Happy Halloween to everyone out there! I won’t be participating in any festivities this year because I work both jobs tonight. Nine to 6pm at job No. 1, 8pm to 11:30pm for job No. 2. Halloween will forever remind me of the kick arse time my brothers, Wes and I had in 2002 when we took first place at a Seattle nightclub costume contest. Oh yah, you can read about that night by clicking here.

I won’t be able to take Lukas trick-or-treating. I’ve missed his real birthday and now Halloween. Am I a failing father?

If you have been catching up on my posts you know that Wednesday night was a very frustrating work night for me. I was able to bounce back on Thursday watching a great five-game volleyball match that featured the state’s top player and one of the top players in the nation, Monroe’s Kylin Munoz. You can check out my article here.

It’s that rare occasion watching high school sports where you see a player come around that’s really special. Munoz is that type of player. She’s going to play at Brigham Young on scholarship. She’s 6-foot-1 and leaps high above the rest of the players. Her kills are powerful (she broke her own school-record last night with 48) and she also plays solid defense (13 digs). It was a pleasure watching her and it was one of the few times in my five years of covering HS sports that I walked away thinking I watched someone special.

The new job has been slow, which allows me a lot of downtime to write in my blog but also spend time doing nothing on the internet. That can get you in trouble and waste a lot of your time. I check my email about 200 times a day, I’ve probably got the cleanest junk mailbox in the country. The downtime also makes me think about other things.

I don’t know if I like insurance. I’ve always wanted to be a teacher. I’m know looking into going back to school, getting my AA degree then looking at a degree in teaching, or journalism. Both make nothing but both would make me feel like I’m doing something I enjoy. I’ve taken about six years off of school. I think I’m finally ready to get back to school and believe I’ll actually do well when I’m there.

Just an hour until work is out. Then what? I’ve got 2-1/2 hours in between jobs to get something to eat and find a yellow notepad for my football notes.

Have a safe rest of the day!

We don’t get much publicity, us lowly part-time sports clerks. The guys that get paid just a tad over minimum wage, answering phone calls from coaches before earning our stripes and actually getting an opportunity to cover an actual sports event.

You read articles from the full-time writers. They even have their own blogs, but what about us? Don’t you want to hear from us? Don’t you want to hear about the fun times we have covering games? Good! That’s why I’m going to share with you.

Last night, for instance, was one of those tough times. I was scheduled to cover a volleyball game that was scheduled to start at 7pm. The game began at 8pm due to the pre-game Senior Night festivities. The four-game match finished at 9:30pm, allowing me little time for interviews before I had to start writing my 18-inch (540-word) story by my 10:15pm deadline.

I was able to nail down the interviews and began the trek to my car by 9:50am, allowing me 25 minutes to write my story. After a short drive to an Albertson’s parking lot I turned on my laptop, jumped in the passenger seat (more room) and began writing my article.

The lights in my car lit up the notes I had taken. They’d go out and then I’d have to turn them back on, all the while hoping my car battery wouldn’t go dead. I finished my story by 10:15pm, and that’s when the fun begins.

Where do I send my story? I have wireless on my computer but I have to steal a connection from somewhere. I thought about heading towards Snohomish, about a 10-minute drive away, to sit in the library parking lot hoping to pick up their connection.

I began my drive, all the while refreshing my wireless connection hoping I’d steal some connection and all the while swerving in and out of my lane paying more attention to my passenger – my laptop – than the road ahead.

No luck!

I ended up at the library around 10:40pm. Past deadline but still ahead of the 11:15pm deadline the guys at the office have for sending out the paper. I couldn’t get a connection. I restarted my computer, the battery power slowly dying. When it restarted I walked up to the door of the library again praying for a connection. Nothing! I was running out of time so I decided to jump back in the car and head towards Mickey D’s. They usually have WiFi.

Not at this location!

I picked up a signal from Jack in the Box and darted over to their parking lot. I was able to connect, however, to get the connection I needed the free access code located on the TV screen inside the LOCKED doors of the restaurant! Time check: 10:52pm.

I made one last executive decision. I called my parent’s, who live about 10 minutes away in Monroe, and told them to unlock the doors I was busting through.

I broke the speed limit as I darted toward Monroe, thinking to myself, is it worth the time and money ($9.89 an hour) for the stress and non-family time? My computer lied dead in the passenger’s seat.

I arrived at my parent’s house, snagged the computer and my power strip and headed into the house. After a slow boot-up, I finally sent my story. Final time: 11:09pm or nearly an hour after deadline, though it was 45 minutes just driving around trying to find a signal.

I wrote an email to the powers to be apologizing and then telling them about my frustration. I’m expected to write a decent article, proofread and check for spelling but really I spend most of my post-game time trying to find somewhere to send my story.

This has happened in the past. The dart across the parking lot, sweating after not getting a connection, having to drive into the office at 10:45pm to try and meet the 11:15pm deadline.

Then there are times when I have to walk my laptop up to the library’s door, a darkened parking lot as my backdrop, to send my story in the middle of the night.

It’s fun to listen to these stories from the other clerks, and after it’s all said and done we laugh at how we have to do things. I wonder how they did it in the old times. I have more stories to share but I thought I would wait and share them later. For now, enjoy! I have to do it all over again tonight and tomorrow!

Oh to read my article click here.

It’s Friday! And I don’t have to work the newspaper job tonight! I love Friday’s even more when I don’t have to work a Friday night. I do have to work tomorrow evening 4:30-11:30pm after switching with a co-worker of mine that I owed a switcharoo. That part bites because I’ll be away from my family for the sixth straight day but I’ll get to enjoy the daytime with them and get to attend my final game as coach of the Crickets!

