reason I couldn't stand working there was not just because of the repetition, but because of some of the nasty things people would say on the phone. I didn't take it personally but that didn't mean it didn't take a toll on me. Although there was this one time I was speaking with an older lady and it was around Thanksgiving. So we had a nice little discussion about how her family comes to her house at Thanksgiving. But then one of the supervisors came by and heard me talking and said "Just hang up on her." I let the little old lady know that it was time for me to go and told her good-bye. I know they were trying to run a business, but that was cold.

Another thing that bothered me was sometimes I would call somebody and I would ask for someone and the person on the other line would say that person had passed away recently. I doubt all of them were telling the truth because it happened so often but it made me feel horrible to think that I may have upset someone who was still going through the mourning process.

I was unemployed from September of 1997 to January of 1998. My money had pretty much run out and I was living on ramen noodles. Eventually my roommate was laid off from RPS, so we started job hunting together. So that will be the subject of next week, or tomorrow. I've decided to put to rest the theme days.

So let's take a moment of silence and say good-bye to Inspiring Minds Monday, Story Time Tuesday, Artsy Fartsy Wednesday, Deep Thought Thursday, and Freakin' Funny Friday. It's going to be random from here on out. I'll continue talking about my jobs daily until I catch up to the present, there's still quite a few more to go. I'll be sure to keep everyone informed on the job hunt, it started yesterday and I applied to a few places and I have a few places I'm going to call today. Keep me in your thoughts and prayers. Thank you.

*Blogity-blah-blah-update*

Okay, I said I would have another update today and I would let all of you know what's going on. I've been laid off from my job. I don't think I'll have time today to do an Inspiring Minds Monday post today, I'm going to be busy with looking for a new job and taking care of a few other things. I'm sorry to miss today's post but I've almost gone three months without missing a weekday and that's not too shabby. Now that things are different and I'm getting used to this whole blogging thing, I might not have such a rigid format to this blog. Instead of assigning each weekday to a certain theme, I might just post whatever's on my mind that day, I guess that's how most bloggers do it anyway. Besides, it's becoming difficult to come up with subject matter for each theme. I've been talking about all of the different jobs I've had for the past month or so on Story Time Tuesday and I might just take the rest of the week and part of next week to talk about the rest of my jobs.

I also want to talk about another blog I've started as a side project. It's called the "Universal Language of Mankind" and you can just click on that link to go there, but I will tell you it was inspired by three different things: Engrish.com, kissthisguy.com, and a blog called Garfield: Lost in Translation. So go check it out!

*Blogity-blah-blah-update*

Sorry for the lack of artwork on today's Freakin' Funny Friday post. I just found a pic on Google and put it there. I always try to make my own artwork though for these posts. Some things have changed in my life recently and I'm hoping to keep up with this blog during the week, I'll tell everyone later what's going on, I don't want my friends and family to know until I tell them in person and I'd rather not have them find out by reading my blog. So I'll probably have another update on Monday.

Also next Monday I will be starting another blog in addition to this one. It's going to be a fun little experiment, some people will think it's funny, others will think it's stupid, but I'll let you know more about that on Monday as well, for now it's a secret. Have a great weekend!

Freakin' Funny Friday ~ Big Old Box of Crap

Last week we looked at some weird things people do to their pets. Today we'll be looking at strange and unusual products of all kinds, including some pet products. I found some of these over at Incredible Things. They also have a bunch of cool innovative products as well, but today we are focusing on the weird and bizarre. Let's start off with some baby products.

How many people think "Hmmm...I wish someone would invent something to hold my baby in place that look like hands severed halfway up the forearm." This is called the Zaky Infant Pillow and is supposed to help babies sleep better, but I'm not so sure they thought it through.



Sure, it frees up your hands while you use the restroom, but what happens when you walk out and a few moments you think to yourself "I feel like I'm missing something." Better yet, what about the person who walks into the stall and sees the temporarily forgotten baby hanging there on the wall?



Have you ever siphoned gasoline out of a gas tank before? Me neither, but this is kind of what it looks like except instead of a gas tank at the other end it's a baby's nostril. Now they say that the mucus is stopped before it gets to the mouth, but still, you still won't see me using one of these, ugh (shudder).



Yes, I did a double-take when I saw this one too. It's a baby bottom fan to keep your baby's bottom nice and dry. Or you could just do this...



Ah, yes, Mr. Mom, starring Michael Keaton. One of the great movies of the early 80's and one of the first movies I remember seeing as a child. Go out and rent it if you haven't seen it.



Use this in conjunction with the Zaky Infant Pillow and you'll have your infant traumatized in no time!



What is that? Is it one of those chest-bursting aliens? No! Is it some kind of Siamese twin or some kind of mutant? No! It's called the Peekaru. It's a fleece that zips over your baby carrier. I still think it looks like something from a Sci-Fi movie though.

Now we'll move on to a couple of pet products.

This is the FroliCat BOLT Laser Cat Toy. Do you want to watch your cat chase a laser but don't want to sprain your wrist? This is the perfect product for those of you who are just too lazy or don't have enough time on your hands to spend some quality time with your cat so you leave it cooped up in the apartment all day by itself with no one to stoke it's fur or rub its belly.



Then we have the Remote Pet Feeding & Viewing Kit. I think there was something like this on the show The Office that Angela had to watch her cats via the internet. In addition to feeding your dog or cat while on vacation you can make sure they are using their FroliCat BOLT Laser Cat Toy as well.

We'll finish with some random products.

Wanna look good and feel really uncomfortable on the beach? Now you can!



Are you lazy? Do you like ice cream? Then try the Motorized Ice Cream Cone. No more tiring your wrist with an unmotorized ice cream cone. Just don't try to eat it when you've finished your ice cream.



One time I was wondering where Zinc was on the Periodical Table of Elements but I was in the shower at the time. Thanks to this shower curtain I no longer have to wait until I'm out of the shower to find out where all the elements are. Girl not included. In fact, if you own this just forget about girls entirely.



Yet another novelty for the bathroom, personalized TP. I personally like the one that says "Lost in Hell's Canyon" Get it? Okay, enough bathroom humor, let's move on.



This is a horror movie scene just waiting to happen. Yes, those are syringes made into a chandelier, and you can buy the scalpel mobile for the little ones. Just kidding that last one doesn't exist.



Why is there fur in my Wookie Cookie? These books also include recipes for Jawa Jerky, Ackbar's Snackbars, Vader's Taters, Potato Wedge Antilles, and Salacious Crumb Cake made with real Lando Lakes butter. There's even a section on jarring with Jar Jar. I could keep on going, but I'm gonna stop there. That's enough nerd-ness for now. 

They have new car smell in a can and pine tree smell in a can for Christmas trees. Now there's New Book Smell for your electronic reading devices. Mmmmm, new book smell. 

Hey, Snoop Dogg from 1993 called, he wants his doormat back.

Hey look, a hose with a plug. Let's mix water and electricity, yay!

This lock comes in handy when you have guests over who want to leave but you want them to stay. It doesn't come in handy when you're on the phone with the police and they say "The calls are coming from inside the house."

That's all for this week, enjoy your weekend and be sure to come back next week!