So I'm struggling a little bit this morning, I am so tired...but I have no one to blame but myself.  I didn't really get any sleep yesterday, Kate was moving out so there was a lot of noise going on in our apartment.  But that wasn't the only thing that kept me awake, when I actually had the chance to go to sleep, I didn't, first I went to Brian and June's to pick up some boxes and say good-bye and then Christy called and asked me if I wanted to meet for dinner.  then dinner turned into meeting Zina and Krista for dessert...by the time I made it home it was after 9:30 and I had to wake up at midnight.  so you do the math and you realize how much sleep I actually got. 

Speaking of sleep, it takes me back to where I last left off...October 4th, the first Sunday of balloon fiesta.  I didn't have to work that morning, but I did have to get up early and go to church to teach the 2nd graders for the 8:45 service...at least that was the plan.  For some reason I woke up around 5 or 5:30 that morning and since I knew the news was on, I turned on my tv and went back to sleep.  Not knowing that I had set my alarm clock for 7 pm instead of 7 am, I didn't realize my mistake until I woke up and heard Nicole say "that wraps up our coverage at balloon fiesta park," that's when I looked at my alarm clock and saw 8:35.  even if I would have woke up and left for church that minute I still would not have made it in time for the 8:45 service, so I texted Hollis telling him I wouldn't be there.  At that point I figured I had time so I just rolled over and went back to sleep and would just go to a later service, I didn't set my alarm because I figured I could just get up on time.  I didn't wake up again until I got a text message from Chris at 10 saying he was running late for church and could I save him a seat...again even if I got up and left at that point, I wouldn't make it in time for the service.  So I went back to sleep...and didn't wake up until 1:45 that afternoon.  I missed church, I missed bible study at Zina's, I missed everything.  I literally woke up, grabbed some lunch and sat and watched football.  And didn't do anything else for the rest of the day, I was even so tired I went to bed early that night.

And spent most of the day Monday, sleeping as well.  It's the price we pay for staying awake so long. 

tuesday I went into work as normal, and apparently missed an exciting day on Monday.  It was a pretty windy day in Albuquerque which caused a lot of hard landings and other chaos at balloon fiesta park.  Including an incident where a balloon clipped a tent, tipping the basket and one of the riders fell out.  Tuesday wasn't that exciting...at least not while I was there.  I no sooner left the station saying I better get out while I still can, about 5 minutes after I left the station all hell broke lose and all these balloons started clipping homes, making hard landings and other things like that.  So again I missed a series of exciting events at the station.

Wednesday I wasn't quite so lucky.  It was kind of a dreary and raining day, which always spells trouble around New Mexico...and it did.  A car hit a guardrail on the interstate, killing the driver and shutting down traffic for several hours.  Chopper was already up getting us shots of balloon fiesta, so we sent it to the crash and did cut-ins live almost all morning.  The interesting thing was Val was anchoring that morning and had never done breaking news for cut-ins before, but we easily made it through and everything was kosher. 

As for everything else for the week, I don't really remember.  I'm pretty sure I went to Jen and Chris that Thursday night and I'm pretty sure I met with Christy and Krista on Wednesday night.  I say that because my weeks become very routine and very mundane and that's just the way it is.  I also say that, because honestly I don't remember much.  Part of that because that was more than 2 weeks ago and part of that is because for some reason Phill and I decided to have a really indepth conversation at work and now my brain is going in a million different directions. 

And on that note, I actually have some work to do so i'm going to wrap things up, do some work and catch up again another time. 

Apparently it's suppose to snow today in New Mexico, not in albuquerque, but in New Mexico.  which means people are going crazy around here, because weather never happens here.  Luckily it's been almost 80 all week so the snow and stuff isn't really going to stick.  Which is good, because I absolutely hate winter and hate snow and hate all that stuff...I always say I moved to New Mexico for a reason and it was to get away from all that stuff.

so the title of my blog is a little misleading, when I moved to new mexico last year it was just as balloon fiesta was starting.  Which meant that i didn't have to work balloon fiesta, but i did get to go and enjoy it.  I went with Chris, Tater and dominic to see mass ascension and that's where I ended up meeting Brian, June and the kids.  The only thing I had to really work for last year's balloon fiesta, I had to log some video for the Friday before the first mass ascension and then I produced cut-ins...which weren't bad, except the very last Friday of balloon fiesta when a ballon hit a power line and blew up....killing one person and critically injuring another.  It was crazy and out of control, but it was a good learning experience and good way to get thrown into the fire.  This year I got to enjoy balloon fiesta (kind of) and worked balloon fiesta.  But before I get to all that, there are a few things first....

