Well it happened today; my dad was laid off "temporarily". His boss believes the union won't resort to a strike, but their contract is up in a few days, so it will no doubt take some time to hammer out a new one, and then the whole membership has to vote on it, and then if that happens as quickly as it can, it will no doubt take at least two more weeks for work to start coming in again. So if everything goes as smoothly as it possibly can, we're looking at a month before my dad will even start getting paychecks again.

I took my brothers and sister out to the mall today primarily to pick up a graduation gift for my brother (he hung out in some other store while we were at FYE looking for whatever he was hinting to us we should get him). We got him two things--a Force FX Lightsaber (Yoda's), and an iHome stereo. He knows about the lightsaber (that's what he was trying to get us to find), but the iHome will be the surprise one for later.

On our way out, we stopped in Hallmark to get a card for our parents. It was one of those "encouragement" or "lean-on-me" cards that looked nice, and we put together a sappy little message inside. It's been hard for them to go through this cycle seemingly every year, and we just wanted to remind them that it's not their fault and that they've been really great through all of it. But a nice card from Hallmark isn't a steady paycheck, so the uneasiness will go on.

My dad actually put out a résumé today and got a response from someone...saying that they read it. We're crossing our fingers, but we can never be too hopeful.

Short blog (by my standards) today. Maybe next time I'll start my official NFL predictions once all the training camps get under way. Until then....

Perhaps you'd like my job. You can make $8.25/hr working as a part-time cashier/bottle clerk/janitor at the local supermarket. You can work an average of only 20 hrs. a week, but still work 5 days. I'm sure that would be MUCH better than your suckass job at Verizon....

Or better yet, take my dad's job....or should I say, what may soon be no longer my dad's job.

Don't get me wrong, I understand that unions are necessary at times, and if we didn't have them, we probably wouldn't have close to any worker's benefits that we do now. But we all know the old saying: too much of a good thing....You may remember the writers' strike earlier this year, which forced countless shows to revert to reruns or suspend programming altogether as the writers walked outside in picket lines. What did or didn't get publicized enough was that people in other professions were losing work too. I'm not talking about the producers or anyone directly involved in the strike (strikers or strike-ees, if you will). I'm talking about actors, animators, directors, audio or camera crew, or any other group involved in making TV episodes. What do you think it was like for those people knowing that they were out of work because the writers felt they were getting jipped? Contrary to popular belief, not everyone in Tinseltown has big mansions and pools filled with money. The strike didn't last very long--or at least not as long as feared--but what if it did? What would have happened to the people who make an average salary working in the TV business?

The reason I'm ranting about unions is because the contract Verizon has with some of its workers (couldn't tell you specfically who; I don't know that much yet) is going to expire in the coming days. And the union representing these workers is threatening to stop work and sign no new contract once the current one becomes null and void. Problem is, my dad works for a company that works with Verizon and receives work from them. He's actually only been on board since late last year around October, but I'll talk more about that later. My dad is practically betting on getting laid off soon since Verizon has virtually stopped sending work to his company in preparation for the strike, and he knew two people that got laid off today. But this wouldn't be a first.

My dad was laid off from a great job in telecommunications 5 days before 9/11 (he was supposed to be meeting in the area of the WTC that morning, so maybe it was a blessing in disguise). I was in 7th grade at the time, so a lot of the transition is still a little blurry for me. I know my dad worked for several companies (4 full-time jobs come to mind) between that one before 9/11 and the one he has now. He was eventually laid off from each one for one reason or another. During some stints, when the money from that job wasn't enough, he'd get a part-time job working a late night shift at the cornerstore, and one of his full-time jobs was down on Long Island, where my uncle (his brother-in-law) offered him a job in his pavement company selling driveways. Right now, my dad's got a part-time job at JCPenney's in the shoe department, but he actually enjoys that. Unfortunately, that alone can't sustain a family, so he's already looking for a new job so we don't have to feel too much of a pinch. My mom also works at the school as a teaching assistant (she's doing summer school now) in classes for troubled kids (behavior, learning-disabled, and the like). I've offered some of my paychecks, because I have more money than I know what to do with (OK, not that much, but I save most of the money I make), but no father would ever take money from his children, unless of course they have no pride.

Are we poor? Absolutely not. Have we had it tough? No way. My parents have done a pretty good job of keeping the realities of all of it from affecting us, and me (and now my brother) will be at college next year, leaving just my other brother and sister that need day-to-day care, so it's not like I'll be seeing much from this, unless it really gets ugly. We're not poor, but it's not like we've had it easy these past few years, and with the uncertain economy, few people have.

Speaking of the sucky economy and pathetic job security in telecommunications, the Verizon workers are going on strike.

So what else to talk about? Oh yeah.......the Giants TRADED Shockey?! WTF?! I never thought this would actually happen, but GM Jerry Reese finally gave in and sent Shockey to New Orleans for a 2009 2nd and 5th round draft choices. Yeah there are positives, like getting rid of a guy who has yet to play a full season in the NFL in 6 seasons, removing a potential locker room distraction, and getting trade value for him while we still could, but you can't overlook what Shockey brought to the table, and too many people are doing that. Never mind the fact that he went to the Pro Bowl four times and consistently drew attention from defenses (and away from guys like Plaxico Burress), but he's one of the best blocking TE's in the league, and was a big reason why the Giants had such a great rushing attack. He was a fiery player and brought sparks to our offense when it needed them. Who's to say he wouldn't have tamed any after getting back with his teammates at training camp? We'll never know now. But one thing I do know: Roy Williams of the Cowboys is probably the happiest son of a b!tch in the NFL right now .

