I'll actually be excited to go to work this morning. I'll be putting the finishing touches on a very unique project today at the factory which means I'll also finally get to use that new carbide end mill that I've been wanting to test out. It should be pretty nice to use. Speaking of work, there are a lot of changes going on there. Two of my favorite co-workers are actually moving overseas. I was taken completely by surprise. They are two of the most loyal employees and I figured they would be here for at least another five to ten years. I have to admit that when they were talking about leaving I was somewhat jealous! I have been wanting to find some type of living and working arrangement overseas for the longest time! Maybe if they establish themselves over there in some type of similar job that could be a potential connection for me. Anyways, it just put all sorts of ideas in my head now! I told them they should definitely keep in touch with me while they're gone because I'm really curious to hear what their experience will be like. They said they would, so we'll see! Something might come out of it!

Before jumping in with both feet and filing for bankruptcy too hastily I decided to have a talk with my neighbor.  Bankruptcy isn’t his area of expertise, but he is a pretty successful personal injury attorney.  I wasn’t too sure how much he’d be able to help me, but he assured me that he was very well versed in all Detroit bankruptcy laws.  He came over to my house, sat down with my wife and I and went over all of our financial paperwork – all the bills, all the letters from our creditors and all of our tax information, then he explained what type of bankruptcy would be the most likely to help us if we decided to file and what we could expect from the filing process.  He also gave us some other suggestions to ponder that may help us avoid having to file for bankruptcy and get us into a position where we could begin to repair our damaged credit scores without having to suffer the black mark of bankruptcy for the foreseeable future.  Unfortunately, as an employee of a personal injury law firm, he wouldn’t be able to represent us in our bankruptcy if we were forced to file, but he did say he would certainly make some recommendations if it came to that.

Last summer I was a jump skip and a hop from being completely broke and ending up back home. I tried going back to school but it did not work out so well for me financially, I pretty much almost ended up filing Daytona Chapter 7 because I got myself neck deep in debt. I ended up staying with my sister for about five months and then finding my own run down place. I feel like I am starting all over again. Like I peaked when I was living in Naperville after college and now it is back to horrible apartments and barely making it from check to check, working two or three jobs and getting no sleep along the way. All of this while trying to chase a dream. I really want to find something stable but I cannot see myself giving up on my dream just yet. I feel like I have worked to hard and have been disappointed to many times to just throw in the towel now. It is like after all that, I want it to be worth something. I do not want to be defeated. I just think I would feel like a failure if I gave up.

It’s too bad they didn’t have this FDCPA back in the thirties, when we were poor as a church mouse and living in West Virginia in the mountains.  I was just reminiscing with Millie Tatum about this the other afternoon.  She made me some of that delicious iced tea and brought out some honey biscuits.   Those coal miners weren’t letting us get any of the benefits of our pay.  My husband contracted black lung disease and died still working for them.  After he passed away, I couldn’t even afford to stay in that little house in Appletown anymore.  I had to go and move in with my Aunt Berla, and she was even poorer than we had been.  Sometimes we couldn’t even find enough money to pay for ice, gas, and water.  Then we would just starve or eat out of cans and boxes.  It was horrible!  Millie was telling me about her neighbor, who just got under this protection law because he was behind on his car insurance payments.  He kept getting letters that were threatening him, I guess with imprisonment and getting his license taken away from him if he didn’t pay, and they were sent from some corporation he’d never even heard of, speaking on behalf of the insurance place.  All we had back in those days were the unions, but they couldn’t save my husband or get us a better living situation.

I just got back from Mexico City! I have been so eager to share all my photographs from the trip that I almost did something stupid. Thanks to the online backup my friend told me to do I was able to retrieve everything. It started with me not being too familiar with this digital camera in the first place. Everyone knows what a novice I am at operating these things and this is my first digital camera. Anyways, when I sat down to plug in the cord and connect it from the camera to the computer in order to upload the pictures  I somehow managed to delete all the photographs in the process of trying to transfer them! I almost cried. There were the photographs of Frida Kahlo's art and the Diego Rivera murals and the photographs of my best friend and I climbing the Sun and Moon pyramids. I kept talking about how I was going to climb those and just about everyone knows I'm afraid of heights. Without the photographs nobody would've even believed I got to do all this stuff. Then I remembered I didn't have to worry because even though it looked like the images were all wiped out there was a way to get them back. I'm relieved! I was able to get everything back without any problem.

