Estoy Nueces

I've been on the new job three days now and, so far, getting up at 3:30 is the BEST part of the job. I'm trying to keep a positive attitude and fly low but it is not fun at all so far. Problems pop up that I wasn't trained for and I handle them as best I can and then I get chewed on for what happened. I want to say, hey, I didn't decide who would train me or how long I would be trained. If you think I need more training, teach me! Today they were pointing out something they didn't like that I was doing and when I said I was just doing it the way I was taught they berated my teacher and the teacher that taught him as if I should have known they wouldn't train me right. Hey, if I learn it wrong you should have made something more clear. There are a few people around me through the morning that I really like and hope to work more with in the future. Unfortunately, I don't work with any of them now.

The weather is ideal and I love it. I have the windows open but the neighbors dog is barking so I may have to close this one. I guess it will be getting colder soon so I will have to close them to go to bed.

Monday after I got off the air the weather was so ideal I knew I needed to sit outside in it for a while. I went to Jo's on South Congress and had a truly Austin morning. It was even more interesting when Julia Roberts walked by! There was no doubt it was her but the story in the paper today about her being spotted at the Magnolia confirmed it. She is gorgeous. I'm no fan of her movies, but she is pretty.

Today I went to the Magnolia myself and introduced my old friend from Dallas to it. I drove her up South Congress and down South First to show her the local color. She is as excited about living in Austin as we were/are and that was fun. I hope her husband finds work. He is a wonderful, handsome guy, but he doesn't seem to have a lot of smarts sometime. He got laid off in Dallas but he isn't drawing unemployment because of his pride or something. I do not get that. I especially don't get why a family man with two children would pass up $300 a week to help his family. It certainly isn't enough to live on so it doesn't make you lazy about job hunting, it just helps out and you paid for it in the first place so you should take advantage when you lose your job through no fault of your own.

Last night I was looking forward to watching Spin City and Frasier and the new show Philly but my cable was out all evening and I was stuck with no internet and no TV. Fortunately, my friend from Blanco dropped in and visited a while and then my friend B! in Idaho called and talked for a long time. I was glad for the human contact instead of the cold TV for the evening.

Mark is still in Nashville today. I talked to him while he was in the Ryman gift shop and was about to go to the Country Music Hall of Fame. They had a good gig last night and Delbert McClinton came to see them play. His old bass player is in the band Mark is with. Mark ran around with a drummer from up there that was the drummer on the new song by David Ball "Riding with Private Malone." Just last week I was telling Mark about that song because we play it and we were looking at a picture of David Ball with Uncle Walt's band on the wall of the Waterloo Ice House. So now Mark meets the drummer in this small world. I know the guy was flattered that Mark had heard of the song since it isn't a hit yet. That guy told Mark he played like Jim Keltner and that was the highest compliment Mark has ever been paid, he said.

This kitty cat has sure been good company for me this week with Mark gone but he is out of sorts and he knows things aren't "right." He'll be happy to have Mark home Monday too.

My parents are coming to visit Friday and I'm looking forward to it even though it may wear me out. Really, that isn't likely. We'll probably eat out and watch football and go to bed early. My grandmother's birthday is Tuesday so they'll be visiting her (and I suppose I will too) and celebrating some. Tomorrow I will clean house for them (I hope).

I need to make an action plan to find a better job. I have a really bad attitude about this job. There is lots of residual resentment because this is the same company that laid me off, so I know they don't care about employees at all. There is resentment that I'm doing an entry level job, although I should appreciate it because they were very nice to find a job for me to give me the benefits that I wanted as much as a salary. There is resentment that they are expecting things out of me without letting me know their expectations. I would ask for their expectations except that I'm afraid they would tell me!

Two more days to go this week and then I'll be able to regroup and recoup. And maybe I should get a lottery ticket.