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Blog Entry #40 hot off the press!
Well it's just after 4:30 on a Thursday and I'm still at work... If all goes well, I'd like to leave here @ 6pm... Even though we are suppose to be open until 7pm... In all honesty, I think I may have done an hours worth of work all day...Business has been slow for 2 weeks...I'll make good use of my time since the boss is gone for the night... and post in my blog and surf the EF 
That should pass the time nicely.
Speaking of work... There have been "rumors" flying around here... Last time something like this happened, the "rumors" turned out to be true... You have to figure that there is usually a hint of truth behind most rumors... That's how they start after all...
So anyway, here's the gossip...
This Dealership has not been making much money in the last few months... Mostly due to the Sales Dept not being able to sell more than 10 vehicles/month. Service and Parts make money and Sales has managed to get into the negative... I know the owners have been trying to relocate the store to an area with High traffic... As it is now, we are leasing the building from the previous owner and we are in a residential area. A bit tight for space, not much room to park, no chance to expand.
Truth is there is nothing available land wise... Yet... So relocating is not an option.
Dodge being Dodge, they want all of their Dealerships to be "ALPHA" stores... meaning no more single mom & pop Dodge... or Chrysler... or Jeep dealerships.. All must have all 3 lines under 1 roof.
Since we are land locked and don't have the room for Chrysler/Jeep... we either relocate so we can comply or we sell the Dodge Franchise. I guess from the owners' perspective... they were thinking about selling the franchise... And acquiring an import line..... and that import line would be Kia.
From what I know about Kia, they are a sub division of Hyundai... They are price friendly, eco friendly, and offer a great warranty 10/100,000 can't beat that. Our Parts/Service director was trying to organize a massive parts return from our dealership... that kinda tipped my manager off that something is going down! Why else would we be asked to get rid of all parts that have been here for 12 months and NO sales. After further questioning my manager was told NOT to say anything, but he filled me in as to what IS going down.
The Dodge Franchise IS being sold... and KIA will be coming in... He assured me that we will all have jobs.. That's a bonus... My manager, Al is not happy... He claims he's not an import Parts manager and wants to get laid off... Which I don't think will happen... since they are not closing the store and have nowhere to place him...
It will be a learning curve for all of us for sure... but I welcome the challenge!
At this point... this is all a "rumor" and those who know are being asked to keep it to themselves... With that being said...
Everything with a Mopar logo of any type has go.. all parts have to be sent back.. new parts coming in... There will be a ton of work to do once the transition takes place.At this point there isn't a set date... I hope Chad (Service/Parts director) doesn't screw up returning the parts back to Chrysler, like he did during the last buy out... That was a disaster!
Out here we celebrate Labor Day... Which means a 3 day weekend for me 
I will have Saturday, Sunday and Monday off!!! Most people celebrate by having an end of summer picnic/BBQ, most people close their pools for the season, and I bet it will be a big "Back To School" shopping weekend.
As for me.. I don't have any plans.. I'll have more time to spend in EU... Maybe get to spend some time with James... and get my weekly grocery shopping in along with getting laundry done (since I procrastinated this week) 
Oh and doing as little as possible!!! That's what intend to do!
Other than that... there is nothing more to report...and I managed to waste a whole hour hehehehehe and if all goes well, I'll be leaving in 30 mins 
Thanks for reading/listening....
***The only downfall to posting at work with a proxy is that I have to come back later, change the font/color and add spacing***
Welcome Back happy blog readers,
I'm here with the conclusion to our Beacon Mission.
There were 7 of us that were able to make it today.
Sly... was the right man for the first floor.
Neo.. felt good taking the 2nd floor.
Jambon is our Master of the Maze and I helped with the easy to get to boxes on the 3rd floor.
Leo...was eager to take on the 4th floor.
Dpulse... was the lucky man on the 5th floor.
Pooh...was prepared for the boss level.
All was going smoothly until we hit the maze, Dpulse disconnected... Shortly after Pooh got disconnected on the 4th floor. We thought for sure she was booted from the mission 
We were happy she remained on the ship and was able to join us on the 5th floor even after staying off long enough to get booted from the team and relogging 
Finally the Boss level!! Last time we all got this far and we all got booted... Not today!
Pooh scoped out where her boxes were... She waited by the first one while DPulse finished off the bots and the team waited eagerly by the TP. The alarm is triggered and it was full speed ahead!!
Jambon crunched a few numbers and figured that @ 50% of the boxes came up Empty... We all met up at Fort Troy and I was given all of the loot to TT/ sell in auction and divide amongst the team. All in all it wasn't all bad...Our grand total at the end.........*drum roll*...... $362.08 not including the fees for the items in auction... In the end each member received 51.00 ped each 
Not too shabby....
Seems we all had a bit of ammo burning a hole in our pockets... and a soc hunt sounded like a good idea... since we were all on and in the same area after all...
Jambon thought a nice Spider hunt.... even if we managed to take out 1 maybe 2, we could at least say we did!!!... The guys all went ahead and I stayed behind to help Pooh... She's still grasping the way the TP chip and cord work.... Jambon found the spiders all right... many deaths/ revivals in 5 minutes. Same with Leo... Spiders were a good idea... maybe not the best option for us
We meet up at Fort Troy..... and plan our next adventure.....Next on the list... hunting Falxangius near Genisis... Sounded good, good loot potential, do-able with 7 players, close to a revival... Again the guys went ahead, I ran Pooh from New Oxford to Genisis.... As we were approaching the TP she gets disconected... reconnects... takes a few steps and disconnects... reconnects... follows me to the TP since her avi ran passed and I get booted....some message about an error with windows... and I can't use the task manager to end the EU program... I shut the computer off, reboot, sign back in and all chats are bugged...
But I know where the group is and figure as long as I find them and get invited back to the team I should be able to use the team chat...
At this point Pooh is feeling frustrated, being a newer player and feeling like she is having a hard time keeping up, and not having all of the tp's and having some trouble using her tp chip... I let her know that even after 2+ years there are some members that don't have ALL the tp's yet... the guys in Europe were probably tired since it was after midnight for them, some have to get up early and were eager to get out there and hunt... As for Jambon... he let his frustration known... I told Pooh that it's that "time of the month" for him
It's a bit tough to get everyone on the same page when the team is as big as it is... and a few of us keep disconnecting.... some of us are a bit cranky...and she should not take any of this personally... She did a great job!!
We all have to start somewhere...
I remember my first few month in EU and my super slow computer.. Not a fun experience... more frustrating than anything... In fact the first society I was in... some of us went on a spider hunt North of Orthos... I didn't even have a TP chip... I must have died a dozen times and kept running back... I've always hated mountians in this game since... But I remember feeling.... completely out of place, hunting something I had no business hunting... But like Pooh, I was part of a team and I was trying to contribute and follow directions as best as I could. She gets an A+ for effort in my book 
I completely understand her frustrations... I think most of us can relate.
So, yeah... That's what happened over a course of 7 hours in EU today... That and I ran Pooh from East Scylla to Fort Troy an hour or so before we all met up at 19:00MA....
The lesson for today... Try not to take your frustrations out on your n00b soc/team mates... I'm willing to bet that they are feeling a bit frustrated too...Somethings are NOT there fault... 
That's all for tonight.....
Welcome Back,
I figured, since I'm at work doing a whole lotta nadda... I'll post #36
Getting paid to blog and surf the EF Mwuahahahaha!!!
As far as work goes... not too much excitement around here.. Business is slow, money is tight, many co-workers are looking for another job... but there is nothing open. Seems a few want to get out of the Automotive business... including myself.
Our Sales Dept has only sold 6 cars this month (21 days into the month) That is pretty sad.
A few people are hoping to show up one morning to find that doors locked so they can collect unemployment... I could use a little paid time off
On Monday, our Shuttle Driver was fired... Poor Ray, he's 85 and has been working here for 20 years..running customers to/from home & work, picking up parts, running personal errands for the salesmen, running to the DMV and to the bank...
