Lazy Day

We didn't go to church today. Past Wright is on vacation and we have been on the road a lot lately and we thought we would take a day and stay home. We have really been lazy today. We stayed in bed until around 12:30 and then the suddenlink tech came to fix our Internet. He only had to replace an ethernet cable, which I could have done myself, but I didn't realize that was the problem. It was hilarious watching him trying to poke around on my IMac though. It was obvious he's never used one before.

I did go out and clean the inside of the car after later this afternoon. I swept it out and shined up the dash with armor-all. I found a set of keys that I thought I lost months ago. They were under the carpet, under the passenger seat. There is only one small vent hole under there that they could have squeezed through and somehow they did. While I was outside, Amanda made us some barbecue sandwiches. I definitely ate too much. But, it was excellent.

Now, I am sitting here watching Barbershop (I love this movie) and tying on here while Amanda watches her soap opera thing. I hate those shows. We are going to watch a movie we rented earlier called "International" as soon as I get offline. I hope to get Netflix again soon. We had Blockbuster's online service, but we didn't seem to use it enough to justify paying for it, but now we watch movies a lot more and I want to get Netflix this time. My friend, Jesse, told me to get it because I get download movies straight to my television with it. I definitely want to do that.

Okay, now it's time to watch the movie. I just reread everything on FDIC coverages. I get asked about them about 10 times daily and I figured it's time I know more about it. It's actually pretty interesting. I can now feel more confident the next time I get the question.

Here We GO!

I've not posted in a while and I am excited to be typing a few thoughts this evening. There is something peaceful about being able to write down what I'm thinking and what's going on in my life. My life has changed a lot in the past 45 days. I've jumped right in to working at the bank and though my hours are so much better than Beneficial, they are also much more hectic and I love it. I feel like I've worked 60 hours a week by the time Friday at 6:00pm rolls around. I am learning so much new and interesting information and I want to learn it all as fast as I can. Every customer that comes in the door has their own personal situation and I love being there "banker" and helping with their needs. It's nice to be able to offer products that customers want and love. I know our customers at Beneficial needed what we offered, but they sure didn't love them.

The other major even in my life right now is that Amanda and I plan on making an offer on our first home tomorrow. We have waited so long and we are finally ready to take the plunge. I am petrified of being a home owner and of course very apprehensive on taking on a larger payment and not having the landlord to call anytime I want, but that won't stop us from doing it anyway. I'll write more about the house and the area after we "hopefully" get to purchase it. It's nice working in the office next to the mortgage loan officer so I can pester him everyday until our loan is finished.

I better go. Amanda has already passed out and I have to work tomorrow from 9-12.
Hopefully, I'll be able to get on here more often and write things, but with work, Amanda's softball games, and all of Carlie's and Katie's different activities going on it's hard to do much of anything else. Until next time......

6 days and counting....

I'm down to six days until I go back to work. :( I have to go to Ashland, Kentucky to the Fifth Third banking center for a week beginning on the 27th. I want to try and enjoy this week as much as I can because I'm certain I won't have many days off once this all gets started. I haven't had a chance to do much this week though. Yesterday, I went to get the mail and to Kroger to pick up a few groceries and was back in the house for the remainder of the day. Today, I haven't left. I watched Twilight again so I could compare and contrast the differences in the book. I hadn't read the book before I watched the movie the first time. Obviously, the book is much better.

American Idol is on tonight. I love cuddling up to my wife and watching it. We always have our favorite and usually our picks are the same. Danny Gokey is our pick this year. We do like Adam Lambert, but he's a little too gay for us. Allison is my second favorite. She seems so natural. I know she will make it to the final 3.


Amanda and I signed up for softball at church. We thought there may be a coed but there wasn't so we have different schedules. Amanda already knows that her first game is this Friday, but I haven't heard anything yet. She keeps trying to back out on me, but I told her it would be good for her. I think once she goes to the first game she will love it and want to play. I am excited to play as well. I hope the coach calls me soon. I'm sure I won't be the best out there, but I hope that I can at least compete. I'm so out of shape right now it's sad.

