**"You Got the Money, Honey, I Got the Time"

**Opening line of Willie Nelson's first hit back in the mid 70s. We're not counting him penning Patsy Cline's "Crazy".

What good is a date that doesn't have much money??? In suburban Chicago, the answer is not much. As most of you know, I left the as-hole partners at the law firm, for a full-time gig at the hospital. I don't have to work 56 hours a week anymore, so I have more time to spend with my kids and the condo presidency.
But less time at work necessarily means less money from work. I thought maybe the overtime I was getting would mean more but apparently not. Part of it is the simple mathematics, Illinois law says any mother who has an "ex" & has 3 kids, gets 32% of his paycheck. That's fine with me;I'm just making an observation. The other thing is that taxes get another 25%. So 57% of my paycheck is not mine.
But I am emotionally ready to date. I know why I got a divorce, I know what mistakes I made in the relationship and I really want to move on in life. But I can't because, I, as a proper date, have to make things "free" for the woman I date, and that's hard now. I spent the last 30 hours figuring out how to meet all my expenses and explain things to my creditors about not getting as much money as they actually were expecting from me.
So the dating action has to wait. No sex, no drugs, but still plenty of rock n' roll. Too bad the only places I hear it is work, home alone and in the car. My sister-in-law says to spend every moment I can with my kids because she thinks my ex is crazy.
Don't I deserve to date? Well, it's not a matter of "deserving" it's all a matter of financially earning. Is there a woman out there who would like to be a "sugar mommy" (female counterpart to "sugar daddy") very unlikely. But if any reader out there knows of one, I will work the rest of my life to make it worth their while. (either by being a reference or being one)
But seriously, the job is going well; the presidency continues to challenge as I mediate disputes and life could be better but it's up to me to improve it!

mentioning other sites

For those bloggers who suggest other "LINKS", I am willing to bet there's a good deal of thought into selecting the other links.

For me it is a fellow blogger who first started sending me comments. There's another site that deserves special mention. It is the band Catch Penny led by Chris Schauf (25 yrs. old) & his younger brother Zach. I saw them in Chicago, I bought their CD and I think that they do excellent as a band. They're under "up and coming band" on my blog.

You can say, "Yeah, Vince, you're biased, because you're their uncle and you have "an axe to grind".
The point is that other people have been saying that they love their CD. So I would urge you dear reader to check out this website below, check out the MP3 and if you like, then order the CD. They are at:

http://www.catchpennyband.com/index.htm

Enjoy!

leaving as-holes behind

8/17/05 I left a law firm that is good to its clients and godawful to its staff. It's a law firm where the managing partner/the main man would get drunk at times during normal business hours and sleep on his couch or act drunk to staff.
A man who promised me a raise earlier in the month and failed to give the raise to me. A man who has the partner jerk me around on my last paycheck and make a pitiful attempt to make me feel guilty for bringing up the FACT that my paycheck was 2 days late.

no more taking advantage of the 1 and only paralegal at his bullshit firm.
no more false accusations tolerated
no more paying me a below-market salary

Now I'm at a better place with very good benefits where I will get 36 hrs. of OT (& time & a half pay) this pay period.
A place where I save lives or help lives for those with cardiac problems
A place where the boss likes and respects me and I can definitely say the same about her.
A place with less stress and heartache..........................

There's a few other things I hate too!

There's nothing like having your own apartment to show what your limitations are. After living 25 years of shared living there's some skills I've finally mastered: dish washing, cleaning a toilet, knowing when to play the music you love loud!; & doing laundry. Still there are other things which you hate and which bite you in the ass again & again.

Ironing is something I completely detest. I learned to buy permanent press shirts and let co-workers carp at the wrinkles in my pants (after all I don't give a damn what they say about my but or legs or goes over them anyway!). Now that I don't work at a law firm anymore, people at the hospital, where I work, aren't so hung up on clothes anyway.

Another task has embarassed me even more. Mopping floors and vacuum cleaning. Vacuum cleaning I finally have resolved to do on a semi-regular basis. But mopping the floor ............
Today, I finally (after x number of months) decided to mop the floor. Since it looked like the garage floor of somone with 3 Honda motorcycles and I 've been having my sweet computer expert come over, well ya' gotta' do something damnit. But I complained about it to myself and it took a long time because 2 of the Board members of the condo board called me about the all-important meeting I had with our condo attorneys yesterday. So the whole thing took hours. UGH!

BIG PICTURE TIME:
I have it much better than others especially those who were hit by Hurricane Katrina. Ripsy who runs a very sharp,witty blog says that the Red Cross should be supported and I have 1/2 a mind to put the Red Cross as one of my links too. We all think the Red Cross should be supported in this very trying time.