Sunday we’ve got church and then a pumpkin carving party at one of our church member’s house. Should be a good time!

Not much is going on in the Johnson household. I had my first evening with just the kids last night. I think I did alright. Lis went shopping and I was alone for three hours with them. I feed Lia with the 3 oz. of milk Lis left me, however, it wasn’t enough and Lia was fussy off and on for most of the night. I think she was confused when I first began to feed her. She started sucking on the bottle, her first time, then looked up at me confused as if to say, “This is an odd texture and why are you staring down at me while I’m getting my milk?” Lukas was good and helped me. I put him to bed at 8:30pm and he didn’t bother getting up after that.

Lukas got a bike for his birthday and rumor has it that he’s riding it well. I’m going to have to check on that this weekend. He has training wheels but at least he’s riding. He never got used to the tricycle so it’s nice to hear that he likes the bike. Thanks Ma and Pa!

In other news…

You all know I’m a baseball fan and this year I’ve enjoyed watching the Tampa Bay Rays run through the postseason. Currently they’re in the World Series against the Philadelphia Phillies. I’m picking the Rays in six. I’m a fan of Evan Longoria, mostly because his name is almost identical to Eva Longoria, and declared my likeness for him before the season began when I told my I-don’t-care-that-much-about-sports wife that he’d be my new favorite player. I drafted him in both my baseball leagues and stuck onto him has he suffered through a month in the minor leagues. He came up in May, made the All-Star team in July and should win the American League Rookie of the Year, once the Series ends. If you’re not familiar with the Rays story, they’ve been the laughable losers their first 10 years of existence when they were known as the Devil Rays. Last season they lost 96 games. This year they won 97. Sweet story for us baseball-loving fans that were tired of seeing the Red Sox and Yankees in the postseason. Plus, it gives me hope for my two favorite teams, the San Diego Padres (1984 & 1998 World Series losers) and Seattle Mariners (NEVER BEEN KISSED!).

Below: Eva (left) is not related to Evan (right) Longoria.

This whole political thing is driving me crazy. I can’t believe the election is just a little more than a week away. I’m not a big political person. I don’t know a lot about a lot, just a little about little stuff. I’ve been trying to follow it the best I can and since I have an hour drive in the morning I’ve been listening to some of the talking heads on the radio. I started off liking Obama, which seems to be everyone’s favorite pick. Then I began to read more into what he believes and realize that I’m not sure if I want him to be my pick. Plus, if any of you have read the Christian book series, “Left Behind”, you’ll notice some ironic similarities between Barack Obama and the character Nicolae Carpathia. I thought about this midway through this year but never said anything because people would think I’m crazy. Then yesterday I decided to Google the two names and was surprised many others thought the same crazy idea. This is NOT why I’m NOT going to vote for Obama. I think he speaks well, I think he brings a lot of interest to politics and voters and I think it’s neat to have a younger person in the office. However, I’m not going to jump on the bandwagon. I’ve voted Republican in the last two elections – yes, blame ME! – and tend to sway more to the Republican side of things when it comes to certain issues. So I’ll endorse John McCain. Plus, Sarah Palin is HOT! Hehe!

I guess I’ll leave it at that. Should be fun as we enter the stretch run. I may have to work on Election Night but it’d be fun to sit around and watch it with some people, I don’t care what side they’re on. Last time Randy voted for Kerry and I voted for Bush. We rooted for our ‘teams’ and my Dad voiced his loud opinion before Randy and I had to tell him to be quiet because he didn’t even vote. Since Randy’s not here I’ll have to find someone else to party with.

For updated photos click here: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=43831&l=8d2f7&id=508473921

Yesterday was my first full day at my new job. It had been five years since I last started a new job and here I was starting at the bottom of the totem pole all over again. It felt different being the new guy. For the past 4-1/2 years I was da man. And now…now I’m the guy that everybody thinks doesn’t know how to do things. And for the most part I don’t know how to do anything. It’s the same type of business – insurance – but it’s a new office with new companies and new procedures to learn.

Then there’s the commuting. I actually don’t mind the commuting, but like I told everyone else, ask me in a month. In the morning it takes about 45 minutes to an hour but I get to listen to sports talk radio. Last night it took me the same amount of time, and that was in the wind and rain, and I got to listen to Monday Night Football (thank you Braylon Edwards and Plaxico Burress for the fantasy football win).

The office seems relaxed. There are a few young folks in the office. Everyone has a role, someone takes payments, someone does endorsements and me and another guy do the writing of the policies. It’s a contrast from the old office where I did all of that and still got lambasted when I didn’t sell enough policies.

I’m sure I’ll settle in shortly. I’m not overly shy so I’ve slowly begun to nose myself into everyone else’s business.

I had issues the night before I went to work. I had dreams that I started going to work but forgot my car, so I had to go back and get it, deciding it was best if I stopped walking to work and instead went and got the car. Then I had dreams where I didn’t know what I was going to wear and grabbed some brown wool pants that were really uncomfortable (and I don’t own) but then forgot a belt. Then I dreamt that I was really late. Argh! I woke up at 6:15am that morning thinking I was going to be late. My chest pounding before I realized, 10 minutes into my shower that I was way ahead of schedule!

It’s now Wednesday and I’m finally completing this entry. Work is good thus far. The first two days I was way early so today I left at 8am and got here right on time. I like that. It gives me an extra 30 minutes to sleep. Especially since I got home around midnight from the newspaper job. That may kill me!

For more pics click here: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=42831&l=1eb63&id=508473921