I thought I had more to talk about, but I lost my train of thought somewhere (I do that a lot in the middle of these). That's all for now. See you when I see you.

I just saw an article on AOL that claimed that McCain leads in polls based on pet ownership (those who own pets apparently seem to favor McCain). So you're telling me that not only did AP-Yahoo News pollsters actually run a poll for this, but they're even analyzing data like this. They're creating a voting bloc of pet owners. What's next? Those who use Microsoft prefer Obama, while McCain nets all the Apple fans? Will they go so far as to claim that people who like squares tend to vote for McCain, while Obama is popular with circle-lovers? Are these pollsters suggesting that the candidates must now consider how to court tall people if polls show they are liked more by short people? But I shouldn't be so eager to accuse the media of getting excited with any election headline; we all know what happens in the press during an election year.

So how's my summer been up to this point? Well, except for a few moments, it's been really boring, monotonous, and me having a few regrets . But why should my summer break be anything different; it is, after all, what I myself make of it. I'm definitely one of those people who overthinks or overanalyzes EVERYTHING and spends more time daydreaming and fantasizing than actually doing anything to get to whatever it is I want. It's like the same damn routine every night: listen to a few songs and imagine having it all and seeing how it all plans out, but then the next day, when I'm literally standing right there in front of my dreams, I come up with some lame-@ss excuse as to why I should just wait for another time. As if I have an eternity to spend trying to get what I want. It doesn't help with the fact that I've recently been getting only one chance a week to do this, so I spend six days a week trying to figure out what I need to do, and of course that only makes things worse as far as my fantasizing goes. This is how it's always been with me. You'd think me being 19 years old and in college would change my being so timid about this stuff, but it hasn't. I won't accept that excuse right now as I type this blog, but when the next day rolls around, and I'm facing everything I want in one girl, I'll just pass it up and say "well, we really don't know each other enough yet. Maybe next time." Eventually, though, there won't be a next time. And I'll still be alone, spending a summer inside my shell with only my regrets to keep me company.

Sorry for dumping that on all of you. I use this blog (like a lot of people) to vent or express stuff I wouldn't normally in face-to-face convo. And it's better than talking to yourself.

Well that's it from me for the night. Take it easy.

My brother is having his high school graduation party this Friday on July 4th, so with all the family and people in and around the house in the next few days, I most likely will not be on very much. It should be a lot of fun.

On Saturday, though, a few of us are going to the Rush concert as part of my bro's graduation "gift". Believe it or not, I've never really listened to much Rush, although I am aware of the legendary drum skills of Neil Peart (few people aren't I guess ). My uncle is actually the big Rush fan in our family, but my bro is trying to get into bands like Rush, so when he heard about the concert, he thought it would be a cool idea to have a group of us go and see it. I'm not much of a concert guy, but it should be a good time (and anyone who I'd really talk to much or hang out with will be there). If any of you guys have an advice or song preferences you feel like sharing, that'd be cool so I can try to maybe familiarize myself more with Rush or look for any really good songs.

Well that's it from me for the week most likely. See ya around .

Maybe it's just me. Maybe this is what happens during every break between seasons of the show. But does anyone else feel like the Family Guy forum has become...I don't know...mind-numbing?

This is not an insult to fishzone or how he runs the forum. In fact, I give him a lot of credit for what he has to deal with everyday and some of the things that are said or started on this forum. But tonight I went to check it out, because I hadn't posted anything on it in a few weeks. It was amazing how many locked threads there were. I actually opened them up to read the comments, and I felt like my IQ dropped a little each time. I hate to sound condescending or like a stuck-up @sshole, but I couldn't believe some of the threads started on that forum. There's this one user who starts like 3 threads that are about the same damn thing (Quagmire and how he slept with Loretta). You have users digging up threads from literally over 2 years ago. Who has the time to waste to actually go back and find these threads? And you can tell most of these people are too young to be members of an online community by the way they type and the comments that they leave (and how they can't seem to grasp the basic rules of the forum). I remember now that I've stayed away from the Family Guy forum for reasons like this: the people there were beginning to actually bother me. I remember one person repeatedly using "Awesome" in virtually everyone of his/her posts (i.e. Family Guy is Awesome!, Stewie is still Awesome!, I thought that episode was Awesome!) in addition to exclamation marks after every sentence. There's another guy that is ALWAYS defending Meg and ready to make some outrageous claim that Peter deserves to be beaten or that Meg is actually pretty (Beauty may be in the eye of the beholder, but come on. Meg pretty?). I know there was someone else who was like literally in love with Brian (even admitted they had a crush on him) and couldn't stop telling everybody multiple times that Family Guy will be around for years to come thanks to a new deal Seth MacFarlane signed with FOX (upon which the Awesome! guy would respond with "I love Family Guy! I think it is Awesome!"). There's probably other stuff I haven't mentioned, but I'm sure it's enough. I honestly would just go there now just to get a good laugh at all the locked threads and idiotic things said there. Again, I feel sorry for fishzone. I don't know how I'd be so patient with people like that.

Hopefully by the time fall comes around, the forum will have semi-intelligent discussions going (and hopefully no more "Stewie is gay threads...). Sorry for the rant, but I felt like I had to get it off my chest. See ya guys around.