Seems the Office Manager gave him 2 deposit bags, 1 with cash and 1 with checks... Ray went downstairs into the General Manager's office.. seems he placed them down somewhere and only brought 1(with the checks) to the bank... the cash never made it...
Since he was the last "known" person to have the cash... One of the owners wanted him Fired
Ray is a sweet guy, in the 20 years he was here there was never 1 complaint, never a trust issue... I have my theory as to what happened... Ray felt so bad, he was crying when he was told the bad news and even offered to withdraw the money from his account...
Here's my theory... Ray was called upstairs by the Office Manager to make a bank run and was handed 2 deposit bags... Ray was paged to the Sales Office for another errand request... he put the deposit bags down and a salesmen swiped it.. OR while he was in the Shuttle Van, he may have had a customer with him that pulled a fast one... Ray being a senior citizen, and his memory not as sharp as it use to be, brought in the 1 bag.. not remembering there were 2...
The Shuttle van was searched and no deposit bag was found... I am fairly certain that Ray didn't steal the cash.. Just a shame that's how he's treated after 20 years of loyalty...
Let's see... as far as EU goes...
I have a few personal goals I'd like to meet...
I've chipped out a bit a few months back.. and I'd like to:
Unlock Serendipity again....
Reach 120 Health...
Reach Lvl 5 in Texture, Coloring, &Tailoring...
All by the end of this year 
I'll keep you posted and update with my next entry with my currant stats..
Well a co-worker invited me out for a drink.. tomorrow is his last day here.. So I'm gonna wrap this up..
Best Wishes,
Welcome Back avid blog readers....Assuming that I'm not here by myself Although a little counter to see how many times your blog entries have been viewed would be a nice little addition. You know like the ones you see on Ebay and other sites... Not so much to see Who, but nice to know how many people have paid a visit.... Just a thought.
Well, it's another lame Saturday shift.. We have 2 technicians and a ton of work from what I hear...Most of the time we try and are successful about leaving early... Seems today may not be one of those days. *sigh* But luckily I can surf the EF and post blog # 37 in between customers and that passes the time nicely.
My last week in EU has been interesting... I made a new friend here on the EF and we had a chance to meet up in game. Seems we both have a soft spot for the Ambu textured clothes.. BruteForce is helping me piece together an Ambu outfit. So far I have aquired a pair of Ambu Stiletto boots, next is an Ambu Gem Bustier, then a skirt and perhaps I'll top it off with a hat 
Chatting with BruteForce has been a pleasure... He comes across as very open and inquisative, not in a busy body sort of way, but a genuine interest in getting to know me... Should you be in the market for a certain texture or an item of clothing, send a pm his way.... or contact me and I'd be happy to relay the message.
Lately in game, I have been drawn to the PVP4 area. The enmatter mining has been good and I enjoy hunting the Attackers... You could probably guess that I'm not a PK'er by nature... You'd be correct... I don't engage in that sort of thing when I'm out there.. I will never fire the first shot.
The last few trips out there were exciting... I found an ample of oil with the first probe just inside the lootable area of course, I managed to get out unharmed.. I tp'd back and placed all of the oil in storage and ventured back out in the same direction. Came across a few Attackers... the first 2 were no looters, ahead are 2 more and I happened to catch a glimpse of a green dot on the very edge of the radar... not too worried since I am not carrying anything.. pull the health bars off the 2 Attackers and start shooting, killed the first with the green dot not moving... Loot it.. BAM global... as tempting as it was to just keep going and take out the 2nd Attacker, my fight or flight response kicked in and I pressed the ESC key I didn't even get to see how big the global was or really notice what I looted...