Friday october 2nd is the unofficial kickoff to balloon fiesta, several dozen ballons go to schools around albuquerque and rio rancho and launch for the kids.  Unfortunatly that was overshadowed because a young rio rancho girl died of the swine flu.  So we spent a good part of our coverage and our morning following that.  other than that it was a pretty boring morning and a pretty boring day.  After work was over I went home and pretty much went to bed, because I planned to go to June's that night for quilting.  June has been helping me make a t-shirt quilt, while there's no way I'll finish it before I move, I would like to have a good idea what I'm doing before I leave.  I got over there a little before 6 and didn't leave until around 9ish or so.  as I was getting ready to leave I got a text message from Andrew saying he and his girlfriend were coming into town for balloon fiesta and wanted to know if we wanted to hang out.  That text message turned into a phone call and making plans to hang out on Saturday once I got off work.  Before any of that could happen I went home and took a quick nap before going into work.

Work was definitely interesting...usually on Saturday mornings it's just me from 1 am until 4 and then paul comes into edit, production comes in from 5 to 6 and then Shar and Val come in around 7.  But because it was balloon fiesta, there were a lot more people working and coming in earlier than normal.  By the time I got to the station, Kenny was already there, blaise was still at the station because he shot a story about a balloon tank that blew up.  he left around 1:30ish, then Rick came in around 2:30 to edit the show.  I'm not sure what time production came in, but Val, Shar and Eric came in around 4 am and jamie and Mike anderson got in around 3:30 with food.  so even though there were a ton of people at the station there was food.  Overall balloon fiesta wasn't that bad.  Basically from 5 to 7 I went back and forth between the booth and the newsroom doing different stuff for Kenny.  Once 7 came then I sat in the booth until 9 giving chopper instructions and making sure Bess had everything she needed for the live show.  Our balloon fiesta coverage ended around 9, but I had to stick around the station until all the balloons landed...making sure none of them exploded in a fiery ball of death, as Valerie Castro so graciously put it.  Everyone landed fine, but I didn't end up leaving the station until 10:30...we got the okay to leave shortly after 10 but just about the time to leave the phones at the station started blowing up and Kenny and i stuck around for a few minutes helping Steph answer phones.  when I finally left the station I texted Andrew so we could meet up and hang out, but he was at balloon fiesta park so it was going to be a bit.  Once he and Kristen, his new girlfriend, made it back to their hotel, I met them and started showing them around Albuquerque.  We went to Tucanos for lunch, which apparently made the entire trip worth it.  We ate so much that we walked around downtown for a little bit, but downtown wasn't as exciting as andrew and Kristen thought it would be so we went to Coronado mall to walk around.  once we walked around the entire mall it was getting close to time for andrew and Kristen to head back to balloon fiesta park for the balloon glow, by that point I decided I would just stay up and hang out with them as long as I could so I went with them to balloon fiesta park for the balloon glow.  We got there pretty early, parked and walked into the park...once inside the park we walked around some more and waited for the balloon glow...we even went into the beer garden for a drink.  Unfortunatly, it was really windy so the balloon glow got cancelled....but we did get to see the fireworks.  I think we left balloon fiesta park around 8ish and then went to Fudruckers for dinner.  By the time we were all finished it was around 9 or so...that's when I dropped them off at their hotel and headed home.  By the time I went home and went to bed I had been awake for 20 straight hours and I was exhausted! 

and that's it for now, I have to get back to work...I'll update more later!  At this point I'm only 3 weeks or so behind!

So this could be a fairly short blog, because I have to start producing cut-ins at 6 AM...I'm getting a little bit of a break because I have to train Josh.  So it gives me a few minutes to catch up on some stuff.

so the interesting thing is I'm all caught up to the point of where I got suspended from work.  The "weekend" I got suspended I ended up going on a drinking binge...not a bad one, but I figured since I had the time I would make the most of things.  In my last blog I talked about meeting Ortega and Chris at Fox and Hound for Chelsea's last day and then went to work.  Saturday after work, we didn't have Women's Warriors so I went home from work and went to sleep.  And slept until about 6 pm or so and then went to Amy and Hollis' for a scrapbooking event at Amy's.  That lasted until around 10 or so and then Micah and I went to Boston's for some dinner and drinks.  Ortega ended up meeting us out and after the 3 of us ate we decided to go to Graham's Central Station for some more drinking and dancing.  I had never been to Granham's Central Station before and actually I found it not that bad.  It looks kind of ghetto and three are some pretty ghetto people that go there, but for the most part it's a pretty cool set up.  there are several different rooms all with different themes...there's a hip hop room that has a Miami beach theme, then there's a cowboy country theme room and apparently there's a 70's disco theme room though I never saw that one.  But the three of us stayed until it closed and then I took the two of them back to their cars at Bostons and we all parted ways.  Which meant I didn't get to bed until around 2 or so...and I had to get up at 7 that morning to go to church and teach my second grade class.