Amanda and I have been trying to work out a little since I've been out of work. We did an abs video yesterday and I can hardly stretch out my stomach today. It hurts everytime I stand. I lifted a little while she did the wii fit and the tread mill. I've also been stretching out my back daily because it's been sore.

It's time for my love to come home now. I am going to update twitter, which I am addicted to, and then it's time for dinner and the AI tonight. Until next time.

A new beginning

I've not posted in a few weeks so I guess it's that time. I was officially offered the position as Retail Personal Banker for Fifth Third Bank today. The idea of just having a new job definitely lifts a weight off my shoulders. I knew that God would take care of everything, but it is only human to worry. My salary will be more than I made at Beneficial, but the commission is going to be less, at least for now. I suspect that it will get better once the economy picks up. I pray this is where God is leading me because I did have my heart set on teaching, but something tells me this is where I need to be. I am excited to get started and to excel in this position. I know God will have placed me there for a reason too, so it will be exciting to find out why.

Have I mentioned before that I have the greatest wife on the planet? I am super excited for us to finally be able to purchase a home and get out of this small townhouse. We would love to be able to start a family before we are 30. She's so great and understands that we are just living one day at a time and trusting God. She backs me 100% and knows that everything will work out. If i decide tomorrow that I want to teach and not work at 5th 3rd, she would never complain. I am truly blessed to have her in my life.

It's definitely time for bed now. It's been an uneventful yet tiring day. I got the 53 news early and had to call my family and friends and communicate it. Next, I had to clean house, go to the grocery store and mailbox. Finally, I had to cook dinner, which was quite good I might add, and then do the dishes and get ready for Idol. We also watched 2 dvr'd episodes of Howie Do It. Oh yeah, does it kill anyone else that American Idol always goes past their time allotment and the dvr missed the ending? I just wanna scream. Goodnight.

We were on our death beds

Last week was one of the worst weeks of my entire life. I would venture to say that it was THE worst week of my entire life. The only good thing that could have came from me being down with sinusitis, bronchitis, and the flu at the same time was that Amanda was there right there wrapped in the sweat drenched bed sheets with me. I never want her to be sick, but if we both had to go through it at least we were together.

It all started the week of my parents party. I started getting sick on Tuesday so I immediately went to the doctor for fear of being sick for the party. I got put on a Z pack and I actually made it through the party and started feeling better. I think I ran myself down between the packing, the party and the unpacking afterward because Monday I started feeling even worse. Apparently I had spread everything to Amanda too because when she came home from work on Monday she went straight to bed. We were in the bed all day Tuesday with temperatures over 103 degrees. Trust me, when your temperature is that high it's not even fun to lie in bed and watch TV. It was definitely a miserable day. We were both ready to head to the doctor (my second visit) on Wednesday morning. Amanda's temperature was 104.1 and mine was 102.7 at the doctor. The doctor wrote her 3 prescriptions and me 2 more, which was a total of 4 for me, and off we went. Wednesday and Thursday were miserable days of sweating, sleeping, and moaning. We finally drug ourselves out of the bed on Friday for Amanda's twin sister and her husband and kids to come for the weekend. We still aren't well today, but at least our temperatures are gone and she is working and I am typing this. I am thankful for that!

I did lose almost 10 pounds last week. The only thing Amanda and I felt like eating were peaches. We went through 3 jars worth I think. We watched some crazy TV shows during those miserable days too. Operation Repo was probably my favorite. If you haven't seen it I would say to do so if you want some laughs. I am usually not the biggest proponent for flu shots, but next year I will be one of the first in line. I literally thought I was going to die and was praying for the Lord to take me home last week. It's crazy how fast your world can change from a sickness like that. I hope and pray we never have to go through it again.

