oh yes, please!

So, The Monkey got his official "Welcome to Verizon Wireless" email yesterday. He is a VZW employee as of June 1st! SWEET! The pay raise and insurance are sure going to be a RELIEF like no other. And I am muchly appreciative of everything that has transpired since his being hired through Manpower. I am especially grateful to our friend Banana who has fought tooth and nail from day one and even before he was hired to get The Monkey not only in with the company but into a better position. She called yesterday evening to thank The Monkey for his continuous hard work and dedication to her team. (My man does have awesome work ethic!) Oh, and just so you know, Banana called her other team member and thanked her as well. She's not giving my hubby preferential treatment. Right now they are VERY shorthanded. The Monkey picked up 12 hours of overtime last week and he's looking at around 10 this week so far. This bothers neither of us because the extra duckies are really helping us out!

Speaking of money, The Monkey's coworker recently got hired on with VZW as well. She had a question about her pay stub and, apparently, brought it to The Monkey for assistance. She had a question about overtime pay or something and then mentioned that she'd received a $900 retroactive bonus on her first paycheck. SAY WHAT?? Oh, did I neglect to mention that, as a VZW employee, he is now eligible for monthly bonuses?? I didn't? Oh, well, now you know! I'm not counting my chickens or anything but WOW a retroactive bonus would be really nice. We could pad our savings acocunt once again (which has dwindled tremendously) and we'd also be able to afford some things that we've been putting off. Like brakes for both cars, for instance. (Also, for the record, our cars are not at all a danger. Our brakes work fine. The Monkey's car needs new pads and rotors because his rotors are warped and his car jerks a bit when you stop. But it does stop with no problem. My car needs a new caliper on the left side. It's sticking and occasionally produces a scraping sound that is definitely cringe-worthy. But, again, it does stop without hesitation. So neither of our cars are posing any sort of danger to us or others.) We could also consider purchasing a dehumidifier for the garage. It's ridiculously humid right now and the air in the garage is very close to palpable that it's a bit uncomfortable. I'm thinking a dehumidifier might help with that.

I spent some time yesterday downloading music. The last "downloading spree" I went on was strictly Metallica. So I went to LA Lloyd's Top 30 to check out some of the new rock songs that are playing on the radio these days. Lots of good stuff. New Nickelback, Mudvayne, Avenged Sevenfold, Hinder, Incubus, 311... the list goes on! So I downloaded about 20 new songs. During my search for potential downloads, I visited one of our favorite radio station's website, WYYX.com to see what they have going on music-wise. Intrigued, I checked out their local concert listings. I was none too excited with their line-up (Godsmack, Kid Rock, Drowning Pool, Green Day, Creed, Theory of a Deadman) because while I would easily go see any of these bands if someone handed me tickets, I'm not really willing to shell out a couple hundred bucks for them. Then, further down the listing, playing on Sunday, October 4th in Atlanta, GA -- METALLICA. I absolutely HAD to price tickets just to see! They weren't ridicilously expensive, either! The wheels in my head started turning. I thought about the look on The Monkey's face when I presented him with tickets to see his favorite band for his birthday. Of course, we don't have the disposable income at the moment so I didn't purchase them. But The Monkey and I talked about potentially going for it. When I asked him the last time he'd seen Metallica in concert he gave me a dumbfounded look and said "Well, never." !!! I've never been to a real concert in my entire life so this would be a REAL treat! The seats would most likely be in the nosebleed section but, still, I'd be able to say that I've seen Metallica live in concert and so would The Monkey! I guess we'll see how things pan out over the summer. I still have my trip up north to think about, after all.

Regarding my trip up north, we are planning for August 4 - 12! I think it's high time that I added a ticker! Just 67 days to go! Hooray!

Now I'm off to tag my new music and then I plan to get a shower. Hoping that the weather holds up through the weekend so I can go swimming! It has been a miserable month weather-wise. TOO much rain.