I'm Back (Well, Sort Of)

I'm Mike D and I'm back from the dead
Chillin' at the beach down at Club Med
-Beastie Boys, Paul's Boutique

Ah...yes...where to begin...hmmm...

Over the past month things have been a hodgepodge of ecstatic highs and croquet-mallet-throwing lows. From finding and buying a home we fell in love with, to getting the shit monetarily kicked out of us on the sale of our Minneapolis house at the 11th hour by a crooked "rehabber", it has been a crazy ride.

Indeed.

But, we're here. In Horicon, WI. In our house. With our kids in school, and friendly neighbors, and talks of play dates, and beers out in the back yard without fear of gunshots or muggings, gone are the days of being woken up at the wildest hours of the morning (almost every morning, in fact) by a domestic dispute raging through our windows.

A buddy of mine told me that a kid in my old neighborhood in Minneapolis was shot and killed because the guy pulling the trigger wanted his jersey and shoes to wear to a party he was heading to.

Seriously.

It's quiet here. Lovely. Peaceful. The leaves are already starting to turn colors, and for the first time in years, I actually noticed it happen. Our block is on a quiet one way street, and the view from our front porch is of a beautiful victorian mansion that has been unoccupied (and for sale) for the last 2 1/2 years. They want $300K for it. Who in the hell in Horicon, WI can afford a house at three hundred thousand dollars? No one, that's who.

After not working for almost three months, I also bought me a suit and started pounding the pavement looking for work. I found three jobs that were interesting, interviewed with all of them, got offers from all of them, and ended up taking the one that paid the most. It wasn't just about the money. The guy who is going to be my boss was also a determining factor in my choice. He's cool as hell.

The nice part is that my salary at this job will is going to be $7K/year more than I was making at my job in Minneapolis, and my health insurance costs will be $6K/year less than I was paying out. I'm already up over $13K and I haven't even mentioned the uncapped commission structure.

So, all's well that end's well, I suppose. Even though this is absolutely the begininng , and not the end, of a new chapter in my own personal novel that I'm writing day by day. I start the job on Monday, and am excited to get back to the sales game after being sickened by it after 8 years.

Oh, and I played poker online last night for the first time in ages. I hit up a .02/.05 table on Stars for a half hour and ended the night up about a buck and a half. Not bad considering the first twenty minutes was shaking the rust off and basically giving myself a re-introduction to playing the game.

EDIT: WTF has gone on since I left Minneapolis? Every poker blog I read is talking about shitty writers and the death of the poker blog and how everyone sucks except those that don't...What happened??

I'm right scared, mama, I'm scared. I see that there mob in my mind. The torches, the pitchforks, all that. Oh mama, theyz be coming for me next, I jis knows it.