Last year, I got my father golf lessons, which he never used and those were really expensive golf lessons too.  The year before that I got him this authentic Irish walking cane that he never used, not even on Saint Patrick’s Day when he marched in the Saint Patrick’s Day Parade.   And, of course, throughout my childhood, I got him a number of ties, shirts, and mugs that he never actually used.  He always says he’s using to use or wear all these things I buy him for Christmas and his birthday, but he never does.  My father is the classic example of the person who says that he doesn’t want anything when he ask him what he wants for Christmas or his birthday.  And you know you still have to get him something because it’s Christmas or his birthday.  You don’t have a choice and he knows and he doesn’t make it any easier on you.  I know that it’s supposed to be the thought that counts, but you really do want to get the person, especially your father, something he’ll like or at least use every once in a while.  I’ve even explained all this to my father and he still says he’d get nothing than put people out. 

Last year, I went on vacation to Ireland and stayed with my Aunt Mary who lives in the city of Limerick.  While there, I met a half-sister of my mother and aunt’s who lived in the small town of Wexford, which is close to the city of Waterford where they make all those crystals.  She was a likely candidate for some Chicago laser skin resurfacing.  What is Chicago laser skin resurfacing, you ask?  It’s also called a laser peel and there’s this top flight clinic in Chicago that does it.  It involves using a laser to iron out all those wrinkles and repair a lot of facial damage to get you looking all pretty again.  And, yeah, my Aunt Anne needs it rather badly.  Her face sagged and sagged.  It looked like a plastic bag had been taped to her face.  And she is married and has 4 children so I guess she found a man who lover her for her.  Not that I didn’t love the woman.  She was actually quite wonderful.  She took us all to this small bar that was around 100 hundred years old and led everyone there in singing one old Irish drinking song after another like “The Wild Rover” and “Whiskey In A Jar.”  She even made me stand up as everyone sang the Irish national anthem. 

What kind of game is he playing at? If anyone asks, that is not my father. Just last week my entire family went to Australia for vacation. It was in the dead of winter in Minnesota, and when we arrived home all of our pipes were frozen and some were busted. My father, being the calm person he is, decided to put on a smile for all of us so that we wouldn’t freak out that we had NO WATER! Not only he put on a smile, he even dressed up in chef clothes to make us all laugh! Don’t ask. That’s just his kind of humor that is totally not humorous at all. What can I say, it didn’t make me laugh, but sadly everyone else did. His outfit was a white coat and hat, which made me wonder how he worked with all the pipes and tearing up the ceiling in such clean clothes. With the whole no water situation, I think the worst part of it all was not being able to take a shower. My family even went to the extent of washing their hair in the sink. We must’ve used no less than fifty gallons of water in only three days. Crazy!

The effects of bancarrota were devastating.  Having to do this was the last thing we expected.  Last year at this time we were doing quite well.  Business receipts were way up and we had managed to pay down quite a bit of personal and business debt.  Things were looking the best they have looked in about 10 years.  Then I got too cocky and agreed to go into production for a large German corporation.  This opportunity came to me through my contact in Italy, whom we have worked with for many years.  I made the mistake of not vetting this company myself.  I took my friend's word for it, and it proved to be a disaster.  It didn't start that way though.  Everything was going well in the beginning.  I flew to Frankfurt to meet with the German contacts.  They were fairly straightforward in what they needed, and they produced financial statements and it all seemed quite above board.  When I came back I went to the bank with the order and told them I needed to ramp up production.  The bank looked at the orders and thought that I had a sure thing too.  They agreed that they would take a look at the German company too.

Every year my dad goes to Las Vegas with like eight or nine of his best friends from high school and college.  They still all pretty much act like they are in college, so putting them in the setting of Las Vegas is really just a recipe for chaos.  Every time my dad leaves, my mom tells me that she is afraid he is going to lose all of our money and that we will have to declare for bankruptcy.  Usually my dad will not even tell her how much money he has won or lost, but amazingly enough, he usually does win.  Him and his best friend love to shoot craps, and they throw a ton of money around.  It is the kind of game that a person can win or lose a lot of money very quickly.  My dad’s other game is blackjack.  When I was in Las Vegas with my dad for my twenty-first birthday, we played blackjack until all hours of the night.  This year they decided to go to Las Vegas for Super Bowl weekend.  There was also a UFC fight at the Mandalay Bay on Saturday night that they all decided to go to.