Tomorrow morning I will finally have my wisdom teeth pulled. It should have been done long ago, but we either didn’t have the financial ability or our insurance was worthless. Actually, I guess the two are related. I’m a bit nervous about having them done and then going to work the next day. Never know if I’m going to have horribly swollen cheeks, mouth, etc. or if all will be fairly normal. At least I can take comfort in knowing that everyone here in the office loves this dentist and thinks they are really great.

Coca-cola has informed the Jaycees to poop and fall in it as far as sponsoring the Haunted House. Looks like we will be with Pepsi for another year. Pepsi has always cut us deals on the trailer, pop, and signage that we need, just checked into Coke for the heck of it. Lipps construction has agreed to provide us with a significant amount of lumber and other supplies. I guess it helps that Carey Lipps is a former Jaycee.

I sent out about 50 letters to friendly local businesses to ask them to sponsor the HH. We have different tiers of sponsorship this year. Beginning with a mention on our sponsor board for $25, and up to being the “Jaycees’ House of Horror sponsored by xxxx” for $250 or more. For the $250 we will have them on the board, on all advertising (including radio spots), and of course free tickets to distribute as they wish.

Speaking of tickets – Matt DeMiranda has designed the tickets and flyers for years to come. He volunteered his personal time and came up with an awesome design. I describe it as a cross between SE7EN, Saw, and an antiqued ticket. Put simply everyone who has seen it has been blown away by the originality and creativity he displayed. Thank you Matt!

Well, the shoe fell, and I’ll be hanging around for awhile. As is common knowledge, most everyone will soon be gone, with the exception of about 10 customer care people. We knew the axe would cleave most jobs, but it was still an emotional time Thursday and Friday. Some cried, some got angry, and most of us just stayed quiet.

Friday was casual day as it has been for some time. I wore sandals and shorts as several other people did. HOWEVER, since I am male this was unacceptable and we can no longer have casual Fridays. Thanks to the recognition by management that this change was caused by my attire and not by everyone else’s, I’m now “the guy who got casual Friday stopped” around the office. It’s truly lovely to be harassed and mocked over this issue. Even though several others were wearing shorts and sandals, it was specifically stated that I was the cause.

Saturday, Josh came over to fix our roof. After making 4 trips to the lumber yard, he was able to hop up there and get everything corrected. It looks very nice where the repairs were made. Unfortunately we will be completely recovering the roof in a couple of weeks. State Farm does not think it is necessary to do this and low-balled us on the repairs, but since there are no obvious damaged places in the roof except the hole that we repaired Saturday, we feel this must be done.

After the roofing repairs I was taking Josh back to his house and he asked if he could replace the bearing in our car that was bad. I wasn’t going to have him do it, but he insisted since he had nothing to do until Miranda got off of work. So we tracked down the part at NAPA and went to his house to switch it out. Beating the old bearing out and setting the new one in only took about 4 hours. Josh figuring out that the caliper bolts were different sizes and putting them in correctly took another four, so I didn’t get home until 8:30 that evening.

Overall it was nice to spend some time with a friend working on the car. Even if we were idiots for not noticing the bolt difference.

Well, I don’t know how much of this is confidential, so I’ll be vague. The salespeople, service technicians, and their managers all had meetings with the Alltel HR persons. Some got news they pretty much expected, others feel as though they didn’t really learn anything new.

All in all, the reactions were kind of muted from the persons I talked to tonight. Tomorrow is the day for everyone else to have their time with the Alltel HR persons. The meetings will begin at 9am and continue through the day. MOST everyone will be met with by noon (my time), but a few will be in the afternoon.

I certainly hope the news is better than what some were told tonight. Granted there was very little announced that was really earth-shattering, but it’s rough to go through this process any way the pendulum swings.

Wish me luck with “the Bobs”.

Thursday is the big day. Alltel HR people will be here to discuss what, if any, future we have with the company. Everyone seems to have a feeling of nervousness and relief around the office. We’re nervous about what will happen, but relieved that we will know something.

Moving forward, Emily is going to day shift and back to school. She plans on taking the real estate courses and becoming a licensed realtor. It’s something she desperately wants to do, and I think she can definitely excel at it. Change is always nerve-wracking, but I think we’ll come through.

Some bad news – the Jaycees have had to delay the moonlight golf scramble until May. Normally this wouldn’t be a big deal, but it’s only 3 days off. Needless to say I’m scrambling like a madman to get the information out to news outlets and to take out an ad in the paper. I don’t think the public will hold a grudge, but if people show up to nothing, they will probably be a bit honked.