amazing I wasn't that tired at church, not only did I manage to make it up and teach my kiddos and make it to the 10:15 service...but after church I went with Chris, Chelsea, Fred and Hollis and his family to Cracker Barrel for lunch.  The interesting thing was Chelsea was the one who wanted to go to Cracker Barrel and ended up leaving early because she had some school thing to go to.  Fred also left a little early, but the rest of us sat around and talked for a little bit.  Chris and I even stood out in the parking lot for a little before it got too hot for us to stand out there.  From Cracker Barrel I went home and started watching some football and just being at home.  The good thing was the Colts had the Sunday night game, so I sat in my chair and drank beer and watched football.  Of course the Colts beat up on the Cardinals so all in all it was a very good night.

Monday I sat around my house catching up on some TIVO and packing some boxes and stuff like that.  Dallas had the Monday night game that night, so I invited Chris and Chelsea over to my place to watch the game.  The cool thing was Chris made dinner.  Chelsea got to my place first, so us girls sat around and talked until Chris made it.  Once Chris got there he went to work making dinner and then we sat down and watched some football...and drank some beer.  the good thing was the Cowboys actually won, so Chris was happy.  Chelsea ended up leaving before the game was over, but Chris stayed and then once the game was over he left.  Once they left, I stayed up a little bit longer watching some more TV and drank some more beer.

Tuesday was a lot more of the same deal.  I slept in, then sat around my house catching up on TV and packing some more boxes.  since there was no football game that night I went over to Jen and Chris' house for some dinner and laundry.  And since I didn't have to rush home and go to bed or get ready for work, I went home watched some TV and finished off the beer that was in my fridge.  Or drank wine that was in my fridge...I guess it doesn't really matter, the moral of the story was I went home and drank some more. 

The idea was to drink enough that I stayed up pretty late and then slept all day on Wednesday.  Which pretty much was what I did.  I did have to go back to work on Thursday, so i spent a good part of my Wednesday sleeping...but also watched some more TV and did some more packing.  I have to say it kind of sucked getting suspended, especially from a paycheck standard and because I really don't like getting in trouble.  But it was kind of nice to sleep in, to drink and not worry about things, to catch up on all my TV shows I hadn't seen in a while and to start the packing process.  So while it was rough not working and getting punished and stuff like that, I tried to make the most of things.

I certainly felt refreshed going back to work on Thursday...which was a good thing since Balloon Fiesta was kicking off that weekend which meant a long day, a lot of work and a lot of time working in a row.  I don't really remember much about Thursday, except I didn't go to the Bridge that night.  I think that was the Thursday we decided to have Women's Warriors before the Bridge because we couldn't meet on Saturday because of Balloon Fiesta.  if that was the case, then it was my night to teach...which meant we got to enjoy M&M's and it was very interactive.  The reason I didn't go to the Bridge that night was 1) I didn't really sleep too well that day so I wanted to get some more sleep before work and 2) I ended up telling the group and some people from the Bridge that I was moving, which made me a little emotional and I didn't want to cry in front of everyone so I left. 

And on that note, time for me to get back to work...

I had planned to do a blog with this title on Sunday, but I got a little more intoxicated than I planned and ended up going home drinking some beer and watching football...so I didn't.  But I am really excited about this blog title, because on sunday on my way home from having dinner with Cheryl and Manuel my car reached the 100,000 mile mark...and it's only 5 years old.  It's from all those trips back and forth from Nebraska to Missouri.  The great thing about all this is my car is still in great shape!  Since I've had it, and I think I got it when the car was about 6 months old, I've had to get 6 new tires...4 of those about a month ago...and had to get something on the bottom of my car fixed.  Other than that, I've really had no problems with it.  It's actually a really really good car and am happy I got it.  I was a little worried for it to hit 100,000 miles, but that transition went well and I'm not driving my car back to Missouri so all things will go well.

the one thing I left out from Friday the 18th was I ended up going out that night with Chris to Fox and Hound...we went to dinner and had a beer or something and then I ended up going home afterwards and taking a quick nap before getting up and going to work.

Even with that nap, I was pretty tired at work...but that's usually a given for a Saturday morning.  The good thing was (at least as far as I can remember) I was able to go home and go back to bed.  I think that was the day we ended up cancelling Women's Warriors because it ended up being just me and Krista and we didn't see much point to that.  So I got extra sleeping time.  Other than that, I don't remember doing much else Saturday night.

