Ok, so I haven't updated like I said I would. It's ok, I have a very very very good reason. I'm a fat lazy bastard. See? I told you it was a good reason. Ok, maybe not so good, but it's true. Been pretty busy the past month as well. I'll try to catch y'all up while giving you the best Reader's Digest version I can.

The Wife and I are going to be famous! Well, probably not. A reporter from a magazine here in S. Florida called City Link contacted The Wife a while back because she's doing a piece for the magazine on blogging. She had come across the wife's blog somehow and wanted to interview her about it. The wife also mentioned that I had an online diary (I'm not sure if it's really a blog, more like a bleh) so she came over one day and interviewed us both. Pretty cool. Of course, now everyone who reads City Link and reads my diary will know who I am. So, I'm totally safe. I'm sure a lot of people read City Link and no one reads me so, it's all good. She was cool, though. Just hope we don't come across as total pathetic losers (much).

I'm lovin' the new job. Seriously lovin' it. Yeah, it's hard work and I've been coming home lately with new bruises, cuts and scrapes, but I'm feeling the best I've felt in about 2 years, if not more. I've also lost about 10 lbs. already. Woohoo!! At first I was just doing a lot of "grunt" work but now I get to use the mowers. Heavy equipment! Yay! We were chipping trees and clearing trails. Clearing trails is a bitch. Tree Tops park has about 5 miles of horse trails that wind throughout one side of the park. These are basically just dirt paths that have been cut into the woods for people to ride on. Well, they haven't been cleared for quite a few months so there are trees and such growing over and into the trails. It's my job, along with a crazy guy named Jay (who I'll get into a bit more detail on later), to go in and hack, slash, pull and whack these trees and other overgrowths back into a semblance of a trail. We started off using loppers and machetes. That was going good until Jay whacked himself in the leg with a machete and needed stitches. Well, we started back up on the trails again this week and yesterday, my supervisor, trained me on the chainsaw so now I'm using power tools! I've actually used a chainsaw before, many times, but with Broward County, if your supervisor hasn't "trained" you on a piece of equipment, you've never "used" it. Simple stuff really. So, we've been clear cutting the park into the plains of Kansas. We're making good time, but it's a never ending task. Still, I'm loving it. The weather's been great too. If only I could have a bit better working companion.

Jay is a good guy, don't get me wrong. He works as hard as any 2 or 3 people at that park, but that's also his problem. Jay has ADHD and is pretty hyperactive. He's one of those guys who talks really fast and then giggles after almost every sentence so that after 2 minutes of conversation, you're thinking, "This guy's crazy." Which he is, sort of. His main problem is that he tries to work too fast. That's how he ended up cutting his leg while we were working. He gets going and caution and safety kind of fly right out the window. He's not really unsafe or anything, not to other workers, just to himself sometimes. But he gets stuff done. And talk? Does he ever talk. It's almost like, if something is not said every 30 seconds, all of the air will be sucked off of the planet or something. And he will talk about the same thing over and over and over and over. Repeating stuff like 10 times, every time talking like it's the first time he's told it to you. And you have to work to keep up with him. You'll start a conversation with him and then get sidetracked onto a different topic. Then, 2 hours later, he'll just, out of the blue, pick right up where he left off originally and go from there. There have been lots of times where he'll start talking about something and I'll be thinking "What in the fuck is he on about?", then it will hit me, it's a conversation we had 2 hours ago before lunch. The fuckin' guy even eats fast. It's almost like everything is a race to him. He still lives with his mom, guess he can't really be on his own or something might happen. But he is a really nice guy and he is good to work with. He definitely keeps you from being lazy.

On the home front, things have stabilized...sort of. As you know, in December we were really late paying the rent, but we got it paid. Then the same thing happened in January. In February, we thought we were through. I even told the landlord that we couldn't pay rent because we didn't have the money. Well, he started the eviction process. Then, the next day, we find out that we do have the money for rent and we try to pay him. Well, since we said we didn't have it and he went to the lawyer and started the eviction, he wouldn't take it. The Wife talked to him though, and he came over one evening and took the check. He also, however, wrote up a "receipt" stating that he had received the rent and that we were going to pay March's rent by the March first (this is like on the 25th of Feb.) and that if he didn't have it in his office by March 4, he would continue with the eviction. Great, another scramble for money. Well, needless to say, we got the money together and paid him so we're good for another month. We told him that we'd like to be out by the end of March, but if we can't find a place to rent that's cheaper or can't get financing for the mobile home we want, we're still up shit creek. This time, we'll have a paddle, maybe. So, for the first half of this month, we're going to be scrambling to try and either get financing for the mobile home (which is looking rather grim) while also looking for a place to rent (which is also looking grim). I just wish this would end soon.

Not really much else to say for now. I will try to update a bit more often, more than likely with stories from work, since that's what I'll be doing most of the time. I'm sure most of you are getting tired of hearing about all the rent problems and shit. Hell, I'm getting tired of talking about it! Anyway, WAKE UP! I'm done updating so you can stop feigning interest. I'll try to catch you on the other side. Till then, take care, cubbies.

Da 'Bear

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