It's been an odd week out here on the edge of the prairie.

Work has been a challenge and a large part of the challenge has been finding the motivation to do it, esp. after working 6 weeks without getting paid.

We worked on a large install Friday that required a lot of custom cutting but when we got onsite that morning, I realized that all of the custom cuts were wrong.
22 pieces of film - nearly $2,000 - went into the trash.

Hello, DumDum.

The ex-girlfriend that I refer to as DumDum discovered the blog last week and wrote in "anonymously".
I was having dinner with Emily at Noche on Saturday night when DumDum and her newest walked in.

Awkward.

Not sure if you know how the ex-GF name game is played but the short version is: if you're a nice person and for whatever reason it just doesn't work out, you keep your name.
If you're a maniac, you end up with a nickname
(and possibly thrown out of the truck.)
Like DumDum.
Or Crazypants.
Or the "the upstanding, trustworthy, woman of integrity"

Emily and I dated a couple years ago.
It didn't work out but she's a really cool chic that I've stayed friends with - hence, "Emily".

And, that's why when I mention the ex-wife, I use this picture:

Apparently, she's also a fan of this site.


Work is what work does but the truth is that it's been slowly dawning on me that I'm due for a change.
I've been selling/installing window film for 25 years.
This year will be my most profitable if I can make it thru without ticking off all of my clients, which seems like a dubious proposition at the moment.

I kinda feel like I did at the end of my marriage.
I didn't hate my ex-wife, then or now.
I didn't blame her for my unhappiness.
I didn't leave her for someone else.
I just realized that neither one of us was ever going to be happy if we stayed together.

Once I had that moment of clarity the clock started ticking and it was just a matter of time before I pulled the plug.


We'll see what happens over the coming months.
Stay tuned.


Editors Note:  It's entirely fair and relevant to note I very well might have earned an unpleasant "nom de plume" from someone I have dated over the last 10 years.  

2nd Ed. Note:  I heard from the ex-wife today.
Usually such contact comes in the form of a note/letter/email notifying me that:
A.)  I'm an awful human being
2.)  I ruined her life

The last such note I received was in late November, nearly 8 years to the day that I left.
It's pretty cyclical all in all.
On the average, since the divorce was final in late 2006, I've received 2 such notes a year.
I've come to cherish them and started building a memory board lined with all the little reminders of our once promising union.

Lemons, meet lemonade.

It's quite a work of modern art and one I'm sure I'll have enough material to complete in the very near future.
Currently, I'm debating between 2 titles for the piece:
A.  I poisoned you in a third world country for your own good.
and, my favorite at the moment,
B.  You should have brought me flowers when I got out of Fulton County Prison for domestic battery.

(Opinions are welcome!)

But, today she wrote with sad news (along with a little jab about my many failings as a husband and human.)
Hope, the abused dog that we adopted toward the end of our marriage, had to be put down.
Some of my closer friends will remember the shy, sweet, little doggy that looked exactly like a 45 pound Doberman that we took in.
Hope was from out west where she had been:
A.  Shot and buried
B.  Shot and buried a second time
     and survived

Her sutures were still healing when we brought her home.  I remember a splintered bone fragment that worked it's way thru her skin long after the shotgun blast that splintered it had healed.
She took to the ex right away but was terrified of all men for a long time and even though I fed her and was cautious to approach her slowly she wouldn't let me touch her for months and would run and hide if I made too much noise or moved to quickly.
Eventually though she made a complete recovery and become a healthy, happy little pup and was, quite honestly, one of the sweetest animals I have ever known.
That dog loved to be close to you once you gained her trust.
Bummer that she's gone, even though I haven't seen her for nearly a decade.

The link goes to the local news story from the time.
The ex's boss, David York, paid for the care and brought Hope back to Atlanta.

http://www.11alive.com/news/local/story.aspx?storyid=31683