Every Labor Day weekend my dad and stepmom invite a bunch of friends and relatives to their cabin in Caseville, MI. It’s always a fun and relaxing time, mostly spent sitting around, catching up with everyone. My stepmom’s old high school friend was able to come up from Tennessee, and my dad’s old high school buddy also stopped by. We hadn’t seen him in at least 5 or 6 years. I thought it was kind of neat that my dad and stepmom both had their best friends from school around at the same time.

I don’t know if it’s because I’m getting older, but I really appreciate being able to spend time with friends and family. It wasn’t too long ago that I’d almost dread catching up with others, but only because I didn’t want to talk about myself. I hated explaining that I was still looking for a job. I could only say that so many times before it got old and repetitive, and it seemed to be such a downer of a conversation. It was nice this time to be able to tell everyone about my new job when they’d ask how things were going.

Well, it was a great weekend. I just wish this was the beginning of the summer, not the end. Oh well, I can always look forward to next year’s Labor Day weekend!

I’ve been noticing a lot lately that since the gas prices are so high, most people are driving slower on the expressway. I never thought most people would change their driving habits because of the prices. But it looks like they are, at least where I live. I wonder if it’s the same in higher traffic areas near big cities.

Well, I have to say that I’ve personally been driving slower too, right around the speed limit instead of at least a few over. With a couple of exceptions, I haven’t really seen many people zooming by me. I’m just glad that I still have my car and didn’t get a truck like I was thinking about awhile back.

This weekend is the annual Old-Fashioned Days in my hometown of Millington. It’s a fun time, especially since there’s usually not much to do in the small town. I’m looking forward to going to the beer tents and catching up with friends. There is a parade this evening that I might go see, depending on if it’s still looking rainy. I’m looking forward to some fun… it should be a great weekend!

Just like Mo said: “Good things are bound to happen…”

I just got accepted for a new job at a telecommunications comapny in Saginaw. I’m excited… I’ve been waiting for this opportunity for a long time, and now it’s here! Things finally seem to be working out. I credit this all to my faith in God. He seems to be helping everything fall into place for me right now.

After the long job hunt, I have to say it just takes patience and diligence.

I recently renewed my membership to ACM SIGGRAPH to find out that their quarterly newsletter Computer Graphics will no longer be offered in print form. Instead, they will offer the content on the SIGGRAPH website. They say offering the content on the website will make the information available more efficiently and timely, since they don’t need to wait for the quarterly issue to be published. Also, they won’t have to worry about printing costs, so I’m hoping they’ll be able to offer additional content on the web.

All in all, I’m really going to miss getting a hold of a copy in the mail.

This week is called “Hell Week” at my new job, because it is the busiest week of the year. We have TONS of things to do for the Buick Open. Yesterday I put in a 13.5 hour day and today I just got done working over 15 hours. I didn’t realize it was going to be this crazy! It looks like the rest of the week is going to be about the same, and we’ll probably be working Saturday and possibly Sunday. I don’t get paid a lot but at least I’ll have a lot of overtime. I’ll just be glad when it’s over!

I recently got a job with the company that makes the signs for the Buick Open. There’s a lot of work to be done the next few weeks, setting everything up and cleaning up after it’s over. I’m kind of a temporary employee since it’s their busiest time of the year. If it stays busy enough after the Buick Open, I’ll be able to keep working for them.

It’s nice to be working somewhat in the design field. Even if it only turns out to be temporary work, I’ll get some good experience. We’ll see what happens!