One thought after Wilma: Is it November 30th yet?

"It's not so funny how we live each day
Wake up go, to work, come home, and replay
We say we love life inside it's untrue
Unless you got dollars aside it's not you"
-- Hush - 24 Hours

Well the Tampa Bay area survived another hurricane. Wilma made landfall quite a ways south of us, yet the question persists: How soon can November 30th get here?

It's really disheartening to work at an insurance company during hurricane season. I missed a good bit of the problems last year because I didn't come into the business until mid-November and by that time the whole season was pretty much over. Now it's just draining, to think that we're finally seeing the light at the end of the tunnel only to have it blackened out by yet another storm. It also forces a bit of reality to the situation as far as what the "big wigs" really feel about the regular employees. I feel you can tell alot about a company by the way that they treat their employees, and making people work during the hurricane at dealership offices when the dealership is closed is NOT COOL. I guess it could be worse, we could have had a direct hit to our area.

Speaking of work, I am quite soon about to be officially more qualified than my immediate supervisor. I took the 2nd skills today which I was told was "really hard," and in my opinion the only hard part about it was having to physically write down the answers. I told my boss had I been able to type the answers out I would have been done in 20 minutes instead of the hour or so it took me. Guess that makes me more qualified should something else pop up, but I also did find it interesting that I'm not qualified to run my own office, yet I'm fully qualified to go help my boss go teach a computer program I've never actually used to a group of adjusters at another claims center. Interesting how things pan out, isn't it? If nothing else, I guess that means I'm closer to getting a job at an easier office with a pay raise, so maybe I can afford the extra gas money. Still on the job hunt but paying the bills in the meantime.

New Blog Same Joe

"I know it's late and I took all year but you can stop complaining 'cuz I'm finally here" --Kanye West - Late

Well I've been planning on making the switch to Blogger from LiveJournal for quite some time, and I figured might as well do it now. At some point I'll have to see if there's a way to import posts from the other journal. Might end up just have to cutting and pasting the entire thing into one giant entry.

Went to my first concert past week. Lindsey took me to go see Kanye West at the Sun Dome for our 6 month anniverary. Kanye's was awesome, but I wish I could say the same about his opening acts, Keyshia Cole, who's only song I recognized was a cover of Mary J. Blige's "I'm Going Down" and Fantasia (yes the American Idol one). Her set was another interesting one, as she covered both "Purple Rain" and "Dream On" by Aerosmith. Thankfully Kanye didn't disappoint, as he was on stage for almost 2 hours due to Common dropping out. He had these cubes with screens on top of them that covered the dj, orchestra, and piano player. Whenever he wanted, they could either be used to display images, or they instanly became see through so you could see the people inside it. Pretty cool stuff.

Aside from that, it's been a pretty normal week, except the fact that I got to see Lindsey every day because she was staying at my place the entire week so her roomate could concentrate on exams. Tonight's the first night that she won't be over here, and I must admit it does feel a little weird.

Can't think of what else to write right now. so I'll close with two funny discussions from the past week.

Lindsey: "I wonder how many times Kanye's gotten with her"
Joe: "Well, she's gotta be doing SOMETHING to stay on the tour! I mean you know you aren't the star when you are opening for FANTASIA"

--Lindsey referring to the "talent" or lack thereof of Keyshia Cole, Kanye's opening act.

Lindsey: "You should go because you're the man and you're supposed to be the provider!"
Joe: "Oh sure, women want equal rights, same jobs, same pay, but when it comes to getting up and going to breakfast I'm supposed to be the provider? What would Susan B. Anthony say?
Lindsey: "I don't know, but Gloria Steinem would laugh her ass off!"

-- Lindsey, setting the women's movement back years, explaining her side of the arguement about who should go get breakfast.