Sunday the 20th I spent a lot of the day watching football.  I think I actually got up and went to church and taught Sunday School and stuff (this is why I need to do a better job of blogging regularly).  then after church I ended up going over to Jen and Chris' to do laundry.  Chris wasn't there when I got there, because she was playing in a bowling tournament so it was just me, Jen and the kids hanging out.  The funny thing was when I went to the refrigerator to get a drink and noticed they had leftover KFC in the fridge, so I asked Jen if I could have some.  So i grabbed some cold chicken and sat on the couch eating it, which motivated jen and tater to do the same...which was very missouri of us, eating cold chicken and watching football.  for dinner that night, Jen and Chris decided for snack night.  So we all went to Wal-Mart and basically grabbed whatever we wanted for dinner and we could eat it whenever we wanted.  I grabbed frozen pizza, that I shared with Jen and started eating it around 4 or 4:30 that afternoon.  Part of it was because I hadn't really had lunch that day, well minus the cold chicken, and because I was going over to Chris' that night to watch the Cowboys game.  I had to be at Chris' by 6 that night, so I had to book it to make it back to my place, grab some stuff, drop off my laundry, swing by the store and make it over to Chris' and he lives in the Northeast Heights.  so i didn't quite make it there by 6, but I did make it before kickoff and I was the first one there.  Once the game started chaos began, but in a good way.  Chris had a ton of snacks and even made green chile stew.  His big goal was to make me actually like green chile, and I did like his green chile stew, but I can't say I like it outside of that I will ever like green chile.  Chris is also an avid Cowboys fan and really got into the game and it didn't help that the Cowboys lost.  But it was certainly entertaining.  Once the game was over we all went our separate ways and i went home and watched some TV before going to bed.

My Monday's are usually spent sleeping, sitting around watching TV and basically doing nothing.  and that Monday was no different.  So there's really nothing to talk about there...and in fact as far as I can remember I don't really have anything to talk about until Friday the 25th.  All I remember from that week was I spent a lot of time talking to Jamie about work and trying to get things worked out for me to leave.  I did find out in that week that my last day at the station would be October 24th.  I also got an interesting call that week from Mark Baumert, because he heard that I was leaving New Mexico and wanted to offer me a job in Nebraska.  He called me on a Wednesday or thursday or something like that and gave me until Monday to decide what I was going to do.  I guess you can figure I did turn the job down, not because I wasn't flattered with the offer or because I didn't want to go back to Nebraska...but I basically turned down the offer because I think the best thing for me right now is to be back home in Missouri close to my family, even if I don't have a job.  So that's the path I'm taking right now.  But I told Mark that just because I'm saying no now, doesn't mean I plan on saying no in the future because I honestly don't know what's going to happen.

But enough about that...like I said, I didn't really do anything exciting until the 25th.  kristen was out of town that weekend, so Ortega asked me if I wanted to go out.  She and I met Chris at Fox and Hound since it was Chelsey's last night.  we all had dinner and grabbed a few drinks.  I got this massive margarita that was the drink special that night and I think I also had a beer and really I didn't feel a thing.  i even went straight from hanging out with them at Fox and Hound to going to work. 

And on that note, I need to get back to work...at least I'm getting closer to getting caught up :)

so I'm still looking for a job back home.  I only have 7 working days left and then move in 13 days, or something like that.  Everyday i check the job search websites and really haven't found anything positive.  I was planning on sending a tape to a station in Fayetteville, Arkansas but of course I forgot the paper with all the information on it back at home and ortega can't find the listing on TVJobs.com this morning.  I did just search the stations in Fayetteville this morning and found an opening for an associate producer at the ABC affiliate, but for some reason I don't think that's the original job I was looking at.  So I guess it doesn't really hurt to apply for it or anything.  The good thing is I'm going to have Chris copy me a tape today and then I'll start sending stuff out.  I want at least 2 copies, one to send out and one for back-up in case nothing pans out and I want to send out stuff later.  Other than that I don't really have any leads on a job or anything.  I've been filling out applications and stuff online, but haven't heard anything back from any of them.  I guess I'm just going to have to wait until I move back and then hit the ground running looking for stuff.  The thing that I've found is so strange about things is I've worked in television for the past 6 years and don't really know what else to do or even to apply for.  The other problem I've run into is I don't have much experience working in retail or food service because I was fortunate enough to work in media most of my college and adult life.  The last time I did something other than media was in high school when I worked at McDonald's part time...and that was almost 10 years ago.  So I'm hoping and praying something works out in TV for Jolin or even Fayetteville at this point. 

