Profunksticated

Hello folks, sorry to have been away. But this month has been an absolute dog in terms of work. We have three different projects all going out the door within a week of each other, all to the same client.

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Friday marked one month since Barack Obama was sworn in as President of these United States. Can you believe all the stuff he has gotten accomplished in that month? First pushing the stimulus package through Congress, and then announcing his plan to help troubled homeowners stave off foreclosure. It’s almost like this guy is too good to be real. Imagine – a President who is actually trying to help the people at home

I’m hoping the Spouse and I can take advantage of this foreclosure avoidance plan. We’ve been in talks with the lender on our NJ home for the past few months, trying to explain how tough it is to keep up when one spouse is living, working and paying rent out of state, in the DMV, and the other is relying on a disability payment that’s only 60 percent of her normal salary. My wife told me she was on the phone with our lender once more, and became so frustrated with the harsh attitude of the guy on the other end that she broke down in tears.

Hearing her talk about this gave me one of those “F— it, let me pack it in and move back home” moments. But then I remembered we need the health insurance that my current gig provides. The person on the other end finally softened and said he would see what he could do to work with us.

We weren’t among those folks with meager incomes buying a $400,000 McMansion. Our house is a modest, early 1950s-era, brick exterior split level with three bedrooms, a decent-sized finished basement and 1.5 baths. We’d really like to keep it.

In a related note, I’ve decided to add Google Adsense to this blog. “Monetizing” the blog, I think they call it. Anyway, if you folks would do old Pro a favor and click on the ads to help a brother out given our situation, he would be eternally grateful. (I hope it’s not bad form to explicitly ask for this, but a brother needs some help.) Thanks much.

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Today, as I write this, marks a year since my now 21-year-old daughter was hit by a car near her school. That case hasn’t yet been resolved. I still praise the Lord she wasn’t seriously injured or killed.

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Here is a really sad story I found in today’s Washington Post. If you’re a Christian, you have to believe the one saving grace is that the young woman who moved to Sierra Leone converted to Christianity shortly before she was killed.

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Pro starts his master’s program in Information Systems next week. I’ve gotten the first textbook and have so far read the first two chapters and an accompanying online “tech guide” that explained the software development life cycle process, which involves a lot of what my employer does. I’m feeling pretty good about this program. The textbook is extremely well-written.

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I was out at a Chinese food joint in Maryland Saturday night. Yes, I broke down and bought fried chicken wings and barbeque spear rib tips. Hey, I’m working out, remember? By the way, I’m close to breaking 230 pounds! Yee-freaking-ha!!!

Anyway, I met a man there wearing a leather jacket and baseball cap with patches commemorating the Buffalo Soldiers. I asked if he had any ancestors who were Buffalo Soldiers and he said none that he knew of, but it was likely there were some in his family. He said he only wanted to pay homage to such African American pioneers, along with the Tuskegee Airmen.

Nothing wrong with seeing so many folks wearing Obama gear, but it was refreshing to see someone wearing gear for the brothers who way back when helped us along our journey to equality in this land called America.