I had Jambon on msn and let him know why I logged off... he got a nice laugh out of it and let me know that the global was for 104ped and asked what I got for loot I was curious to know too... All I could think was who ever that green dot was, had me targeted and was waiting for me to finish killing that other Attacker before killing me...My heart was racing and all I could think to do was log out... I waited about 15-20 mins before logging back in... thinking that green dot might be waiting for me as I log in However, I did get a quick look at the loot window and saw 2 vivo looking faps, since they were bright red and caught my eye... I let Jambon know and he did a little research as to what they loot.. I thought it was odd to see the same 2 faps.. but we know EU is "Dynamic" Jambon was all excited with what he found.. seems there is fap with a nice mark up.. the UnLimited Hedok SK20... we were both curious as to what I actually looted... so I logged back in.... found that the Attacker I didn't kill was no longer there... and I TP'd my ass out asap... Checked my inventory and there they were the 2 faps... both full TT value... 1 the normal Hedok SK20(L) and the other the Adj Hedok SK20(L)... I saw the ADJ and thought OoOooOo that's gotta be good....still fun to loot an Adj item.. too bad it wasn't the Unlimited...
On my next trip out there... I found a nice little spot where the Attackers spawn... and I was finding many small claims. The mobs were not looting... 7-10 Attackers in a row and nothing... dropped another probe and found an Average of oil... figuring once this claim was extracted I'd head back to the tp and relocate... Someone TP'd right where I was... I didn't think much of it since I had 7-9 pulls of oil... and the icon to show that you are safe or in a PVP area was Green... he shoots and my health goes down.. 2 more shots and I'm dead Well, that was it for me... I revived and saw my killer was there... figured it was not safe to go back to retrieve the rest of my oil.. I relocated and let it expire... Having the mentality that if I can't get my oil then no one will. Maybe not the best way to think... But I didn't want to take the chance of getting back out there just to find him camping my claim... Sure I've been out there before and been killed a few times... I've had more successful runs and less kills... So I will venture back out there from time to time with the hopes of looting the Minor TP chip...
I had a little visitor in my living room these last 2 nights... I was online with my headset on and I hear the chirping of a cricket I do have a window open with a fan inside, and it sounded like it was right there in the room... I hear it again and feel the need to investigate..Sure enough the little bugger managed to sneak in under the front door and that's where I found him.... I figured if could get back out into the hallway, I could get him back outside... I pushed him back through the bottom of the door and went into the hallway... flash light in hand.... *Poof* he's gone....
well I didn't hear the cricket later on.. so all was good.
Or so I thought.... last night, same thing... I'm online with the headset on and I hear a cricket, like it's right in the same room with me... Again, I get up, listen at the open window, and hear it... Could be outside, hoping it's outside.. get down on my hands and knees and listen... Sounds like he's behind the TV stand in the heater along the wall.... Right where I can't get too... The light above my head turns on and I grab my can of compressed air and try to blow him out from where ever he's hiding....
That only kept him quiet for a few minutes... I was chatting with BruteForce at the time.. I asked him if he knew a good way to get rid of a cricket.. His reply was to use my gun.. Since it was a young it shouldn't be too hard.. HA HA!
I have Jambon on as well... he suggested that since the cricket didn't like the compressed air.. tip the can upside down and freeze his ass out... I tried that... that pissed him off... mind you, I can't see him at this point... just spraying in the area I hear the noise.. I tip the can and spray, the can gets ice cold and he's chirping up a damn storm.... I'm thinking, Great, he's calling his buddies over *sigh*
Some time goes by and I hear him again... I have Jambon on skype/webcam and he heard it too. This time the noise is behind me, which is good... I take off my head set.. grab my flashlight, get down on all 4's and check under the couch... Found Him!! under the table, easy to get him... grabbed a tissue and scooped him up.. In the toilet he went!!!... I slept better knowing the constant chirping would not keep me awake.. He may have out smarted me in the first round...but he was pwned in round 2. Mwauahahaha!!
Holy Jebus!!! I can't believe it's almost 11:00am and I've spent almost 3 hours typing this out... between customers and phone calls.... Looks like we'll be ordering lunch in a few minutes... and I suppose I'll actually do some work after.. Like checking in the order and receiving it...
So with that being said... I guess I'll do something productive... or at least "look" busy...
To be continued!!!
Welcome Back blog readers,
For those inquiring minds that would like to know.... Last Sunday's beacon, was going really well.... up until we got to the Boss Level and we all got "Disconnected" 
Leo sent in a support case and with in 24 hours he received a response. In the end, Leo's 25ped Beacon was returned. We have yet to plan that event.
