Ok... it's been months since my last BLOG. I just have so much else on my plate that it is hard to find time to do everything I want to do. But due to the fact that I rarely sleep due to my health and also the fact that Dani shamed me for not keeping this up.... here I am once again. I figure what better way to spend the time I'm wide awake at 4am than updating my BLOG!? I may have to change my BLOG name to something like "This is What No Sleep Sounds Like" or "Rantings of an Insomniazzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz"

So... that being said on with my BLOG.

So much has happened in the past few months since my BLOG. I've been sick more frequently than I care to think about, the Holidays have come and gone, I'm sleeping less and less at night and for some reason I only seem to sleep well during the day sitting up. It's becoming rediculous.

I guess work is the biggest news.... after nearly 6 years doing layout for a small local paper the paper is finally tanking (just like I always knew it would). For those who don't know the paper is run by an LDS family who run a massive dental practice and publish the paper purely as a soapbox for their twisted political and religious views. Now... I consider myself to be an conservative for the most part but these people take conservative to new levels. For example, a simple Day Spa ad with a very tasteful photo of a woman having a massage, which I designed by the way, was called a "massage parlor ad" and I was forced to blur a portion of the photo so as not to show any semblance of a breast whatsoever. You have to understand that this photo was as tame as they come. This photo would have been acceptable in any family magazine or publication. Just a glimpse into the level of prudishness I deal with on a monthly basis.

Two weeks before our March issue we were told the paper was financially bankrupt unless we could get more advertising revenue. The goal in question, according to the publisher was $14,500. Nevermind the fact that the goal he told us for over a year to reach for was $12,500. Now, he swears that this was never the case but somehow we all remember $12,500 and he is the only one who swears it was $14,500.... hmmmmm.... interesting. My theory? They spent so much of there money opening a new practice that the depleted everything and now can't keep the paper going. So here's my problem...

1. Why not tell us this months in advance? He had to have known... this didn't just pop up overnight.
2. If we were hurting so bad why were we distributing to so many and why were we printing 16 pages each month? Why not drop the size of the paper and the number of issues printed each month in order to save money until we could make ends meet?
3. Why have they been acting as if the paper is doing wonderfully?

Questions that I'm sure will never be answered as I've learned one thing recently about these people. They are alwasy right and they are never wrong. It's their way or the highway and they will never listen to a word we say. So what if the paper was running like a well oiled machine while they were leaving it in our hands. So what if we were making the paper into something that people respected for a change.

So then he asks our managing editor to rewrite a story on foster families because he doesn't want us to condone single parent families in any way shape or form. Nevermind the fact that single parents often make the best foster parents, they could care less. These are people who give the LDS faith a bad name. These are the types of people who make other religions think we are crazy. These are the type of people who start their own religious cult and live on a compound out in the desert.

Did I mention their twisted views on newspaper ethics? It's always been my understanding that a newspaper must remain unbiased in their views and that their job is to present each side of an issue in order to allow for the reader to be the judge and jury and pick the side that is right for them. Not according to these people. Apparently we are the judge and we decide what's right and wrong and tell the people what they should believe. Hmmmm... isn't that what satan wanted? Anyone remember that old LDS musical "My Turn on Earth"? There is a song in which Jesus and satan are presenting their plans to God. Jesus says, "I have a plan, that will save every man. It will help them to choose righteously. By learning they'll know, they'll live and they'll grow. And Father the glory to thee." to which satan says " I have a plan, it will save every man. It will FORCE them to live righteously.... blah blah blah... and give all the glory to ME." Don't quote me on the lyrics, it's been years but I think you all get my point.

So the straw that broke the camels back... I usually distribute the paper on a monthly basis to local stores and racks but this month I was unable to do so because I had to work my "real job". So this idiot that I've worked for 6 years with, bent over backwards for, dealt with mounds of crap, worked till 5am most nights for and generally broken my back for emails me and tells me he's "disappointed that I couldn't finish my job..." and that "everyone else finished their jobs on the last issue..." so according to him I'm the only one who jumped ship and left him hanging. Screw him. And what's worse you can't stick it to him and tell him what a shithead he is because he's one of these ultra sticky sweet people who never shows an ounce of emotion but simply says "I'm sorry you see things that way" meaning "I'm sorry you don't see things my way... the right way... to bad your going to hell." Well.... to them I say kiss my ass. I'm done with your rag of a paper. Good luck making it work without the well oiled machine that ran it. And good luck finding another idiot like me to work for nothing and put up with the crap you pull on a monthly basis. It's unfortunate I can't go back and charge for all the overtime I put in. Sadly... I'm a subcontractor so that is out of the question.

Which brings us to now.... out of the blue I get a call from the owner of a local printer, who I've interviewed with last year, and he asks me if I'm still looking for a job. So now i'm a part-timer doing graphics for the printer who looks to be making some major changes soon and expanding their business in a huge way. Hopefully I'll be full-time eventually and have some income and job security. At least I have benefits, or will have. I'm loving the new job but it's different not have the freedom I've had for the past 7 years and to have major deadlines to meet. It's growing on me. I love the people I work with and the place really is alot of fun.

The other designer was gone Friday so I spent my first day all alone in the graphics dept. Of course everything bad that could happen did and by 5:30pm my head was spinning like a top, but I did it and I hope I proved to everyone that I really am an asset to the place.

Enough for tonight. Couple of requests to anyone brave enough to read my boring rants.

1. I had a really cool blog template that I pulled from a free site but it just never worked right so I've gone back to the generic old Blogger templates. I've checked a bunch of sites but nothing really looks that great. I want something with more columns on the sides or something. Maybe like a 3 column look with the center being wider and containing my blog entries. Anyway... if anyone knows of a good place to find some great looking templates let me know. I like darker kind of templates or grungy/horror or goth looking template but I'm open.
2. I'm still trying to find the right laptop for video editing, 3D, web design, graphic design, and music production. I've looked at so many from HP to Alienware. I've narrowed it down to either HP or Alienware but if anyone out there has any suggestions I'd love to hear it... or if you've owned either brand and have an opinion one way or the other.

And now I'm spent... hopefully I won't be back up in an hour writing another blog but I may be so feel free to check back at all hours. You never know when I might write again. Ciao!