As for the rest of my vacation to Missouri...on Wednesday the 16th I actually spent a lot of time at the station.  I wanted to go back to talk to Jim and Leisha about some stuff as I started thinking about what I should do.  and even though I really didn't get a definite answer, I still decided to move forward with moving back home.  The other big news of the 16th was David and Becky found out they were having a girl, so now I have 2 nieces on the way.  and the only other highlight of that day was we went to neosho to see Dad because he decided to buy and ipod and Jimmy and I had to help him with that.  But at least he bought us dinner out of the deal.  And then we went back to Jimmy and Susie's and played some video games and stuff.  Actually to be honest I can't remember if we went to help Dad on Wednesday night or Tuesday night...it might have been Tuesday night, because I think Becky and David ended up staying for a while and we all watched "Duck Tales the Movie". I know Becky and David came over on Wednesday, because I remember that was Becky's doctor's appointment....but otherwise I don't remember much.  This is what happens when I don't blog for almost a month.

I do remember that Thursday the 17th was the day I went back to Albuquerque.  susie wanted Grandma to take me to the airport, but Grandma couldn't so she gave Susie the money to take me.   And I made it in plenty of time to catch my flight, which took me to a connecting flight in Denver.  I hate the Denver airport, I always have the worst experiences there...but actually this time it wasn't that bad.  I can say it may be the only time I had an enjoyable experience at the Denver airport.  And I made it back to Albuquerque okay.  Except when I got here it was sooooo cold, apparently it had rained almost the entire time And of course I was wearing capri pants and a tank top...and it didn't help that Jen was running a little late so I had to wait outside for her.  the good thing is once she did come and pick me up and I picked up my car at the station I basically went home and went to bed. 

Friday it was back to work and really the beginning of change for me.  After I made it through the day I had to meet Kenny in his office to talk to him about my suspension and that's when I asked him about getting out of my contract.  He told me I had to make a formal request to Jamie, which I did and decided to ask for 30 days.  He called me later that afternoon to tell me she approved my request, but still had to work out some logistics.  He just didn't want me to flip out if I saw my job posted on the website.  and that's how things got started...and on that note, it's time for me to get started working, so I'll wrap things up there and pick things up again later!

As of today I have 2 weeks left in New Mexico.  My last day at the station will be the 24th and then Dad is flying in on the 28th and we're either leaving that night or the next day.  I still have some stuff to do, but I'm making progress.  Like today, I need to get rolling getting my gas, electric and cable turned off.  I also need to get my address changed and then there's the whole packing thing.  My whole packing a box a day routine is actually going well.  I have a little bit of stuff in every room packed so far, all of my decorations and stuff like that.  Yesterday I started packing my drinking glasses, so there's no way I can have any wild parties or anything before I leave.  I'm still looking for a job, but sooner or later that will come together.  Now back to catching things up...

On Tuesday the 15th I had plans to go play tennis with Larry, so I left to go to the station after Susie got finished dropping Jimmy off at work.  While I was waiting for Larry to get finished with the noon show I went into Jim's office and talked to him about some stuff.  By the time I finished with that and talked to some other people around the station the noon show was finished.  Before we could go play tennis Larry had to go and drop someone off at home, so I stuck around the station a little bit and then met Larry at Cunningham Park.  And apparently I came out firing that day.  Our first game was good and I don't want to say it went all down here from there, because I did actually beat Larry in one game but I think because I came out hammering the first match it forced to Larry to step up his game so it was a lot harder to beat him from then on.  then after we played for about an hour or so we decided to go to Taco Bell for lunch.  We hung out at lunch for a little while before we both had to go our own way.  From lunch I went back to Jimmy and Susie's and hung out.  Later that night Andy came over to hand out and we all decided to rent "Wolverine", but I ended up falling asleep on the couch.  We also watched some other things on TV, but really didn't do much but hang out.

And on that note, I have to get back to work.  So we'll have to see how the rest of the day goes...

So one of the things I love about my shift is the fact that I can eat the most obsurd things at the most obsurd times and get away with it.  For instance, right now it's 6 in the morning and I am sitting at my desk eating M&Ms.  So I guess I should enjoy this nonsense while I still can.  As far as everything else is concerned, the clock is ticking for me to go home...15 days and counting at this point...and I still don't have a job.  but I'm still looking and still sending out my resume for stuff.  So I'm definitely hopeful that something will work out.  It just may take some time and stuff.   Now to catch things up...

September 14th:  That was the Monday after I got back from St. Louis and the day after game night.   Like any other time I go to Jimmy and Susie's I woke up nice and early, thanks to Laurah.  But luckily it wasn't too bad of a day.  Susie and I spent a lot of time just hanging out at the house.  It also happened to be Laurah's birthday, so we decided that as soon as Jimmy got off work we would take Laurah out for her birthday.  We were going to take her to Chuckie Cheese, but by the time would have made it there it would have been closed.  So instead we went to CiCi's pizza...and we made it there about 45 to 30 minutes before it closed.  and we were the only ones there.  So we got whatever we wanted and we even got to take some leftovers home.  They basically gave us a box and said we could take home whatever we could fit in the box.  So we had plenty to eat for a few days.  The other thing that was pretty cool was the Monday night game was on and the employees were all standing around watching it and we got to watch the game with them.  and since it was the first Monday night game of the year, it was a double header.  So we watched the New England/Buffalo game at the restaurant and then went back to Jimmy and Susie's to watch the San Diego/Oakland game.  Laurah was even excited to watch football.  But that was about all the excitement there was.  The girls went to bed and we finished watching the game and then we went to bed after a while.  So it was a nice boring day. 

And on that note, I have some work to do at the station so i have to wrap things up, but I might try and get back on later to blog more...we'll see :)

I am in rare form this morning.  I have been giving Ortega a hard time all day today, it's not exactly nice...She's worried about this rocket that's suppose to hit the moon this morning and has been freaking out about it all day and I have been giving her the hardest time about it.  What can I say, I'm not a very sensitive person...I've never claimed to be sensitive and I know it's definitely not one of my best qualities.  But oh well, moving on.  It also doesn't help that I'm very tired today and probably not in the best of moods.  It's not because I went and hung out with the boys of Mike Got Spiked last night, they ended up leaving Albuquerque earlier than they thought so I didn't get to see them again.  I even slept all day, but I was still tired when I woke up to eat some dinner last night.  So yeah, I'm a little tired...but I'm also kind of in a bad mood because the Cardinals lost to the Dodgers yesterday in the playoffs--all because Holliday made an error in the bottom of the 9th--and because the Huskers beat Mizzou last night--all because Mizzou totally shut down during the 4th quarter and gave up 28 uncontested points.  So I'm not so happy about sports this morning.

But it is a perfect segway into where I left things off.  I spent the first weekend of my vacation in St. Louis with my dad.  Saturday morning I woke up early, I guess it's habit of the shift that I work.  But it was okay, Dad woke up pretty early too and we spent a good part of the morning watching Sportscenter.  At one point Dad went downstairs for the continental breakfast, I eventually made it down there but not until after Dad went down there and came back.  We left the hotel around 10:30ish and headed to another side of St Louis so we could meet my friend Jen at Buffalo Wild Wings for lunch.  We got there just about the time the restaurant opened.  Dad had never been to Buffalo Wild Wings before so it was a new experience for him.  He had some lunch and then went outside for a little bit and let me and Jen have some time to catch up.  But after some time we had to make it to the stadium and stuff, and we did make it there in plenty of time.  The Braves were still taking batting practice when we got there, so we made it in plenty of time.  The only problem was because the game was pretty early in the afternoon, it was so hot outside....so we enjoyed a soda at the stadium.  Saturday's game was better than Friday night's game.  When I saw the match-ups for that day I was pretty sure the Braves would win because Tim Hudson was pitching and I think Loche ended up pitching for St. Louis.  Well it ended up neither one of the pitchers made much impact into the game, even though I did get to see Tim Hudson hit his first career homerun.  the braves ended up winning the game by a run, it was a pretty close game all the way through but the Braves ended up on top.  Then after the game Dad and I drove back home.  I dropped him off in Neosho and then drove Grandma's car to Jimmy and Susie's.  I planned to drop it off the next day.  When I got to the Jimmy and Susie's, Becky and David were there hanging out so we all played some video games together before they had to go home. At the game we got fleece blankets, I gave mine to Jimmy.  I think we all wrapped things up around 1 amish, maybe a little later.  But either way, I went straight to bed as soon as everyone parted ways...I was so tired!