Another day of unemployment

I applied to the Transition to Teaching program today. I hope everything goes well with it. Everyone say a prayer for me. I haven't heard anything from Chase yet and this is day 5. The recruiter said it would take a week, but who knows. If I get into Transition to Teaching, I could possibly be in a school next year, but if I don't I may have to go back to school full time for 3 to 4 semesters. I really don't want to have to go through all that again, but I guess I have to do what I have to do. I know I'll be making less money than I have been accustomed to, but the hours will be better and teaching will be extremely rewarding. I am ready for the next step in my life.

It's time to get dinner on the table. I think I am going with turkey and mashed potatoes today. I still have dishes to do and the bed to make though. I should have had this done already, but I can't ever seem to get off the computer, especially since I purchased the new IMac. :)

Mr. Roop

It's been a week now since I found out I was no longer employed with HSBC/Beneficial. I worked my butt off there for almost 3 years and it just ended. I'm not bitter, infact I am a little relieved. The long hours and stress was starting to play a toll on me. My doctor told me months ago that I needed to find a new profession because my blood pressure was way too high.

My job search has kind of stalled. I interviewed with Chase last week and I haven't heard anything yet. The recruiter told me that it would probably be a week before I heard anything, but I tend to believe that the wait is like a jury deliberating; the longer the wait means it's usually not very good news. I have faith that something will come along though.

I've looked into a couple different routes to becoming a teacher. As I have mentioned before, that's what I've really always wanted to be, but I never pursued it for some reason. This would be the best possible time for me to get started because I have absolutely nothing else to do. Amanda is starting to call my Mr. Mom because I clean up the house and have dinner ready when she gets home. I have to do something because the adult ADHD is really kicking in.

The WV Dept of Education has a transition to teaching program that will allow me to go straight to teaching next year if there is an available Special Education position. They will then pay for me to get my certifications. I'll have to teach Special Education for three years, but they will also pay for me to continue school and get certifications in other areas if I need to. I plan to do this if I can get accepted into the program, but if I do not it's back to school to finish up my teaching. I would love to see how high of a GPA I will be able to get since I want to be in college now instead of just trying to get by when I was in the first time.

It's time to get dinner ready. Amanda gets home around 5:00 and I am supposed to have had this slide show finished for my mom and dad's anniversary before Wednesday, but it's painstakingly slow. Hopefully, she will help me tonight. She is so much better than me at doing this kind of thing.

Unemployed

Yesterday, I walked in to work around 8:55 a.m., which is normal for Mondays, but this one turned out to be unlike any I've ever experienced. My district manager's car was in the parking lot and I knew he was supposed to be in the Beckley office that day. I never thought anything about it, though. Next, I walked in the door and the lights were out, but that is not uncommon considering we usually don't have customers that early. I then noticed that my district manager and branch manager were sitting on the desks looking pretty upset. They proceeded to tell me that our whole consumer lending unit of HSBC was being shut down effective immediately. I was pretty shocked to say the least.

I went ahead and walked to my computer because I wasn't sure if they were being serious or not. The consumer lending branch of HSBC employees over 6,000 people. I guess I thought they were just joking or maybe we were downsizing or something. I definitely was wrong. I attempted to log into my computer and my user name and password were no longer valid. I was officially relieved of my duties at 2:00 p.m. I will continue to get paid until April 2 and then I will receive a small severance package after that.

The good news is that I now have several options that I have wanted to pursue for a while.

I have an interview with Chase on Thursday and if that doesn't work out then I am going to go back to school and finish up my teaching degree. I've always wanted to teach and now will be the time to pursue it. Especially since the state will pay for it now!!

Anyway, Amanda and I could use some prayers now. I am sure the lord will take care of us and lead me to what career I need to pursue. I only hope that I can continue to take care of Amanda and live our lives the way Jesus would want.