The Sweet Adolescence of the Raspberries

The Rasberries were a group that hit it big in the early 70s. The best known band member was Eric Carmen. He was the man who penned in his later solo years "Hungry Eyes" and the melancholy "All By Myself" .
When I was visiting my older brother in college at the tender age of 9, I heard a cool guitar-riff, laden song with a very adolescent plea for its title. The song started with a cool, thundering catchy lead guitar riff. Then a rolling bass, then Eric Carmen sings,
"I never knew how complete love could be Till she kissed me and said,............"
From "Go All the Way"
The sweet voice, the beautiful harmonizing vocals provided by Carmen’s bandmates; their imitation of their model THE WHO.
But wait a minute! That’s not the way life is! I never had an easy time with dates. I only dated one girl from that great Ithaca High School. & she wasn’t even any fun. Besides, the one girl who hinted to me to have sex with her my senior year after the Homecoming Dance was politely refused by yours truly. Something I’m not 100% sure was the right decision. I ended up not losing my virginity until I was 22. But my Mom & Dad taught me well and a young VS would have been a below average father as I am struggling now to help an ailing oldest son and a somewhat happy middle son and youngest daughter.
Aw screw it, the song is still damn good so let’s continue reading these lyrics.
"....Till she kissed me and said,
CHORUS: Baby please, go all the way
It feels so right
Being with you here tonight
Please, go all the way
Just hold me close
Don't ever let me go
I couldn't say what I wanted to say
Till she whispered "I love you so" repeat that damn chorus

But what about all the premarital sex? What about all the unwanted kids, what about the abortions, what about the parents not ready??????? Yeah, well, what about Eric explaining the following to us:
Before her love I was cruel and mean I had a hole in the place Where my heart should have been!
But now I've changed, and it feels so strange
I come alive when she does all those things to me and she says
(Check out the counterpoint harmonies on this now! E=Carmen B=Bandmates!!!)
"E:Come on,
B: come on
B: come on! E: I need you
B: come on! E: I love you
B: Come on! E: I need you Repeat that damn chorus
If you get their greatest hits you get to also hear "I Just Want to Be With You" and some other kick ass songs.
What do they all mean? Tell me & we’ll both know!!!!

This president gig is kind of fun

TMA = condo complex I preside over

I was a political junkie since I was 7. I memorized all the US Presidents and read the front section of the paper. Things I still do and enjoy doing. When I told this to one of our law clerks in her 3rd year of law school, she said, "That really made you a nerd then, doesn't it?" Yeah, I guess, but obviously, I still don't regret doing that.

Why the little flashback of 35 years ago? Well because, I still enjoy that type of action. The condo board that I preside over still is a form of politics; naturally the action is NOT like being U.S. president. But still, the TMA Board of 4 years ago f_____ up royally and hurt a lot of senior citizens who make up a significant portion of the owners who live in our condo complex. So there is something at stake, we can't put together a screwed up budget, we have over 150 people depending on us!

Anyway, my first crisis has been hard to solve. MS, the former president, is in a nasty dispute with the Treasurer of our condo. She wants to put the screws to him because she doesn't want to pay for his legal expenses. I don't think that is right, because he expressly received permission to have legal expenses paid for. In order to get rid of the corrupt board that messed things up 4 years ago that's what had to be done! He had to take on the fight by him & a few others, to kick out a board & administrator who ran the complex like a 3rd World dictatorship (complete w/ fradulent elections!!!). That meant incurring legal expenses.

The Treasurer is a very smooth operator. When I come into the office, it's always, "Hi, babe!" She likes getting a hug. She loves to flatter. But if you cross her like MS did, she has the power to f____ someone over as Treasurer. My job, as president, is to try to curb her revenge fantasies and it hasn't been easy.

I have to hand it to her. She has inspired me to read the Condo rulebook/bylaws much more thoroughly and it has become evident that in her "revenge plots" she hasn't been following all the rules. I'm scheduling a little chat with her within the week to show her the error of her ways. Wish me luck.

At any rate, this fight between MS & Treasurer (Madame "Sweet" who is ALSO the "face of TMA" because she is the receptionist and office manager at our office) has also made me talk to the TMA's lawyer. The big problem is that my main strategy is to wait and delay things as I gather up more and more of the building reps to back me up. (need as much political power as I can get!) But Madame Sweet wants to hurry up the process & is even going so far as baiting MS to sue the TMA! How stupid and what a waste of money to pay the lawyer for another suit!!! Yet she says I'm wasting money on MS's suit (yet we had the building reps agree to pay for that lawsuit; there's a difference!!). I have to counsel MS to be calm, sleep at night (since he confided that the legal problem keeps him up) and I have to get the political clout to manuever around Madame Sweet's power and charm.

Anyway, thanks for reading, I KEPT MY PROMISE, L12! Hope this little diatribe wasn't toooooo borriiiing.