Twas some days before Christmas and all through the house, not a creature was stirring except for the dudeon his laptop.

Doesn't rhyme, but I don't care. I'm sitting here in our new living room lit up tree in front of me and a fireplace full of stockings to my right (picture coming soon). Now this in and of itself is a nice feeling but having my laptop and posting here while doing it makes the feeling cooler ;-). But anyhoo...

Christmas is is coming and we've been doing all the usual: making cookies, listening to Christmas music (even while I'm at work :-D), buying gifts, etc. I'd say that we're pretty much ready. The only bad thing is that Dad found the key to the freezer and I must go cookieless until Christmas Eve :-(.

Things in layaway have slowed down considerably. Thursday and Friday were a nightmare but since I couold count on my hands and toes how many people have come through to get stuff. Sunday night I began learning the how to operate the register and I'm pretty sure I don't want to do that (for reasons I don't want to go into again :-P). On Monday I'll be discussing my future at Wal-Mart with a manager and depending on if there's any other spots open or not I'll either be a cashier or a cart pusher. If I could do cashiering back in electronics I'd probably leap on it, otherwise I'll probably push carts (unless overnight socker is available). But anyways, it looks like I'm not even going to get laid off before coming back (I must have made a good impression).

But now I must go and make another attempt at finding the freezer key (or something :-P). Merry Christmas :-D

Ah.... I sit in the living room in a nice comfy chair as I write this. Yes.. I got my laptop out this morning. I stayed up all night to do it, but I did it and DANGif it isn't a darn nice feeling :-). I've got a bunch of junk I'm going to need to uninstall (currently there are 14 icons down on the system tray :-P). But at least I've got a processor/RAM combo that can handle a bunch of stuff :-D.

This is a bittersweet feeling, though, because today is the day that all Christmas layaway's are due out. It's probably going to be a hellacious afternoon/evening but at least I'll have something nice to come to tonight :-). That said, though, it may not be so bad because we've got an orderly system in place. From what I understand I'll come in, pick up a car with somebody's layaway, get it and bring it in. That is a far cry from going to to get 5+ layaway's at a time :-P.

But, now I must fiddle with junk. BABEE! :-D

Yeah, that's right. It isn't in my nature to swear, but I hate cart pushing. The last two nights layaway has been dead enough that they've sent me out to push carts in the parking lot. I pushed carts in freezing weather for one and a half hours without a hat or gloves on Sunday and for an hour yesterday. Luckily I was smart enough to bring the hat and gloves then. I tell you though, if Wal-Mart calls me back in January and says they want me to be a cart pusher I will turn it down. There is no way in heck I would do that as my main job. There, now it's out :-P.

On the upside I've got only $380 to go on my laptop. I'll get it out one week from Thursday. It seems like an eternity away, though. But, I've been waiting years I think I can wait one more week. I think...

Yes, it is I, insane Matt posting inane items on eBay! For those of you who don't know I am the creator of such infamous items as the "Common Cold" and the "Darth Vader Pancake". However, this eBay auction is a little more sane... just a little. At the very least I'm selling more or less a legitimate item... an e-mail address. That's right, loz.twilight.princess@gmail.com (yes, I actually managed to snag that address). I'm hoping there are plenty of Zelda fans out there who'd like this address and after an Xbox 360 gmail addy went for $570 how can I lose. It'll only be a quarter if I do :-P. But, anyways...

Thursday is pay day again. I've made up a spreadsheet to keep track of my hours and take out all the proper taxes and according to that this paycheck will be about $316.60 (54 hours worked). I've also calculated my current schedule through to the 15th and I'll have just enough to pull out my laptop! YAY! :-D

Later :-)

Because I work at Wal-Mart now I get to witness all sorts of interesting things: people putting peanuts (yes, the food) on layaway, burly guys throwing canning jars all over the place, etc. etc. But yesterday was probably the most interesting, if not incredibly stupid, thing I've seen yet: people waiting hours and hours to get their hands on a freakin' game system. Not only that but they would pull pillows and blankets off the shelves to lay on... and then we gave them free soda and cookies! But anyways, I was also able to see the supply before just about anybody else in the store (working so near the security cage ihas it's nice points ;-)).

Ah, but anyways. I did get my paycheck on Thursday. Because it only counted towards a week and a half it was $190 as opposed to the post-$200 figures I was figuring. But now I'm going to be working close to 35-39 hours a week so that number should be close to doubling by next payday.

I also got my extra 10% Christmas discount with that paycheck. Stinky thing is it had to be used before December 4th. So I went ahead and stuffed my laptop on layaway. It has to be out by the 15th (though I may be able to get that changed) but I think that since I'm working the longer hours I will be able to pay the thing off and maybe even have a little extra left.

Well, I guess I should wrap this up. I hope everybody out there has a good Thanksgiving! :-D