Gordon and Woody Be Blogged

Shame is an interesting thing. I talked to my mom last night and she reminded me that I have a blog and that I haven’t posted on it in some time. Well mom, this one’s for you.

So what has happened to us since August 2008…

We moved! Most of you know that we have been trying to have a baby and have had some issues surrounding that. Well we consulted with a fertility doctor and she informed us that the best solution for us would be to go through in-vitro fertilization. Unfortunately our medical insurance does not cover it so the bill would be our responsibility. Not a cheap process for sure. So we moved back into Jenn’s parent’s house and are helping them with their mortgage while saving a boatload of rent money. Win-win.

Work! My job got dun crazy. I have been flying to San Francisco just about once a month and sometimes more. I have been working from home for the last 5 months now so I shan’t complain too loudly, but traveling sure does take a toll on me. Jenn is out of work again but since we are living with her parents, it’s not as stressful as it could be. We were hoping she could find a job that might cover the in-vitro, but those are few and far between.

Christmas and my birthday have come and gone. Christmas was kind of stressful since we decided to move on New Year’s Eve (Not a good idea by the way). Christmas Eve was fun though. We celebrated with Jenn’s family and we had an Italian themed dinner.
I got really sick on my birthday week (which seems to happen a lot to me) and I was pretty miserable for that. I had a pretty bad cold/flu thing and it triggered my asthma to flare up pretty badly. I got better though and now I’ve got better medicine than what I was using.

We got a new TV for the Birthday/Christmas though so my suffering wasn’t too bad. I found a deal at the now defunct Circuit City that I just couldn’t pass on. I love new technology but I’m not a big fan of cutting edge so I decided a long time ago to wait on getting a large/HD TV until they worked out all of the kinks in the technology and the prices dropped significantly.

Other than that, same ol’ same ol’. We’re heading off to see the Dropkick Murphys tonight. Tomorrow I’m going to go see all of the Academy Award best picture nominees. I went to this screening last year and had a blast. I didn’t care for most of the movies but found it great to see them all at once in order to see which one I thought was best.

Posted by Kung Fu Joe at 3:07 PM | Permalink | Comments

Gordon here.

Been awhile I suppose.

Jenn is still looking for a job. She's had a few interviews and a lot of sent resumes. She was able to collect unemployment though so that should help cushion the blow of the layoff.

I'm still at said laying off company. My department was actually merged into another department in HR (which in turn saved me from the lay off). Now I am an instructional designer. There are good parts about the new position and bad parts. The biggest good is that I am working with Adobe Flash a lot more. I've learned Flash in the past and have known how to use it for some time, but it's one of those applications that if you don't actually have a need to use it, you don't really get a full understanding of it.

School is coming up soon. I am one class away from getting a programming certificate. Oddly enough, I saved the easiest class for last, Algebra. I didn't score to well on my placement test so I have to take Algebra over again. Should be a breeze because math was always one of the few classes I never had to try to hard in (not that I tried very hard in the others).

Other than that things have been pretty quiet. Rocky had surgery 2 months ago but he is doing well, Abi is hyper as always, Jenn is trying to survive the August heat and I am abiding as always.

A little less newsworthy, I found a site that allows you to create your own manga characters. Here is the one I designed of myself. Jenn got creeped out because it she thinks it looks a lot like me and that is how I usually take pictures. You can click the image to go to the site where I created the image.

Posted by Kung Fu Joe at 8:01 AM | Permalink | Comments

I had a second interview yesterday for Geico to become a Field Adjuster, which I really really want to do. It was a prayer answered from God that I got this second interview. They wanted me to come down to the San Diego office & take an assessment test & meet with the Orange County manager, the interview was at 10am.

Gordon decided to take the whole day off also & we would try to make a day of it down in San Diego & enjoy the sites, maybe go to the Wild Animal Park. We left at 7am & it should have been only an hour & a half drive or so to get there. Well, the traffic was great & fast flow & then we got to Camp Pendleton & it was just a dead stop! We listened to the radio to see what was going on & apparently there was a big rig that had turned over & caught on fire & hit another car that caught on fire. All of a sudden it was 9:30am & we had 16 miles to go before we could change to the next freeway to get where I had to go. So I called the HR guy over at Geico & let him know that I was stuck in traffic, there was probably no way I was going to get there at 10am, he heard about the accident so he understood.

All of a sudden it was 11:30am, we had only moved not only a mile or two away from where I had just called at 9:30am, I called him again to let him know that I was still on the road & to go ahead take lunch, he said no problem, to get there when I could. The thing that sucked was that because we were at the military base there were no exits to get off & try to find an alternate route… we were stuck!

Finally at about 12:15pm or so we started to pass the scene. There on the road was a charcoaled big rig & a corpse of a minivan that was pushed up a hill & burnt to a crisp…. Everything was still smoking as we passed by.

