This morning I picked up my petition to get on the primary ballot in February. It only takes 25 signatures from registered voters in the city. I could get that in my sleep.

I did find out that there are a few other items to be done when filing the petitions in December, though. Apparently you must file a form with the county that says whether you receive any money or anything else from the city. I understand it, but also think it’s dumb. Heck, our President and other politicians are rich and keep making themselves and friends richer, but the city is worried about me. Stupid, but whatever.

While I’m on a politics trip – How long will Americans keep letting their privacy get eroded? The government now wants to have ISP’s track my internet usage “in case” they need those records “if” I break the law and have to prosecute me.

FYI – According to the Patriot Act II (also known as “Bush does whatever he wants Act”), Any subversive statement about the government, the illegal US prisons operated all over the world and within the US, or anything else the government doesn’t like can be cause for imprisonment just like the “terrorists” at Gitmo. I’m not saying that’s an exact quote, but read it some time, it’s all in there. And you thought you were free and safe.

The politicians pushing this crap are of course saying that it’s “to fight child pornography”, “to stop online predators”, etc.

How long will the public walk along like the sheep they are and let this happen? Isn’t the burden of proof on the state? If they can’t prove their case, can they make businesses keep the evidence on hand “just in case”?

Wake up people. We’re heading down the path to a 1984-esque world and you’re just sitting there enjoying the ride while they say “It’s for the children…” or whatever the mantra is at the moment.

Today at work was hectic. I didn’t know that going back to Customer Care would bring me down so much, but it has at an alarming rate. It’s not that I don’t like my co-workers, they’re great. Unfortunately the extreme demands of covering 4 positions at once is something I’ve become soft on in my year and a half of just doing 3 or so closely related tasks.

I’m sure I’ll re-adjust and all will be well for my remaining time, but it’s tough getting re-adjusted.

The House of Horror is coming along nicely. Unfortunately, my local Jaycees chapter may lose it’s charter. The state office says we’re out of time, and we are still struggling. Right now we have the oldest active charter in Illinois. I’d really hate to lose that, but it looks like we will.

I’m still waiting for Walgreens to call about an interview for their IT/Computer Room position. I called and the HR gentleman confirmed that they have not filled the position and would be letting everyone who submitted a resume know when it had been filled. I believe I’m qualified and could learn their system quickly, but I have to convince them of the same.

At work this week I’ve been doing nothing but data entry. It’s quite tedious and boring, but it’s nice to know what I’m doing everyday. We are finally seeing that we’ve made progress in the stack of paper, and it’s nice to visually appreciate that progress. We should actually be DONE by the middle of next week thank goodness.

I submitted a resume to Walgreens DC to work in their IT/computer room department. I think I’m qualified except for perhaps industry-specific software. Not to sound cocky, but I usually pick that stuff up pretty easily so I’m hoping they call. I made a follow-up call to a gentleman in their HR department, but only got his voicemail. I’m troubled in that I really would like to work there, but I also don’t want to come off as annoying or desparate.

The House of Horror is going well. The first and final thirds are progressing nicely. The middle third is not going as quickly, but we are still on schedule to be done and ready to roll by our deadline. JC is going to record our radio spots for us, or at least arrange to have them recorded. He’s been a great guiding hand in helping me with media and promotion.

If I ever have to roof a house again it will be too soon. Granted, I’m horribly out of shape (unless you count round) and didn’t know what I was doing, but that was the hardest work ever. Yes, EVER.

Luckily Josh is pretty much in shape and knew what he was doing. He busted his butt to get it done between Saturday and Sunday. I’m so grateful to have friends that will come and do stuff if they have the time. He also did it for free. He didn’t really as I couldn’t let him work like a dog and then get nothing, but he would have done it without asking for anything.

Emily got her light brown roof out of the deal, so she’s happy. Thank God I picked the right color or I would have never heard the end of it.

Other than the roofing, my vacation was fairly relaxing. I did a little bit of PR for the House of Horror and spent some time with Emily during the first part of the week since she had a couple of days off too.

One sad note – Amaya decided to trim her hair AGAIN. That child just cannot leave her hair alone to grow.

Building of the interior walls at the HoH is going very well. To this point we have 1/2 of the building built. There is still a long way to go with decorating, painting, etc. but we are making quick headway.

The most difficult part of construction seems to be the lack of supplies to actually complete the construction. I have to take a large part of that onto my shoulders as I have arranged to have wood from Carey, and it’s not at the House waiting to be used. Still, I must say I didn’t expect all 50 studs we had to be used so quickly. I’m used to last year when we barely finished the night before the House opened.

Tomorrow I will call Carey and we’ll go get the lumber. Then Wednesday night things should move forward again quickly.