40th Anniversary

My mom and dad will be married 40 years on March 15.  It's astonishing to me that two people can be married for that long.  I think it is fantastic and I absolutely love that God chose me to be the son of these two amazing parents. I sometimes wonder why I deserved to grow up in such a loving and God fearing family when so many people out there aren't so blessed.  My mom dropped out of high school at 15 to get married to my dad.  Dad, of course, was 18.  They waited until March 15 because my mom turned 16 on March 11.  Mom did go back to get her G.E.D. several years later. Dad was almost immediately drafted to Vietnam and while he was away at war my mom gave birth to my brother.  My dad didn't get to see him for the first year of his life.  I didn't come around for close to ten years later.  Dad went into the coal mines a couple years after coming home from Vietnam and by God's grace has been working in the same location for the last 36 years.  He will retire from there soon.

I know that God played the most crucial role in keeping my mom and dad together all those years.  My dad has always told me that if you keep God in the center of your life, He will take care of the rest.  Mom and dad were dragging me to church before I was old enough to know what was going on and continued dragging me throughout my youth.  There were many times when I would have rather done anything than go to church, but now (as they said I would someday) I am thankful for all those Sunday morning, Sunday night, and Wednesday night services.  

Amanda and I are having a surprise 40th anniversary party for them on March 13.  I am still in the process of making a slide show (on the new Imac i should add) and Amanda has put together the most amazing invitations and decorations.  I hope to have 40 to 50 friends and family to be there.  I hope they enjoy it!  I guess this is my way of trying to thank them for the countless things they have done for me over the years without hesitation.  I'll never be able to repay them, but I hope I can be the man that they will always be proud of.

25 things about me.

1. I am a dreamer. I dream of things I want to do, but rarely find the time to do any of them.2. My wife calls me bowling ball because she says the only place I gain weight is in my belly.3. I am most always happy and it's really not fake.4. My life was threatened by a black guy at Macy's in NYC because I pushed my friend Jon Castle and he bumped into him. We both lived.5. I recently dreamed that I was peeing and when I woke up... well, you know the rest!6. When my wife and I got married in Hawaii I had to stop the ceremony because I forgot the ring about 50 yards down the beach. It was a fake one that I purchased at Walmart in Hawaii because I forgot the real one at home.7. I have more compassion for animals than I do for humans.8. I love to play tricks on people. My favorite is cover up the laser on my coworkers mice so they won't work. They've already figured this one out. 9. I can't sleep unless my leg is lying on my wife's back. When she is gone I stack up two pillows to simulate it.10. I used to pretend I was Zack Morris. I still watch Saved by the Bell everyday.11. I am scared to death of bugs. I know it's a little girly, but the Praying Mantis is horrifying.12. I almost drown at Waves of Fun in Hurricane, WV when I was 13, but i never told anyone, until now.13. I slept in the floor by my parents bed until was 6. I was joined by Teddy Ruxpin and My buddy.14. I was picked up by the police when I was 15 for throwing eggs on Halloween. Coach Sexton was there when I was released. He was yelling, "What kind of bird don't fly?" at me for 10 minutes.15. I am slowly going bald and I have psoriasis on my scalp. Talk about a double negative. lol16. I only require 5 hours of sleep and regularly get less than that. It makes everyday exciting.17. My wife and I make up our own dances to popular songs. You should see our "Single Ladies" dance.18. I have always wanted to be a teacher even though I require much more money than I would ever get paid.19. I was once attacked by a chicken and spurred in my back for picking up it's little chics.20. My dad had me convinced when I was younger than he could turn out the sun with a button in the car. Later I found out he could only do it when we went through a shady place on the road. 21. I could jump and grab the rim in High School with little effort and barely grabbed the net recently at the YMCA. 22. I was stripped to my underwear and forced to swim across a freezing cold river for initiation in baseball my sophomore year. I earned the nickname, "The wet spider", then. 23. I was bug bitten in a private area when I was 10 and it swelled up like a balloon. My dad is caught on video camera telling everyone at the All-Star game.24. I think I divulged too much on number 24. 25. I hit a bear last year and totalled my car. On the way home in the wrecker these too large hairy men asked me if I had any cash. I was sitting in the wrecker inbetween them. I was petrified. They took me home down a back road that I wasn't famimliar with. I had no cell phone service nor did I have any cash. I prayed a lot. I finally made it home with my wallet and dignity. I was relieved. I told them I would drop off a tip at the wrecker shop when I got some cash. I never did. Sometimes at night, I hear the wrecker in the driveway. This is all true.

