Indiana Road Crews #FAIL in Snow

My complete Cinch Audioblog

Send me your comments. Joe

AJA Press

First Snow and Icy Streets

My complete Cinch Audioblog

Send me your comments. Joe

AJA Press

Working Sundays

For the first time in 15 years in Retail Management, I work for a
company that has adopted a set Management schedule for every store in
the chain. This set schedule has me working 7 of 9 Sundays during the
holiday season, after always having Sundays off.

Sundays for me are family days that begin by taking the family to
church. We then do activities together at home or go to lunch, and
just basically enjoy the day as a family.

Today, I'm at work, wondering which bean counter in corporate who has
never worked a day in a store made this set schedule. My family is
home without me.

Later this week I'll be meeting for the second time with two different
companies about a career change. My motivtion for changing is
increasing.

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Random Holiday Thoughts

Being in Retail Management, this can always be a hectic and stressful
time of year for me. In past years, the job has actually killed my
Christmas spirit. There can be a great deal of chaos, people arguing
over who got to the last widget on the shelf first -- many people are
just rude in general at this time of year to those in the service
industries.

Thankfully I've been away from the core retail business for the past
five years. I work now in a specialty retail market that barely even
extends store hours for the holidays. And with Thanksgiving (my
favorite holiday) behind us and Christmas rapidly approaching, I can
let the joy of the season flow through me.

There is nothing better at Christmas than seeing my kids happy. It
makes up for all of the rudeness and chaos I see at work.

Next time you're shopping, tell a Retailer "Thank You" for being there
for you this Christmas. It just might make their day.

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Audioblog: Winter Driving in Indianapolis

My complete Cinch Audioblog.

Send me your comments. Joe

AJA Press

A Day At The Museum

Today was my first day off work since Thanksgiving, and we decided to
spend it doing something fun and family-oriented. So we took off after
lunch and headed to The Children's Museum of Indianapolis
[http://twitter.com/tcmindy].

My daughter got to see Santa Claus (my son avoided him), ride the
carousel, and slide down the Yule Slide (a la "A Christmas Story"). My
son did and arctic treasure hunt and played in Science Works.

We always have a great time at The Children's Museum, which is why we
became members last spring. Check out some pics of our day at
http://www.facebook.com/averagejoeamerican.

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NaNoWriMo 2009

With only two days left in the month of November, I have crossed the 50,000 word finish line for National Novel Writing Month. My novel, the sequel to my first novel is only approximately half complete at 50,000 words, so it looks like I'll be writing well into December.

I'm very pleased with where the story is going and where my characters are taking it (because I lost control long ago when they quit following my direction around word 264 or so). Stay tuned for updates on the editing and eventual publishing process.

Send me your comments. Joe

AJA Press