We got onto the 78 & then on the 15, we were home free… at least we thought. All of a sudden traffic was at a dead stop again… but this didn’t last as long… we finally got to the incident about a mile down the road & some masonry truck had tipped over & scattered rock all over the road.

At this point I was beside myself… I was sweating, chest pounding, crying & felt like I was going to throw up. There was something inside of me that just thought that this was the enemy trying to get me down to not get the job that the Lord wanted me to have.

At 1pm we finally pulled up to Geico. I was a wreck. Gordon & I prayed a little, I straightened out my clothes & hair & went inside still reeling from the whole experience and the 6 hour drive we had to San Diego. I met with the HR Manager & instead of taking me to a computer for the assessment test; he takes me to an office with a tape recorder, some papers, pens & calculator & a phone. I then come to find out that this assessment test is role playing. Holy crap! I royally suck at role playing! You can ask everyone that was in my class here at AAA… I was a train wreck at that! I am definitely not an actor.

So the role playing took about an hour & a half… I had no idea what the hell I was doing… seriously. The directions they gave me were not clear on how I should be handling the paper work… I had never had to do something like this in my life. I mean this was something someone should train you on… seriously.

The first two bits they had me do were a complete wreck. I was sweating, shaking, thought I was going to throw up at any minute with those guys in the room. I had been on the road for 6 hours with a panic/anxiety attack, no food or water in my system & was thrown into a room with two people I did not know to role play a situation & a job I knew nothing about. I wanted to cry & run the hell out of there. Towards the end I started to get the hang of it, I was a little better, but then again… they were throwing me into a job experience I knew nothing about nor had sufficient enough of training on to know what to do.

After it was over the HR Manager got me & had me sit down & watch a video & said he was going to add up my scores. Deep inside I knew I did not do well, but was hoping that I at least barely passed. He came back in the room & he reimbursed me gas money for the trip down there & then I asked him if he wanted to see some paperwork of mine he had asked for, he said no, that was fine… I knew something was wrong. He led me outside & said he was sorry but I did not pass. I was so devastated, I almost started to cry right there on the spot but I held it in like a champ. I was so sick to my stomach & asked him what I needed to work on… he was talking but to tell you the truth I did not hear a word of what he was saying… I was just trying so hard not to loose it.

So I took the walk of shame back to the car where Gordon was waiting for me for 2 hours… I got in the car & just started to loose it uncontrollably. I was so devastated! I was just so glad that Gordon was there with me, I could have never made the ride there or the ride back without him. I was a complete mess.

So I calculated that maybe this was not the enemy trying to not make me get the job… maybe it was the Lord trying to stop me from being so humiliated. I first cried a lot because I didn’t get the job & I really wanted it badly. But later that night when I broke down & cried again I was crying more because of the emotions that transpired through all of it. I have never in my life felt so humiliated & dumb as I did doing that role play. It was complete humiliation and never again will I allow myself to jump through the hoops like that for another job… it is only a job… not my life & no job is worth that kind of humiliation or endurance of shame. It is just a fucking job. If I ever come across a job like that again where I have to go through all that shit I am just not going to apply. Work is not my life… work is not a reality game show where you have to humiliate yourself to get the grand prize.

I am back at work today & I am still really depressed because I truly thought this job was an ace in the hole but I guess I was wrong. Gordon is the smart one in this little family… I just don’t meet the bar. There is a reason I do what I do for a living… KIDS… STAY IN SCHOOL! Why not go to college you ask?... Because people… I am not that smart… I don’t want to spend money on something & then find out I cannot do it & waste my money like I did with Massage School & Real Estate School. I am just not meant to have a career… I am simply meant to be a mother… however… God does not think that is the case or I would be a mother right now… so maybe I am just destined to be this thug of a looser I have always been from a blue collar family. This is my destiny… and you know what… I am going to embrace that & accept that. That is what sets me apart as an individual & a punk rocker… I am the working class man/woman… & I am proud of that & see nothing wrong with that. Like I said… I need to learn to embrace who I am.

Posted by Kung Fu Joe at 9:10 AM | Permalink | Comments

I am really depressed today and cannot seem to snap out of it. I called my mom and she suggested I should write. I think that's a good idea… writing seems to be therapeutic for me when I am really down and out. If I am unable to talk to someone I at least have this pad of paper to write my feelings out on.

Rocky just had to have surgery again… the poor little guy. I cannot stand seeing him like that all bandaged, stitched & doped up! He had a popped blood vessel on his ear that causes it to swell up like a balloon, another growth on his stomach & a chipped tooth that was getting infected. That poor little guy just lives in that cone around his head and he never ever complains. I love him so much. Abby wants to rough house with him so we took her over to my moms this morning and will be continuing to do so everyday until his wounds are healed. So Rocky has the house to himself without Abby, which I am sure he doesn't mind at all.

I woke up last Wednesday afternoon for a job interview and discovered Rocky's ear and then when I was brushing my teeth my filling came out. So that day was an interview, trip to the vet and to the dentist for me. They ended up finding other things in my mouth that needed to be fixed so they fixed them and then gave me a deep cleaning which I was long overdue for. But both Rocky and I had the works done to us last week.

I have two more weeks left of work and I have to admit that I am really depressed. I just really want to disappear right now & leave. I was hoping to go to Oregon to just let go of myself for awhile but Gordon doesn't want to now and I think I have ultimately spiraled into a deep depression with the results of feeling trapped and at a stand still in my life. I feel like I am so stuck right now & I cannot move or go anywhere. If you know me, you know that I cannot sit in one place too long. I am at that point right now that I have to be on the move and unfortunately I cannot. I guess that's the hardest part about marriage is that you just cant get up and go when you want & leave, instead you have the other person that has to be willing to go with you. Before I was just moving a little life raft and now it is like maneuvering a ship. I have passengers now.

I interviewed for a job with Geico Insurance as a Field Adjuster. If I get the position it will be 12 weeks of training in which I will be set up in a Hotel in San Diego and then a couple of weeks in Virginia. If I get the job at least I will be away for awhile, however, it will be no vacation. Lots and lots of homework.

I am so overdue for a vacation right now. I want to go see a new & different place. I don't care where it is, as long as it is not Southern Cali. I wouldn't even mind going up to Yosemite for a couple of days, just anywhere but here. I really feel like screaming right now because of how trapped I feel! UG!

I have been on so many job interviews lately and only the Geico job and one other job has been promising. All the others have been pretty bogus. If I don't get the job at Geico there is a job with a company called FMI that I would love to get. I would be working only 3 days a week 12 hours a day for a lot of money as tech support. That would be ideal if Geico doesn't pull through for me. We will just have to wait & see. Keep me in your prayers.

Posted by Kung Fu Joe at 7:31 PM | Permalink | Comments

Well… as all my previous blogs have indicated… I really love my job as a claims rep. Well all that has changed… The last Friday of May we had a big meeting… apparently 250 employees within claims is getting laid off… that is basically everyone here in the Irvine office… managers, sups… everyone!

So one day I loved my job & the next day the extreme opposite! I dread going into work now knowing that my job is ready to end! They said that our last day is on 07/31/08 so I have been scrambling on the job hunt once again.

I would like to stay in claims if possible because I truly like what I do but there aren’t very many claims positions out in CA. Everyone has gotten smart & taken their businesses elsewhere. So I am really open to anything from Administrative, Customer Service or insurance related.

While I was doing my claims class here at AAA I really got into the body parts of vehicles & scored the highest on my test. I then started having a lot of interest in doing Auto Appraisals. Working closely with our Independent Appraisers here at my job has peeked my interest even more so Gordon & I have decided to enroll myself into an Auto Appraisal Certification course at Cypress College starting this fall. So we will see how that goes for me.

Gordon was on the AAA Oregon job board & found out that they were hiring for Customer Service Reps up on the Lake Oswego office… so I applied for the job. What does it hurt? We want to move back eventually anyway. So we will see what happens with that.

Posted by Kung Fu Joe at 6:19 PM | Permalink | Comments

I haven’t written in a long time & I thought it was just about time. We have been so busy here in the Flannery household that it is hard to sometimes just sit down & make a phone call, send an email or start writing a blog. I’ve been so busy lately that dinner has even been a challenge!

It all started over a month ago when Rocky went in to get surgery. He had two growths on his belly side. One was just a fatty tomber & the other was actually diagnosed as a cancerous growth which scared us, but the little guy is doing well & it did not spread anywhere else. But that sure took a lot out of me mentally & emotionally… I love the little Rock Star & would hate to have anything happen to him.

Gordon & I got a good check from our taxes & we paid off some debts & finally got ourselves a digital camera! OMG! I love this thing! For a long time I refused to get a digital… I was old school & only wanted to use film but I started to get frustrated with having to take the film in to get developed & after my buddy Todd quit the photo lab at Target that was the last draw! So we got a killer deal on a printer & camera by Cannon & I have been trying to learn the thing. I have been trying to take pics every time I go out like I used to do in the old days. So far I have a couple of events I have preserved in my camera.

Mothers Day came & Gordon went up to Victorville to hang with his mom & grandma for the weekend & I spent the weekend with my mom. I am not sure of all the details of Gordon’s outing but my mom & I sure had some fun. I took her to the House of Blues in Anaheim for the Gospel Brunch. I have been wanting to go there for awhile & it was so much fun! And the food was amazing! I had grits for the first time & they were so frackin good! (Yes, I said frackin… been watching Battle Star way too much these days)

This last Friday Gordon & I went to see my co-worker’s band play at the Surf City Saloon. We invited Pat & Austin & after the Lakers game we all went there. When we showed up, to our surprise we saw our friends Donald & James & then there was our old friend Rob. It had seriously been probably a good 10 years since I had seen this guy… he looked healthy, happy & well & it just ended up that his band was playing right before my co-workers band. We went in to watch & I had completely forgot what an incredible guitar player this guy was… seriously… this guy is really gifted… you should definitely check out his band sometime, they are called Syndome.

Saturday morning was so frackin hot… I was ready to pass out & in tears… Gordon finally broke down & bought a second air conditioner for the family room… the little 8,000 BTU AC was not doing the job in our apartment so we bought a second one with 8,000 BTU’s so now we have a total of 16,000 BTU’s streaming through our house & it is so amazing! Awww! Sunday came along & it was till really hot & we had tickets to go see the Vandals play at the House of Blues. When we got there I was really hot & sick from the heat all day & I felt as if I was going to pass out & throw up, so we ended up cutting out of the gig early because of how I was feeling.

However, I have sad news to bear… My Vandals shirt that I bought at a gig when I was 14 years old has finally been laid to rest… my Vandals shirt, that I affectionately call my Kleenex Shirt, brought so much joy & comfort to my life over the past 20 years… however, there is a time in a persons life where they must learn to let go & move on… I have done this… However, I have bought myself a new Vandals shirt to replace it. It looks the same; however, it will never quite replace my old one.

Good bye old friend… until we meet again!

So this week will bring some fun… Gordon got some good news which he will probably share at a later time… I am sure he can share it in his own witty way. And Friday we will be going to my friend Donald & Cyndi’s wedding.

Also, I was thinking of starting up my CD of the Day again… I was thinking about doing it & then my buddy Donald mentioned Friday night that he missed them, so it just confirmed with me that maybe I should start doing them again. So maybe Monday or the beginning of June I will start them up again.

Posted by Kung Fu Joe at 12:44 PM | Permalink | Comments

Well Gordon's last blog was really funny... he is the funny one in the family... I almost feel bad that I have to leave a new blog not so interesting or funny... but for those of you that are wondering what is going on in our lives here is the scoop...

So today is a slow day at work, so I have decided to sit down & write a blog since it has been so long.

I have been having problems as everyone knows with getting pregnant & the last time I had my period was at the end of December. I ended up skipping all of January & then went into the end of February & I took multiple pregnancy tests & all negative. I started to get worried. So my Dr. decided to get me a test know as HSG, where they inject dye into you uterus & it should flow nicely into your fallopian tubes. I went in on March 13th & they inserted a balloon type thing into my uterus & what they do is expand your uterus & start injecting the dye & it should flow to the tubes. I only have my left tube since the other one was taken out. So while he was doing this the Dr. said that it was barely flowing into my tube like it should so he put more pressure on it, then whatever was blocking the flow shot out of the way with the pressure inserted & the dye was able to flow. I got my results back & the Dr. said everything looked fine… no apparent growths or anything which was my fear. I am hoping that was all my problem was and hopefully we can now get pregnant & I won’t have to go in for fertility treatments. I ended up starting my period a couple of days later too which was great.

I have been working hard away at claims & I really love my job, I am working 9:30am – 6:30pm shift which I really like, however Gordon kept the 7-4 shift so we don’t carpool in anymore. I get so many crazy calls everyday with different types of accidents that I have felt that I am now a more cautious driver than before.

On a sad note… on Friday March 21st, we unfortunately lost the family dog Roxanne. She was my sisters pit-bull that was about 9 years old. We loved her so much & she lived with my mom & dad & sister & brother-in-law. Caleb went into the bathroom on Friday afternoon & found Roxanne lying on the floor whimpering & could not move, he picked her up & took her to the vet & they started to take x-rays & before they could do anything else she passed away. We are not sure what she died from, after all big dogs don’t live as long as little dogs. But they did see that her lungs were collapsing from the x-rays they took. They said it could have been from poison she ate. We looked everywhere & saw no signs of her eating anything in the yard or house. They also said it could possibly be that she had cancer & it could have irrupted & that is what caused it but they do not know for sure. They said that she was about 80% gone when Caleb & Mel brought her in. Everyone is really torn about it, she was such an amazing dog & she will be very missed by everyone who ever came in contact with her.

On a better note, I have one more freakin payment on my car! Hallelujah… Praise the Lord! I am finally free from the bondage of a car payment! We can at least save some money now each month after we pay our other debts off!

Well, I hope everyone had a good Easter, ours was pretty mellow. Instead of my family doing the huge Easter dinner we do every year, everyone just did things with their immediate family. We had a quiet dinner with the 6 of us & I didn’t have to cook anything this year! Yeah!

Posted by Kung Fu Joe at 10:14 PM | Permalink | Comments