Tax Time!

I finally received my w2 today! I am excited to get a little money back, however I am sure it won't be near as much as last year. I did lose a significant amount of my commission income this year. I still owe the state. I have to pay them every year. I desperately need to have more money taken out of my check this year. I loathe cutting them a check each April.

Today was a long day at work. Our internet was out until 3:00 and that affected our phones because we have Voice Over Internet Protocol (VOIP). That is basically the same as Vonage or Magic Jack which means our phones run through our internet. I'm sure it saves the company a ton of money. It also saved me 6 hours today! The Verizon technician was able to get everything working in about 10 minutes once he showed up. I asked him if he could make sure they would go out next Monday, too, but he didn't think it was as funny as I did. He could have been a good sport, at least.

I guess we are supposed to get a lot of snow tonight. I never believe all of the hype until I see the white flakes piling up myself. I miss the blizzards from when I was younger. They weren't really blizzards, but honestly we amassed more snow then now. My friends and I used to tunnel through the piles in my yard. It's a wonder we never suffocated from a collapse. I think it was back in 1993 when we got hammered with like a foot or more. I remember being out of school for a week. I had the best time ever. I would give anything to go back to those days. I miss being care free and just believing the world was so pure. I had the best upbringing anyone could ever ask for, but I guess that's another story for another day.

amanda, me, dad, and momma

I miss being in shape!

Amanda, Carlie, Katie, and I have been playing Wii Fit this evening. It's definitely strange that Nintendo can actually get those of us that loathe excercising to actually enjoy it. The Wii Fit can actually get me sweating in about 15 minutes. My girls are all downstairs doing the balance games as i type this and it's almost my turn. I going to win at every game. Actually, I won't win at all. I find it hard to beat my wife at many of those crazy games. I think she takes losing even harder than I do.

On other news, I am planning on having my parents a 40th anniversary party in March. We are in the early stages of planning so if anyone has any ideas let me know. Oh, and if anyone reads this that knows my parents or my loud mouth brother don't tell them. I hope all goes well and we are able to get everything we want ready for the big day. My parents have done so much for me over the years it makes me excited to be able to surprise them with something.

I guess I'll go back and play some more Wii before we watch Narnia: Prince Caspian. I've never seen Prince Caspian and am extremely excited about it. We all watched the first Narnia in the theater when it first came out and it was awesome. I am pretty pumped to see it tonight. It's nice that there are still great family movies out there. I am about sick of the filthy comedy movies that come out every other week.

Until next time.......

To Teach or not to Teach?

I have been thinking a lot about teaching lately. I have thought a lot about it for the last few years, but now I'm becoming more obsessed about it. I have always wanted to be a teacher and several of my friends already are and this just intensifies my desire. Lately, the mortgage industry isn't doing the best and though I wouldn't leave my current profession just because the state of the economy, I could plan for an alternate career in the off chance that Obama isn't the savior that everyone seems to be painting him to be.

Circuit City announced on Friday that they would be starting liquidation effective the next day and I learned that several of my friends would no longer have a job. Circuit City provided a lucrative career for many. In fact, 34,000 people will be without a job in the upcoming days. I don't foresee the end of the economic downturn in the near future. But, I do expect that a new flat screen could end up on my wall if the liquidation decided to drop a few more percentage points in the upcoming weeks.

This morning we got to church on time despite the sudden ice storm we encountered. We actually parked in a spot closer to church than we normally get. However, my wife, as usual, attempted to hurry across the road before the crossing guards let the next line of traffic through and fell in the middle of the road. Thankfully I managed to catch her before she hit too hard, but she did get a dirty knee. I'm sure her arm will be a little sore in the morning too because I yanked on it rather hard while she was falling.

