Getting Down to Business

With the revelations about work coming earlier in the week, there is an abundance of time at my mercy, with which I could do any number of things.

Copious amounts of televisions and / or XBox 360 would certainly be entertaining, but could result in a prolonged stay on the couch during non-television hours, if you know what I mean.

There are countless books that I would like to read and a library full of them at my disposal, but seeing as I knocked off four during the vacation (three from James Patterson's Alex Cross series and Chris Jericho's autobiography), I think a break from the books isn't too bad.

Which leaves writing.

Yes, I am going to eschew hours of Food TV and MLB 2K Sports Front Office Manager to spend serious time crafting my masterpiece. In fact, I started while we were away, seeing as things have now come full circle and I am a married man.

We've got most of the housework that needed to be done checked off the list and shifts at the restaurant are spread out neatly to allow for numerous hours of typing madness in the coming weeks.

First up - proposal letters.

Shouldn't take long and could result in someone being willing to pay me to write this thing, which is always better than investing all my time and hard work for the low, low price of SFA.

As always, I'll keep you posted.

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Soundtrack of My Life

Song: La Bamba
Artist: Los Lobos (amongst others)
Album: Numerous

Welcome to the most frequently played song at my wedding party!

Now, I should mention that we had a Dominican trio playing for the night and their song list was limited, but when you get three renditions of La Bamba over a three hour dinner, you have to give the song a shout out.

Especially when they had already said they were done and leaving, only to have Bucky turn and holler "La Bamba" at them in sheer excitement...

Needless to say, they played it one more time.

Note: Wedding party stories aside, I actually do love this song and have watched the Lou Diamond Phillips movie of same name countless times.

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The Picture Says It All

From a work perspective, the picture couldn't be more appropriate.

None of this should surprise me, mind you, since having everything going well in my life is like Ralph Wiggum failing English... unpossible.

Nope, got the family thing down, got the house, got the dog, all that is great.

Work? Work sucks, on all fronts.

Anti-Ski Season has begun in earnest at Kelsey's meaning I have no shifts. Zero. Not a one this week. I had one, but it was on Monday, you know, when I was still in Ontario. Awesome.

Now I knew that spring - slash - summer would mean a decrease in customers and therefore hours, but five hours a week just doesn't cut it. I know they'll be more down the road a couple weeks from now and that's great, but in the meantime, there are some hard pills to swallow.

Like the fact that I was hired as a full-time bartender. I'm basically a casual server right now, so this stings.

Not as much as seeing the mouth-breathers who clearly hate their job getting four shifts a week while I sit by the phone hoping someone comes down with the Swine Flu so I can work a couple extra hours.

What makes it all worse is that The Love of Sports looks like it's coming to an end too.

The paycheck that was promised when I took on the editorial position lasted two months and now we're at another "crossroads" with a directional change impending. That change is to less content and more of a focus on mediocre shit from what I have seen since I came home from the Dominican.

Neither of which are very appealing to me at this stage of my stagnant career.

The only good thing, the one silver lining, is that I will have a load of free time on my hands from the looks of things. Time that can be used to finally get off my ass and get a book proposal written and sent off to every publishing house in the country, as well as some in the nearby States like Montana and Washington.

And as if the day didn't suck enough before, we forgot to take the garbage out when we ran into town to get the mail and Senor Pug Dog destroyed another green garbage bag all over the kitchen.

Super!

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The Rundown: Dominican Delights

Hola!

Back on the scene, married and re-energized to write like a madman after nearly three weeks away from the computer and communicating with the masses through this here blog.

A much longer, much more detailed account of the trip will be coming in the next couple days - and the pictures will be coming to Facebook sometime soon too - but seeing as it's Wednesday, I figured why not recap five of my favorite memories from our travels.

And yes, that is our main pool... so awesome!

Top Five Dominican Moments

5. The Rainstorm
Tuesday afternoon, the clouds were rolling in and the waves were getting higher. Everyone else cleared out of the ocean. Deuce, Bucky, Sarah, Tim, Michelle, Jena and I stayed put and had the best afternoon of the trip. I mean, we're already wet, so what's wrong with a little more rain, right?

4. Jena's Fire Face
When Dominican bartenders light shit on fire, stay away. I should have known better, as fire shots through a straw are never a good idea and they're even worse when they involve 151 Proof rum that tastes like gasoline. I got one taste of the diesel and had the barf reflex activate. Jena, on the other hand, down most of her shot with straw, then picked up the scalding shot glass, put it to her lips and had the last remaining drops of booze ignite all around her face. No injuries makes this story awesome!

3. Negotiating 101 with Lance Doucette
Just plain awesome. Deuce doesn't smoke and can barely keep a cigar lit for longer than two minutes, which makes this all the more entertaining. Nothing like spending an hour smoking a man's products - for free - and trying to rake him over the coals for every last penny when you're already getting what sounds like a pretty good deal.

(Original quoted price: 325 a box. Bucky paid 180 twenty minutes earlier...)

Merchant: Gimme 165.
Deuce: 162... yeah, I'll go there.

Priceless. Turns out the boys got hosed, but still...

2. Starting Out with a Bang!
So the boys got loaded right off the plane. Rules stipulated that a Do Not Disturb sign on the door meant stay out. Too bad neither of them actually put it on the door. Deuce literally crashed at Jena's (about 24 hours after meeting her... awkward...) while Bucky slept by the pool under lounge cushions until about 2 AM when he figured out their room was totally empty. Just plain epic.

1. Seeing Sarah for the First Time on Thursday
You'll see the pictures later and the whole event was awesome, but the image of my wife coming down the stairs looking radiant will forever be etched in my memory.

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iBlog is on Vacation

We're outta here tomorrow and that means that I won't be posting anything for the next couple weeks.

What can I say - there is no way that I am blogging while I'm away on at my wedding and on my honeymoon, so you'll just have to wait until I get back.

Pictures will hit Facebook as soon as I get them on the computer and I'll be sure to tell you all about it in the first post post-wedding.

Have fun fuckers... see you when I'm married!

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