I'm going to Jackson

Actually, I've already been. We drove over Friday evening for the biannual Jackson throwfest that we attend every year, said hey to some folks, and then went downtown to this place called Hal & Mal's, which we also hit every year. It's a great little restaurant/bar, and we started going because they brewed their own beers. Alas, they stopped a couple of years ago, and buy some locally brewed stuff instead. The atmosphere is still fantastic, though, and the food is really good. The place was PACKED compared to when we usually go; we had to park about 3 blocks away and walk up. Charlie had a friend that was singing in the "auditorium" next door, and the band that they were opening for was apparently kind of big, though we had never heard from them. So we watched them for a bit, and then ate, and went back to the hotel to sleep.

Saturday we woke up early and went to one of the meeting rooms and worked out for a while, as Charlie and I were testing for our new ranks that morning. The test went relatively easily; I was worried, as I seemed to not be able to not messing everything up when we'd driven down to Houston a couple of weeks ago, to work out with Charlie's instructor. I felt good during the combos, great during the one steps, and fantastic during the forms. The testing panel chided Charlie and I as we were getting ready to spar that it was to be a "friendly" sparring match. Charlie and I just smiled, and we actually did take it pretty easy. Great match, too. Afterward, one of the panel members said he'd hate to be our friend.

So Charlie and I now have some blinged out new black belts, with our names, in Korean, on one end, and Tang Soo Do Moo Duk Kwan on the other. Gold bars indicating our rank sit below our names. We likely won't wear them much, as we prefer the plain belts, but they'll be there if we need them. Our dan certs are also the size of a small table. Ask me to see it the next time any one is over.

He was more important than I thought...

Who knew that Lando was pope? Must have been at the height of the corruption of the Catholic Church.

Ah, the glory of management...

One of my employees just had surgery to remove a growth from one of his testicles. I'd known about it for a while, so I was prepared for it. He works the evening Manager on Duty shift on my off days, but I was only going to have to pick one of his shifts up, and we could security to come in early to cover the others. Total, though, he'll be out for 8 days. His surgery was Monday.

Monday evening, my full time night auditor asked me what we'd do if she got sick - not that she was planning on getting sick, or anything, but, what were our emergency plans, cause our other night auditor has sever arthritis, and working more than his two nights a week really made it act up. I told her that I or the guy out for surgery could easily cover that for her if she were sick, or needed some time off.

Tuesday morning, the part time night auditor calls me to tell me his mother died. She's been a terminal cancer patient for almost a year now, so it wasn't entirely unexpected. I offered my condolences and called my manager, telling him I'd be working the night audit on Wednesday and Thursday, and we'd need someone to work my MOD shifts those nights. He asked me to get the full time girl to work one, so we'd only need to find one MOD. She agreed, for a box of Runts, her favorite candy.

So, Bridget and I got to spend Valentine's Day together, or at least the part of the day after she got off from work and before I left for work. We had a great dinner, and enjoyed a lot more of each other's company than we had in a while, and then I left to spend the night at work - I had a room set up, because I'd be getting off work at 7am, and going back at 3pm to MOD.

My full time auditor calls me shortly after I get off: she's running a 102 degree fever. There are 4 people at this hotel that can run the night audit, and three of them are now down for the count; looks like I'll be Night Audit again tonight. Won't be a problem, I can be a lazy MOD. Mostly stay in my room. They can call if they need me. Only problem is, because we only 4 occupied rooms, I'd also scheduled myself to work the 3-11 desk shift. *sigh* I managed to get someone to come in to cover that shift, though - which could have been very difficult, because of the way some of my employees schedules work, and considering the number of them that were now out.

The full time girl called again today, and thanked me for working the shift last night, and she'd be in tonight, she was feeling somewhat better. When she showed up, she was still running a 101 degree fever, and looked it. So I took a 3 hour nap and relieved her about halfway through her shift, sent her home. I have to MOD again this afternoon, during which there is a freaking Mardi Gras Ball, and we'll see how she's feeling for the night audit tonight.

Bridget, I did tell her I wouldn't be able to work Sunday night. So she'd better be well by then.

And that was far longer than I meant it to be.

Oh, and if anyone is interested, I'm testing for my 2nd dan in Jackson, MS, on Feb 24. If all goes well, I won't look like an ass while I'm doing it.

I wish...

... we had done this at our wedding. I was a HUGE Michael Jackson fan growing up.