Friday night we had a party for my friend Michael Wooten. He is leaving WSAZ (http://www.wsaz.com/) effective January 28 and will be working in Buffalo, NY. We all hate to see him leave, but he knows what he wants and we all wish him the best. The party was fun and all us guys sure had a great time making fun of one another as we do best.

Amanda and I watched Paul Blart: Mall Cop before I went to the party and it was hilarious. I knew Kevin James would be able to last in a feature film. He was as funny as he was in every King of Queens episode I have ever watched. I'll definitely be renting that movie as soon as I can.

I suppose I should go help with the dishes now. We fixed stir fry for dinner today and we are both stuffed. I am missing much of the game right now too. If any has any suggestions on teaching please don't hesitate to let me know.

The Holidays are over!

My Sunday is coming to and end. My final day of not being at Beneficial will be over soon and then back to business as usual. I hope this week is productive. I also hope it goes by as fast as possible. I'm finally starting to realize that the holiday season is over. This will be my first full week of work in about 4 weeks. I hope I can make it through the week. I usually get run down around Wednesday.

I've been working out with the Wii Fit pretty hard. It seems humorous that this game is what it has taken for me to do something other than sit at my desk, but it works. The exercises seem easy, but once you start doing it it gets progressively harder and it's quite fun! I'm actually sore today, but I know that it doesn't take much to get these muscles to ache. My neighbors are probably wondering what's going on next door when Amanda and I are hula hooping.

We have been taking all the Christmas decorations down today and have condensed 4 boxes into one. We have thrown out so much stuff. I should have probably put a lot of it on eBay, but the thought of all that work for a couple of bucks didn't seem worth it to me today. I'll probably regret it after the garbage truck wakes me up again in the morning. We slept late today and missed Church so I've had more time to do some things. I do hate missing Church though so I have read a few chapters in my Bible. I'm trying to read a lot more than I used to. I know it's important. It's funny that the Bible stories that I've always known are different when I go in and read them for myself. I guess when I heard them as a child some parts just got left out. It's like that game that children play in Elementary School; you know when you whisper a secret in one child's ear and as each child whispers it to the other it gets completely changed before the last child says it aloud. I do love reading the Bible though and hope I continue.

I should get downstairs. Amanda is still down there wrapping each ornament from the tree individually for fear of one of them getting broken. I would just cram them in a box and hope for the best. That's probably why I'm not allowed to help with it. I could find something else to do though. It's hard to pry me from the computer when I have a free minute.

A New Year

I should start by saying that I've never had a dedicated site for a blog. I posted some things on my myspace page www.myspace.com/jonathankyle and the pre myspace website www.xanga.com/drroop04, but never a page directly for writing. This could be good for me because I do enjoy writing (though I'm not very gramatically correct) and I have a journal at my bedside, but tend to never find the time to write. It's easier to type than look at my grotesque hand writing.

I still work for Beneficial, but I've move to the Southridge location. And while I'm thinking about it I should mention my new friend Jesse (yes, he's a guy) for turning me on to this site. I am relieved to be out of Beckley and closer to my wife, parents, friends, and most important, Church. We need to start looking for a house, but aren't in too much of a hurry. It will definitely be nice when we can get out of East Bank a purchase something closer to Charleston or Boone to cut down on the driving time and finally settle in something of our own. I'm definitely ready!

Amanda is gone to Cleveland to see her family this weekend. I am home alone and bored. I made chicken stir fry tonight and rented the latest Harry Potter movie. She won't watch them with me so this is my only chance! And I should mention that the stir fry was delicious. I may have found my calling. I hope to work out with the Wii Fit tonight, too. It has been chastising me a bit for being overweight. My BMI was 25.23. I guess sitting at my desk all day for 3 years with minimal exercise is playing its toll on me. It's finding time to exercise that's the problem.

I suppose I should go finish up some laundry and exercise for at least 45 minutes before Harry Potter. Tomorrow will result in much of the same, but Amanda will be home in the evening and I won't have to stack up pillows on the right side of the bed to put my leg over.