WhiteEagle’s Aerie and Blog

I am laughing at myself (and other stuff in my life)

This morning I am laughing at myself. Why? I thought I was fifteen minutes late for work, when I was actually nine and three-quarter hours early! Talk about a wake-up call! At least I learned I did not have enough cash to purchase food until payday, so I will be packing lunches and suppers (besides trying to eat before going to work!).

I am also embarrassed to work at the main store, because of all the tacky Christmas decorations that I helped put up yesterday. Everything from super-sized stockings to bows of all sizes, it makes the store look childish. The store manager told me Christmas is for children these days, because of all the materialism, it should be for them. I don’t agree.

Christmas is a time to remember that God gave us the greatest gift of all time, his only son, Jesus Christ. We should honor this by being good givers, and not expect anything in return. You should also remember that you can’t celebrate Christmas or Easter without the either. If you want to read more, you’re going to have to purchase my ebook from my company. Here is a couple of poems that I wrote a few years ago that express my deepest feelings on Christmas:

A Christmas Poem
As I look out my window at the snow,
I think of Christmas past in time.
When the church bells rang and chimed,
Despite the wind that did blow,
People came to remember Christ’s birth.
They did not know of a Santa Claus,
Or worry about cruel laws,
For Christ, God become man, has come to earth,
To give man the most important gift of life.
Now when people receive more than they give,
Is that any way to live?
The earth is now full of strife,
When Christ came to give us peace.
I hope as you go through this holiday season,
You will understand its true reason.

Christmas Spirit
As I think of Christmas past,
I have to wonder:
Is the Christmas spirit gone under,
Or is it going to last?
You have to see,
That this is not the way,
On this holy day,
There is a better way to be.
Back when church bells started to ring.
People came despite the snow,
And the winds that did blow.
They came to sing,
And remember the birth of Christ, the King.
I hope as you read this poem,
The point will be taken home.

As you can tell, I really care about the true meaning of this holiday. I really do not like all the commersialism that has come to be with it. I could even point out the origin of Santa Claus, but that can be saved for another post.

Started earlier, finished earlier

I was supposed to work 12 to 8 pm today at the main store, but I started earlier thinking I worked an 11 to 7 shift instead. I went over to the Wal-Mart location (I loved most of the shift there, except for during the cleaning of the grease trap. What a smell!) and finished my shift shortly after 7 pm. When I had started, my bro said I was late by a minute, but actually when I look at it, I was fifty-nine minutes early! Thanks to me starting early, I got a ride home from a friend of friend who happens to also work with my mom. Talk about good luck, as otherwise I would have been stuck in town until 11pm.

I got a trophy on Chess.com from a recent opponent. It was the “Great Endgame Play”, and he applauded my moves at the end of our first game, which I won. It’s great to see my hard work paying off. I am hoping to win more games, as my current ranking is 1248. I know I will be definably be getting myself a premium membership to Chess.com after I pay off a bit more debt.

I recently picked up the latest Holiday edition of Maximum PC. My favorite article was on how to customize and streamline my PC’s Windows desktop, and I will definately have to try a few out, like RocketDock and WindowBlinds. I also like the reviews of the latest hardware, as I’m always trying to keep my “Ultimate PC” build list up to date. Besides that build, I have quite a few others planned, and each one I must keep up to date as well, so Maximum PC is my #1 source off-line for doing so. Online, it’s HardwareLogic Forums, which is in my list of “Cool Sites”. Back to magazine, I think I may have found the perfect PC for my future kitchen: one of the HP TouchSmart series I think will do the trick.

I don’t like my options for travelling to and from work in the new year.

My dad’s house, where he works at (I won’t say his employer) is closing at the end of the year so he is being transferred to work in Wetaskawin starting January 1st. This means I will have two transportation into and from work and Camrose:

1. Get up to go in for 7am, and go home around 11pm.
2. Take a taxi at $25/each way.

I don’t like my options. Option one means I spend most of my time in town, most likely hanging around McDonalds. Option two gets very expensive very fast ($50/day), becuase I usually work five days a week, and sometimes six. I think I need to save up and move into town, as it will be the best in the long term. I think I will try and use option one for now, as I have to pay off credit card debt (at ~$8,100 currently) before I can move into town.

I finally figured out why I like working in one location over the other.

To start things off, I decided to start posting on my Chess.com blog as well as on WhiteEagle’s Aerie and Blog, because more people will read what I post if I use two blogs instead of only one. So if I have something come up and I post it to my blogs, my friends [both online and in RL ;)] will know what’s going on that much sooner.

Now for the main reason I am posting. I always now I’ve liked working in the Wal-Mart location of McDonalds over the main store. The answer: Simple! People at the Wal-Mart location know that they are getting paid to work, and not to talk. I get way too frustrated at the main store because it always takes 30 minutes to close the place. Why? People are talking and not working as well. I would not mind half as much the talking, if they would work at the same time. At least at the Wal-Mart location, people tend to work while they talk. It is not all the time, and I don’t mind, because I know I can get the place closed before 11pm. I just don’t like working that much after 11pm, because the more time I have to work, the less time I have at home before I should go to bed. (I tend to be in bed by 2am, but there are always exceptions!)

It’s time for me to find a new job.

It’s high time for me to find a new job. A friend once told me:

When the bad days outnumber the good ones, it’s time to find a new job.

That is exactly the kind of situation I’m in right now. The bad days are outnumbering the good ones by at least a factor of 2 to 1. Add the fact that the scheduling manager keeps threatening to reduce my hours, and it’s definately time for me to find a new place of employment. I should get treated with a little respect at my current place of employment, because I have worked there for the last 4 1/2 years, and have only missed a shift or two when I’m really sick. Don’t you agree I should find a place of employment where that much loyalty gets rewarded? I’m also tired of working with my brothers. Hopefully it won’t take me long to find a new job, so I can leave my current job for good!

Today was interesting at work.

Today was the Grand Opening of the McDonalds in Camrose, Alberta, where I work. I managed to see Ronald McDonald, Grimace, Hamburgler, and Birdy(the bird character) before I left. Also, 98.1 CAM-FM started broadcasting from outside the main door at 1pm. It was nice to be a part of, even if it was a busy morning! Also, the forty-nine cent hotcakes made for a cheap break!