Luckily I did get to sleep in Sunday a little bit, but nothing worth writing home about.  Waking up at 7 AM is sleeping in for me.  Once everyone else was up and going I headed down to Neosho to take Grandma and Grandpa Mace their car back.  Before I went to go see them I went to my Dad's house and we talked baseball a little bit, he even made me some lunch and showed me the pictures we took in St. Louis.  We even watched some of the Braves/Cardinals game together online.  But I also needed to spend some time with Grandma and Grandpa mace, so I made it to their house early in the afternoon.  They were listening to the Braves/Cardinals game on the radio, but ended up turning it off because the Braves beat St. Louis by 5 or 6 runs or something like that.  So instead of listening to that game we ended up watching the Redskins/Giants game...but that game didn't go much better.  The Redskins lost.  I stayed at their house until a little after 5 or so when Becky and David came and picked me up for game night at Jimmy and Susie's.  clint and Stacy and their kids were already there and shortly after that Brandon and his brother showed up.  So we all enjoyed some chili and cinnamon rolls and then got started with game night.  We also watched the Dallas/Tampa Bay game, even though the game had been played that afternoon...Susie had DVRed it and we watched it later.  Then after that game we watched the Sunday night game of Green Bay and Chicago, we were all presently surprised to see Alan Barbe who graduated from East Newton and Missouri Southern was starting.  while we watched that game we played a few games of Clue.  After 2 games of clue Stacy and Clinton went home, Brandon and his brother hung out for a little while and then they left...once everyone was gone Andy came over and watched some TV with us and then spent the night.  But after falling asleep for a little bit he woke me up because he wanted to leave and asked me to lock the door behind him.  so I did.

And on that note, I need to get back to work.  But I guess before I wrap things up I should add, the title of the blog...despite sweeping the Cardinals and winning like 20 of our last 25 games we missed the playoffs.  We got eliminated about 3 games shy of the end of the season.  So it was disconcerning, but still good to see my Braves play so well at the end of the season.  i guess there's always next year!  for now, I'm a Cards fan for the playoffs!

So I'm totally exhausted this morning and maybe a little loopy, I have no one to blame but myself but honestly I have no one to blame but myself.  But I have to say it was all worth it.  I know I'm getting a little ahead of myself, but it's all good.  I've been awake since about 4:30 yesterday afternoon.  My original plan was to wake up at 6 and go to dinner with Krista and Christy and then go back to my place and get ready...because the boys from Mike got Spiked were in town and I was going to see their show and hang out with them until work.  But since I woke up early I got ready before dinner and then went straight from dinner to meet the boys.  I got there well before the show started so I had some time to talk and hang out with the boys before they had to go play.  the cool thing is Gavin's brother is on tour with them right now and he's helping sell their merchandise so I got to hang out with him while the boys were performing...and it didn't hurt that he's totally cute!  The boys were the second group to play for the night and after they were done we all hung out again.  And I hung out with them until I had to leave to go to work.  It was awesome to see the boys and hang out with them.  It was definitely different than all the time we spent together in Nebraska and it sucked to have to leave early to go to work...but the good thing is they're staying in town today so we'll get to hang out later this afternoon...after I get some sleep!

Now going back in time.  So the day after I talked to jamie about my punishment and stuff I left to go home on vacation.  My day definitely got off to a rough start because I had to pick Ortega up from home since her car was getting fixed.  And because of that we were running about 10 minutes late and Kenny ended up texting me getting onto me about it.  but I did manage to get through the day.  and ortega and I ended up staying later because we had some work to do around the station.  But since my flight didn't leave until 10:00 or 10:30 that morning I had plenty of time to get there...in fact I don't think Ortega and I left the station until 8 or 8:30 and I didn't make it to the airport until 9 or 9:30 or so.  and I think once I got through security and made it to my gate and everything I had an hour to an hour and a half before my flight left.  Now the cool thing about my flight was Tommy LaSorda, the old manager for the Los Angeles Dodgers, was also on my flight.  Tommy was in town because the Isotopes made the playoffs and he threw out the first pitch and did some other promotional stuff with them.  So he was flying from albuquerque to vegas.  He was actually a pretty cool guy, I didn't personally talk to him but I did watch him interact with other people.  People would come up to him, shake his hand, get their picture taken.  I could have done it too, but I didn't want to bother him so instead I took pictures of him from a distance on my cell phone.  When I boarded the flight, I ended up sitting next to this young couple who were flying to Vegas for the weekend.  They had caught the flight from Dallas and had already been drinking and was running a tab...so they were definitely entertaining.  Byt the way did I mention I was catching a connecting flight from Albuquerque to Vegas.  Once I landed in Vegas I had about an hour to an hour and a half before my flight left for Tulsa.  Susie was waiting for me at the airport by the time I landed, unfortunatly she was by herself.  Susie's mom was watching the girls at Jimmy and Susie's house.  Shortly after we got to the house, we left to get Jimmy from work because we had to go to Dad's.  on our way there we stopped at Taco Bell for some dinner.  Unfortunatly, we didn't get our entire order so we had to swing by Taco Bell after we left Dad's.  Dad wanted us all over at his house so he could update us on his health.  Oh, that's one thing I forgot...my dad had a heart attack on Tuesday and had to spend the night on the hospital.  So he called us over to his house so he could let us know he was doing and we took some "family" pictures since I was in town.  Plus, we all got to meet Dad's new girlfriend online.  When we made it back to Jimmy and Susie's we stayed up for a little bit playing the Wii and stuff and then it was off to bed.

