Happy New Year

It's 2004 and boy did we have a busy/hectic/sad/mad/joyful 2003. Anything and everything happen last year. Some highlights:

-The boy came into his own as a 9-10 year old. School, sports, friends. He really 'growed up'. I was very proud of his baseball skills and team-player attitude. He made the Travel Team and did very well all around. I was even more proud when he went from baseball (March-August) straight to Football (August-October). He stayed with the program, hussled and worked-out/practiced 5 days a week and still brought home Straight A's. Then he never missed a beat when we moved. Still brings home good grades, started baseball camp last week, made new friends and is involved in the School TV station and Yearbook. What a good kid.

-The wife had an up and down year. She went from District Manager back to Store Manager and out to pasture. Seems the people with whom she worked with and trained with and impressed these past ten years fell out of favor and anyone associated with them as well. Nothing like being treated like shit because a Regional VP thinks you have great potential then he falls into disfavor. Well she grinned and bore it while looking elsewhere and when we moved to Indy she found it. A bank grabbed her up in a day and she is on her way back up the corporate ladder. They have ' high hopes' for her and she can shine wherever she is.

-Me, I am short one gallbladder, a few pounds lighter, free of union duties/woes and doing well in a new job. The year started like crap, more union troubles, pain in my side and mounting (real and imagined) pressures at work and home. By mid-year it was not any easier...out a month to remove my gallbladder (good bye heartburn;-)), company's pulling same old shit and contract talks starting up. By the end of summer it was unbearable....unhappiness at home (work related), contract talks stalled and getting worse, a feeling of anger/sadness at local union E-Board and a general feeling of "I quit" across the board. Then in October things started to change, I got a job in Indy and had a chance at a "Do Over". Get out of New York, go closer to family, start a fresh new job, get the wife a fresh new job, breath clean air and take a step back.

Since then things have gone well. We sold the house in NY on Christmas Eve, we are looking at more house than we ever thought we could afford in our lifetime. My job is excellent, I don't miss/need a union and have slowed the grey hairs down considerably. My new schedule will be Monday thru Friday 10am-7pm, which is fantastic. The wife loves her new job and is very happy to be out looking for our new home!! When we move out of my parents home I can fell the stress and tension easing to almost no worries.

All in all it's been a rollercoaster year but there is nowhere to look but up in 2004!!! Hope you'all come back to see how it develops!!!

Cheers!