Merry Christmas and a Darwin Award nomination

We had a nice Christmas. It was uneventful, which was so nice and a welcomed change from the rest of the year. I got Justin a new computer monitor and I gave it to him a couple of weeks ago. It was defective and had to be returned (I was afraid of this happening and I gave it to him early), so he didn’t get to open anything from me on Christmas.

Friday evening, Justin and I headed to Atlanta for the weekend. He rode down with a friend on Wednesday evening so it was so nice having someone ride to Atlanta with me.

On my way back to Nashville on Sunday, I was hoping traffic would cooperate and not be terrible. I was so fortunate! Traffic was a breeze and might have even been a little lighter than usual. Northbound traffic was not as fortunate. I felt so bad for anyone sitting in that mess around McDonough. Traffic was backed up for miles. We’ve all been there and done that and know what a nightmare stopped traffic can be. Northbound traffic stopped again around Cordele or Ashburn (can’t remember which) in the construction zone. I did see a semi-truck that was about to be towed, so I’m not sure if it just stalled or was involved in a wreck.

Now to the Darwin Award nomination…
I was headed through Tifton around 10:00 p.m. Sunday night. Traffic was cruising around 70 mph. I was between the S. Central Avenue exit and the Southwell Boulevard exit. I was in the right lane preparing to exit at Southwell. There was a pretty large gap between me and the group of drivers I was with and the group of drivers ahead of us. Out of nowhere, I see a pedestrian darting across the interstate and he was in my lane when I noticed him. I slammed on brakes (the Honda’s anti-lock brakes work quite well) and came within inches of turning this brilliant-beyond-brilliant individual into road kill. I’m not sure if he realized how close he came to being hit by 3,000 lbs. of metal and glass traveling at 70 mph, but it was pretty dang close. I think my heart dropped from my chest to my feet. What was so crazy to me was that the GSP had a vehicle pulled over near where this person crossed the road. I guess the patrolman was concentrating on his task and didn’t notice this person.

When I was driving from Tifton to Valdosta each day, I would see people running across this portion of I-75 frequently. I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone brave enough to do it at night. I’m amazed that no one has been killed here. I think they’re running from a neighborhood on the east side of 75 to a convenience store/Steak-N-Shake on the west side of 75. While the food at Steak-N-Shake is tasty (love those cheese fries), it’s not worth dying for! The people have to cross a chain link fence (I’m sure one of these road-crossers has already cut a hole in the fence on both sides so they don’t have to climb it), cross one direction of traffic, climb over a concrete wall (it’s tall!), dodge the other direction of traffic, and cross another chain link fence. Why they can’t just walk down the road to the underpass and walk on a sidewalk is beyond my comprehension. It might take 1-2 extra minutes (I know when those cheese fries and a milkshake start calling, you need to hurry, but really.). Maybe playing “Human Frogger” is a lot more fun for them.

"Absence makes the heart grow fonder, but it sure makes the rest of you lonely." -Charlie Brown

I am very tired of being separated from my husband and only getting to see him on weekends. I know I have it much better than some people, like military families, but it still sucks. This started on January 1 of this year and as of now, I have no idea when it might end. I knew this arrangement would not be easy, but I had no idea it would be this hard or last this long. If I could find a job in Atlanta, I could join Justin up there.

I have been looking for a job for about six months. I know the economy stinks and now is the worst possible time I could be job searching. I guess I'm lucky since I do still have a job, but the situation surrounding my job search is crappy. Ideally, I would find a job related to interior design but because the construction market is so bad, that's not likely to happen right now. I have been looking outside of my field and have found postings for several "office" jobs. I find these jobs on "job websites" and get my hopes up that this job is "the one".

I applied for one today and kept checking my email (about every five minutes). I finally got a response and my mood went from hopeful and excited to annoyed and angry. The posting and subsequent response were spam. I was cautious after reading the response so I googled the responding email address and discovered that it was definitely spam. I was so disappointed. Other people have applied for "jobs" posted by this person and are as angry as me. Why do people do this to innocent and desperate people just looking for a job in an awful market? Why?! These people are beyond scum! It's hard to remain focused and positive when this happens and it's sad that today isn't the first time this has happened to me.

I know I should be thankful for what I have, but it's so hard when I don't have what my heart craves.