Last night our long lost soc mate returned!!! Welcome back NanoTech It was a nice surprise to see him in game, and all the better that he met me at Buxxy's Birthday Party at 3G!!
We hung out there for about an hour, that gave us a chance to catch up on the last 3-4 months.
Speaking of Birthday... I have to give a shout out to my fellow PE Addict, Cee!!
Today is his birthday!! So Happy Birthday CEE!!! Right now Cee is working in Beijing, helping to bring the Olympics to our TV. Hopefully he's not working too hard and will get time to enjoy himself.
Hehehe Speaking of Olympics, is anyone else watching? I am hooked on Swimming, Womens' Beach VolleyBall and Gymnastics. It's nice to see a few athletes that made a name for themselves in Athens 4 years ago.
I stayed up untill midnight last night watching all of the excitement!! There was so much going on in the Swimming Event, so many World Records being broken... and Michael Phelps is making Olympic history, winning the most Gold Medals in Swimming.... The USA Womens' Gymnastics team took the Silver... China won the Gold, well deserved. Both teams were great to watch, and a few mistakes were made on the Balance Beam...They only had the Floor Excerise left and the US team couldn't afford any more mistakes... All 3 girls stepped out of bounds and China nailed their routines... I want to say Romania won the Bronze... but I'm not 100% The TV station here only focused on the Chinese team and the US team.
From the looks of things, I'll be up late again tonight More Swimming, and Men's gymnastics are on tonight. With that said.... I'm gonna wrap this up...
Best Wishes to you all!!
Welcome Back,I should warn you, this may be a long blog entry... There was a lot that happened in this last week... So grab a snack/drink and kick back... You might be here awhile First, I just want to say that I attempted to post Blog entry #33 a few nights ago. There was a severe thunderstorm that came through here and there were many trees that fell and knocked the power out. I came home from work to 8 hours of no power I had a hard time sleeping and heard the power come back @ midnight. I fired up my computer to see if things were working... All was good, and I figured I'd post #33... That took 2 hours to type out and when I was ready to post it, I see an error message about not being able to find the server... So I copy/paste it to the notepad, so I won't lose it...Not 2 minutes later the power went out again, just for a few minutes... and that reeked havoc on my computer. Long story short, I was without an internet connection for 2 long nights After Jambon talked me through 101 tests to narrow down what was/wasn't working, he asked me to start up the computer again and press Ctrl/F11 just to see if I had a Partition... Sure enough I did After 20 minutes, I was back up and running... Sure I lost everything, but there was nothing of great importance anyway. I want to Thank the EF community for all of their tricks and tips. Many Entropians extended a helpful hand and a few went the extra mile to show their support A Special Thank You to Jambon 
For having the patience to talk me through a few hours of... on/off... plug in/unplug testing. That was a lesson learned the hard way.Next up... Last Sunday's Beacon!!A few hours before we were scheduled to meet, A few of us helped Dumpsey Pooh get to Fort Argus. On our way there the team looted an ESI with a TT value of 19.71!! That was placed in auction and split between the 4 team members.. Not a bad start...We made out like bandits!! There was plenty of Space Pirate Booty to go around Leo was kind enough to buy a 23ped Beacon, he was and still seems to be on a hot streak and wanted to celebrate with us!We did so well, we bought a 25ped Beacon to do tomorrow and the 6 of us walked away with 47.00peds each!! I'll be sure to keep you all posted about the outcome of tomorrow's Beacon...Last but not least... I see where there may be a career change in my near future.... I can't help but feel that I'm stuck in a rut, working at a dead end job, chasing my tail...I have been seriously contimplating getting out of the Automotive business and finally get into something I'm passionate about! Perhaps a bit of research about where the local bakeries are, and see if they are hiring. I would love to start up my own little bakery one day, selling Custom Cakes and chocolatey treats Yummy!!! Get to make my own hours, be my own boss and not have to fight for a piddly 37 cent/hour raise.There are a few things to consider before jumping ship.... I don't want to do anything before getting my ducks in a row... So until then, I will stay put and suck it up.Thanks for reading/listening!!!
