Big News

Three weeks ago I started my new job with the University of South Alabama in Mobile, AL. I'll be starting off as an Accountant II in the Purchasing department, but it appears as though that may only be a temporary or partial position. I keep hearing from multiple people that I'm being groomed for bigger and better things. We'll see.

Regardless of what happens with the job, I'll say I'm very pleased to be back in a legitimate office again... and not some laundry room full of office furniture. The furniture is nearly the exact same I had with my last job so that makes me feel right at home. I even have a nice second floor window view of a park between the administration building and student center.

For the first time in a long time I went to a music concert.  Local radio station 92ZEW was sponsoring a free concert in Downtown Mobile for Vance Joy; an Australian musician that I had been following for about a year. Unfortunately, it was both an after work show and at a bar Jillian refused to return to, so I ventured out with some friends. The show was great even though he played every single song in his catalog except for the one I wanted to hear. Oh well. It was still an enjoyable show.

In other news, Jillian and I have been watching a bunch of World Cup soccer games. We decided about two days in that it would be much more entertaining if we picked teams. I'm pretty sure we're both batting over .500 on our picks, but to this point, she's two games up on me.

The United States were knocked out in the round of 16 this year, after escaping what media called the 'group of death'. We got to the round of 16 by defeating Ghana, tying a Portugal team led by Ronaldo and losing to Germany (0-1). In the first single elimination game, we took Belgium to extra time at 0-0, but they were taking shots nearly the entire game and ended up with the 2-1 victory. It was only an entertaining game in that we witnessed US goal keeper Tim Howard break the world cup record for saves in a game with 16.

Just prior to one of the US soccer games, Jillian and I went to brunch in Mobile to meet up with some friends. It was our first time eating at the Blind Mule; which I thought was just a dive bar. I was surprised to find out that they serve food and expensive bottomless mimosas.

We went to the beach again last Sunday, just so we could urinate in the ocean. Not much of a story there.

Semi-related to both the beach and work: With my new job comes an interesting holiday schedule. I lost my 23 days of PTO but gained university holidays that include Christmas time off from Dec 23 to Jan 2. Because I'll only have been working for a few months and will not have accrued much regular vacation time, Jillian and I have decided to take a vacation over that break. Hoping to enjoy some warm weather during the winter, we've decided to head south of the border and enjoy some Jamaican sun. We had the good fortune of coming across an all inclusive Hyatt resort in Montego Bay that was having a grand reopening, 50% off sale so we jumped on it. In true organized, Jillian fashion my wife has already started our travel folder. Hopefully this trip will be as enjoyable as the last.

We had our yard sale. It was very profitable but we were still left with a garage full of junk. Jillian's continuing to sell things like clothing and videos on Facebook, but I have a feeling that the vast majority of what's left will eventually make it's way to goodwill. I hate to give things away, but it's better than becoming a hoarder... or at least that's what I'm told.

This is what it looked like at the end.

Lastly,  With all the extra space in the house after the yard sale, we were able to move some furniture around and finally set up my man cave/auburn room. Here's the result of that days work: