I am ashamed to call myself a man…If you recall,  I had a little trouble getting the shelf put together by myself.  Beck so graceously agreed to help me…and she did.  A little estrogen and some anger (directed at yours truly) provided the fuel to literally beat the shelf together. If someone would have heard the rubber mallet beating the posts into submission, they would have sworn there was a torture chamber somewhere around. 

In all fairness, Becca did have the rubber mallet. I was using a regular hammer.  But still, it was amazing to watch.

For those of you who don’t know, I work at Citizen’s Bank and Trust Co. in Jackson (where Trav now lives and works).  The bank is a pretty good place to work, especially through college, as they work around my schedule and I pretty much work when I can/want to.  But, on days like today, I wish I worked somewhere that money was not involved.  With Sunday being the 1st, today was a very busy day!  It’s hectic around here at the end of the year anyway, and when you throw in a holiday, a 1st of the month and a Friday…It’s Craziness!  This is the first real "break" I’ve taken all day and I have been working 9 1/2 hours!  My time will soon be pulled though, so I must go get caught up on the last few minutes work so that I do not have to work even later than usual!  Happy New Year to All!

Normally, I try to be a little more articulate when I post about the comings and goings in life in my little space. Today, though, I need to vent. I bought this wonderful industrial shelf at Lowes yesterday in an effort to get my office organized. I set forth putting it together at around 2 p.m. It’s now 11:23p.m and the shelf remains unfinished.

Why?  Because the design is stupid! Yes, that’s right, stupid!  Assembly requires that you "tap" galvanized steel connectors into  little slits in order to make one long beam out of two shorter ones. Tapping on a galvanized connector with a hammer and then tapping the second beam onto the other side of the connector is an extremely difficult process. Because of my clumsiness and inability to hold things straight, the connectors are horribly bent. I managed to get three of the four posts connected, but the last post  is mangled, I’m afraid, beyond repair!  I only hope that Dad can resurrect my mess, since I need (and really like) the shelf!

Once again, a little birdie kept throwing hints at me to post on his website, so here goes!  I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas.  Trav made this Christmas the best I’ve ever had!  I’m spending my winter "break" working at Citizen’s in Jackson, as usual.  I dread January 7th more than any of you could ever know (except Trav, of course!).  But, atleast this is the last semester I’ll ever have to leave Trav for weeks at a time!  I’m off to try and get Trav to go to bed, I’m very tired and he seems to be cheery and ready for an all nighter.  I…am not. 

I passed the Praxis Principles of Learning and Teaching test! I’m extremely happy because I was 100% sure that I had failed!  I am one graduate class away from being a fully-certified, Rank II teacher. I’m so happy! For a whole month, the thought of failing that test has been at the back of my mind, which has made me somewhat grumpy. I would like to appologize to Becca and my family for having to put up with my fear of failure. I love you all!

With tomorrow being Christmas Eve, I wanted to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and a Wonderful New Year!

This morning I wrapped Christmas presents. This is one activity that I like to do year after year. I love being able to buy things for those who I care about. I know, I know…Christmas isn’t supposed to be about the presents. For me, it isn’t. It’s about family: The food and the company are always great. But seeing someone’s face light up as they open something thoughtful is priceless. I like to buy gifts that people really want, which doesn’t always mean something expensive.

Hey Jeremy! I heard you come to Trav’s site a lot. It’s true I post on here a lot more than he does, but I like, get in trouble if I don’t post everyday. He’s always like “You haven’t posted since 2 days ago, you should post…” Check out the “Name Change” post in the archives to see the new name of Trav’s site! Hope to meet you soon!