I think ths was the longest week ever... at least that's how it felt. I worked 55 hours this week while the manager was on vacation. *sigh* He came back to work yesterday, and offered for me to work a 1/2 day today. I took full advantage of that and clocked out at noon, went out to lunch with a few guys from work, as we normally do on Friday's and then I went home.
For those inquiring minds that would like to know, I finally got an answer about my pay raise......*drum roll*......... The owner declined the original offer, claiming he is saying NO to everyone... which is complete BS since I know for a fact that 2 Service Advisors were both given a decent offer in order to stay( 1 quit anyway and the other is getting paid nicely)... But after the Parts/Service Director spoke up on my behalf, The owner changed his mind and my pay rate went up a whopping $15/week ( 37.5 cents/hour)
So, this weekend I will be looking for another job before I quit this one. I'm sure most of you will think that I should be happy I finally got something, after all something IS better than nothing... but you know where I stand... it's the principle of the matter.. 3 years of busting my ass for a mere 37.5 cents more an hour... Screw that!! I'll be damned if I live the rest of my life making less than 25K a years as the cost of living only seems to increase.
My manager knows how I feel about it... seems he also knew and was suppose to talk to me about it before leaving for England... He doesn't think it's fair either, and understands my need to look for another job. He asked if there was anything he could do, to change my mind... like cover a few late Thursday shifts or a couple Saturday shifts... I let him know that it's not that I work too many hours, besides any time I take off, I won't get paid for and I can't afford to do that. I plan on cashing in on those favors when James comes back down from Calgary. It's been almost 4 months since he's been here and some quality time with him will be what I want most, when that time comes.
As far as the BIG move to Canada goes... well things are still on hold at the moment.. I still have not been able to find a sponsor to offer me a job. It's a tricky situation, I wish it was as easy as packing up my suitcase and filling up my Saturn and driving 8 hours to the Border... nope not that simple... other wise I'd be long gone by now...
Without a Work Sponsor or a spouse/ conj. partner/ family up there.... I'm out of luck as far as doing things legally.
At first finding a Work Sponsor was my only option, James and I aren't married, nor were we in a relationship for 1 year, nor do I have family up there... We would qualify as conj.partners as long as we could prove we are in a committed relationship, show proof of joint bank accounts, transfering of funds, receipts of things we bought together, utility bills with both names on it... pictures of us and family/friends that "could" vouche for us, emails/letters send to each other... you get the idea... all of that PLUS we have to prove that we lived together for 12 consectutive months.. which the Border has made IMPOSSIBLE and the fact that neither one of us can NOT go without a source of income for 6 months or more while we wait on paperwork being processed so I can get a Permanent Resident Card.....Doesn't that paint a pretty picture... Well at least it gives more insight as to why I'm still here...
I can see why many people opt for the illegal alien route...it's tough being away from the one you love and want to spend the rest of your life with.... I just can't sell my belongings, book a 1 way flight to Calgary and live with James... get married and find a job and live happily ever after.... Nope If I sell everything and book a 1 way flight to Calgary, I'll be asked why I don't have a return ticket, they won't want to hear that I planning my life with my fiance'... They'll want to know if I'll be working, which I can't legally, How I plan on supporting myself, which I can untill the money runs out... If by some slim chance I do get through Customs, I still can't work.... Even after James and I get married, I could be waiting up to 6 months for a permanent resident card, before I can work.... Believe me, the total dollar value of everything I have to sell and what's in my savings... won't last 6 months... *sigh*
All of the above is what runs around in my head 24/7 non stop... The need to make more money because it's hard to save any when you're living pay check to pay check, and every month I have to tap into my savings just to cover my rent... it's a viscious circle... Sleep(if I'm lucky), eat(sometimes), go to work(40-45 hours/week), come home, spend a few hour playing online/ talking with James, Sleep(if I'm lucky).... that's my life in a nutshell. Day after day, Week after week...
Anyway... this concludes my blog entry for this evening...
I wish you all the happiness you deserve...
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