Friday the 11th I had to get up early so I could go to U.S. Cellular and pay the bill and get Dad a new cell phone.  Then Susie ran me down to Grandma and Grandpa Mace's so I could pick up their car because Dad and I were leaving for St. Louis to go to the Braves/Cardinals game.  I spent a little bit of time at Grandma and Grandpa Mace's and then went to go see Dad.  We left around 1 that afternoon and drove to St Louis.  The game didn't start until 7ish and I think we got to the stadium around 5:30.  We were going to try and meet my friend Jen before the game, but decided not to chance it...so we just went to the game.  We found a good place to park and made it to the stadium in plenty of time...in fact when we first got there the Braves were taking batting practice.  The weather was perfect for the game!  It also happened to be the anniversary of September 11th so there were a lot of activities before the game.  For the game itself, I thought it was a good game...a definite pitcher's duo.  I checked out the pitching match-ups before I left New Mexico so I knew that Friday night's game could have gone either way and I was happy the Braves pulled off the win.  It also helped that Pujols struck out twice.  Dad wasn't too happy with the game, because there were 3 errors in the game and the final score was 1 to 0...but I did enjoy the pitchers duo.  I spent a good chunk of the game texting Kraus talking some smack, texting Brandon giving him a hard time because I was at the game and texting Susie so she could book me and Dad a hotel room.  We found a hotel just a few blocks from the stadium and it wasn't a bad price.  The funny thing was we went to the hotel and started watching sportscenter for highlights of the Braves/Cards game.  We did manage to order some delivery.  But we were tired and went to bed pretty early.

That's about it for now, I should get back to work...or maybe start work whichever comes first :)

So i haven't been exactly good lately about blogging and stuff.  Some of that has been the emotional stress I've been under trying to figure my life out and what not, I still haven't gotten everything quite figured out yet, and part of it is because my focus lately has been on finding a job.  As i stated in my last blog I have decided to move back home to Missouri, but unfortunatly I don't have a job yet.  I keep hoping something at KSN or KODE will open up...whether it be part time or full time, but as of right now that hasn't happened.  I did send out my resume to local newspapers and sent Kraus and email, but that hasn't really gotten anywhere yet.  I've filled out applications for Radio Shack, Sears, the JC Penny portrait studio and blockbuster but haven't really heard anything back there yet.  Yesterday I filled out an application for an administrative assistant job at one of the casinos back home.  So I'm getting my name and resume out there, nothing has panned out just yet.  But I'm not giving up.  So if anyone knows anyone hiring in the Joplin area, please let me know!  Aside from looking for jobs, I've also spent a lot of time lately packing up my apartment.  My goal is to pack a box everyday until I leave and then if I still have a lot of packing left once I get to the last week, I'm going to step up the packing effort.  I'm also spending time lately saying good-bye and trying to make the most of my last few days and weeks here in albuquerque.  Saying good-bye has been a lot harder than I thought it would. 

So I'm going to attempt to try and catch up with everything over the past few weeks, but I almost feel like this is one of those times I may have fallen so far behind I can't do it.  But here goes nothing!

I guess the best place to start is back almost a month ago to September 9th...the day before I left for vacation.  That morning we had a meeting with Jamie so we could talk about why the ratings on the morning show had been slipping and what changes were coming to the show and the station.  That meeting started almost immediately after the show and lasted about an hour.  Then after the meeting, I had to go to her office to talk to her about what had happened the Saturday of labor day weekend when I produced and had problems.  That was when I learned was I was in pretty big trouble and nearly lost my job, but instead I got suspended for 2 days without pay.  On one hand I was very surprised I didn't get fired, on the other I couldn't believe what a big deal it had become.  But I was proud of myself that I didn't make a scene in Jamie's office and in fact was okay with things until someone said something...and then I almost lost it.  but luckily I was pretty much able to leave and had time to myself to think about things and cry a little.  From work I had to follow ortega to los lunas so she could drop off her car at the repair shop.  Once we got it dropped off okay, we stopped by Village Inn or someplace like that and had breakfast.  From there is off to home and to bed.

I can't say I really recovered from the news and tried my best to go on with things like everything was fine.  but that was almost impossible.  At least I was heading on vacation so I had time to think about things and go from there.  I did manage to get everything together for my trip.  And on that note, I'm going to wrap things up for now so I can get to work.  maybe I will get back on today and update some more.  If not, I'll try and do a better job of blogging :)