Originally Posted by
Phonetek
LOL Okay everyone, you can take a deep breath....I am alright. I didn't realize I had such a following. =) A lot has been going on resulting in my absence. First and foremost, all of our laptops in the house all suffered failures within a two week time. One my son smacked really hard for whatever reason which made the hard drive cease in it's tracks never to work again. The second the screen quit on and the third, the power cord was snagged by a foot walking buy yanking it out by the wires. Gotta love that. I am not a cell phone guy when it comes to forums, too tiny for my old eyes. I did manage to get one notification that came through to my phone via email that said my inbox was full and PM's couldn't get through. I logged in to do some housekeeping but I didn't get any notifications since.
Aside from that, unfortunately my father in law lost his very short battle with cancer. He was doing excellent with his treatments. He'd come home after chemo and radiation and be cooking and cleaning the house. Who does that? No signs of trouble, even the doctors expected him to beat it. One Sunday night while I was at work my wife texted saying Dad was having a little trouble breathing so he was going to the hospital. Four hours later I got a call at the bowling alley and wifey said "Come home NOW! Dad is gone!" I said "WHAT?! Gone how? Gone as in passed away???? She said "Yes". Needless to say I immediately closed the bowling center even though it was two hours before closing time and went home. It was a tremendous loss and a truly extraordinary man is gone.
That was a week before Thanksgiving so the holidays this year have been a bit rough. We were all very close to him and he was a huge part of our lives. Nonetheless, we have made it through them and we are all doing okay. Me personally, I wish I was down in Florida doing those fun bowling center setup things but that isn't the case. That hasn't progressed at all due to permits and other legal crap. All the stuff I'm not involved in. I've been putting in so many hours where I work it seems soon as my head hits the pillow it's time to get up and go back to work. I've had a total of 5 days off in December and one of them was Christmas Eve. We're short handed and we've been fully booked nearly every day. The days we aren't booked with reservations and parties we are busting at the seems with open bowler walk in's.
As far as bowling goes, I haven't thrown a ball since October on league. Due to my schedule I had to drop off the sport league and with the other goings on I ended up missing the final weeks of my Thursday league at work. The second half will be starting soon but I doubt I'll be a part of it. Since I have little time at home with my family, I think I'd rather spend my down time with them. Bowling isn't going anywhere, I'm sure I'll get my chance to hit the lanes in short order. I did however bowl with my daughter on her birthday almost a month ago. She wanted her party at the bowling center. She had a great turnout, about 50 people came. I had a little fun with her over the mic. There was another birthday party going at the same time as hers. I grabbed the mic and said "Attention everyone, I'd like to announce a very special birthday today. Everyone give it up for MARY on lane 3!!!" Needless to say, that wasn't my daughter. LOL The look she gave me was priceless! So I got back on the mic and said "Oh, it seems I forgot something.....it's also my very own daughters birthday today too, give it up for BREE on lane 8!.....and by the way...Since you're making me come to work on my day off to celebrate your birthday, you're getting one less Christmas gift!" If looks could kill LOL They all had a great time though, she says she's the talk of the 6th grade now and so is her crazy dad. Best part was, 50 people, 2+ hours of bowling, pizza's and soda and it cost me a whopping $12 for the whole thing. One of the perks. =)
Now, a job update, I gotta tell ya.....being upper management at a telephone company over 75+ techs in 5 different states is a hell of a lot easier than being an assistant manager of a dinky bowling center over a dozen employees. I didn't think that was possible but honestly it's a lot more difficult than one would ever expect. There have been times that I put serious thought into stepping back down to where I was before. I've had the conversation more than once with my GM. It can be a thankless job where it seems the only feedback you get handed down is only negative. It seems you can do 100 things right but all you hear about is the 5 you did wrong. However, we have had a very successful holiday season. We've had nearly non-existent customer complaints (at least while I'm there LOL) and everyone has had a good time. We've had corporate parties, birthday parties, family reunions and believe it or not even a wedding reception (go figure) and all went well. I for one am glad the holidays are over and it will be business as usual with leagues and open bowling for a while.
Well....I'm sure there have been a ton of things I've left out but I want to post this before Boatman hires a private investigator to find me. LOL You can relax now bud, phonetek is alright! Thank you all in this post -1 for your concern about me, I appreciate it. And yes, if something happened to me, rest assured that Mrs. Phonetek would certainly let you all know.
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