I just read moments ago about divorce and the most common reason for divorce ... it actually surprised me a bit because I thought it would be the other way around. In any case, the number one reason for divorce is adultery by the wife (the wife cheats on the husband with another man ... or woman). That stunned me a bit as I said since I pictured men being more likely to wander. Apparently not the case.

I also read that the "7-year itch" is actually more of a 4-year itch. Most marriages begin breaking apart at the 4 year mark. If that mark is passed without a trouble, the strain begins to lessen ... I guess. I don't really know but I guess that is the general mark for breaking apart.

Why am I curious about all of this? Honestly, no reason. I happened to be checking my e-mail and I use AOL.com for that. Their "welcome page" had top 5 mistakes during divorce and then a sub topic was about divorce, why, and when it occurs. Don't get worried -- I don't know anyone that is getting a divorce or anything. I did find it sad that AOL's welcome page was discussing divorce as if that is something that should be planned. Bleh. I know that supposedly 50% of marriages end in divorce but can't we not focus on that with highlighting it? It just seems a bit negative to me. Let's focus on the 50% that stay together. Tell us why they are successful. Tell us the happy stories. OK, I know I'm lame with wanting the positive side of things but negativity cannot be healthy.

I decided to order an xbox 360. The big motivating factor was that I am going to be having surgery and will be at home doing nothing for a week. People may come visit, which would be swell, but other times I'm going to need something to keep me occupied and I don't think movies are going to be able to handle my attention all day. I can lie down while playing games on xbox 360 so that should work out well. Sitting at the computer I suspect is going to be painful at least at first but I may be wrong and I may not have much pain at all. That'd be nice.

My family is funny (extended family). They started bickering through e-mails about who should host Thanksgiving next year. Keep in mind that Aunt Alaina did not say she did not want to host it any longer. She actually said quite the opposite about how it was easy for her this year with everyone else preparing dishes to bring and taking some of the workload off of her shoulders. In any case, my father chimed in with the suggestion that we host it next year so that he may attend. He also through in other reasons like Uncle Andrew and Aunt Sharon would drive a shorter distance. Uncle Andrew mentioned his lack of concern about the journey so it wound up ending on just the fact that my father cannot always attend when things are not at our house. I would like to note that my mother made no input on this subject and it seems to me that she was not even really asked whether she would want to host Thanksgiving and Christmas (of course someone could take Christmas but still ...). I dunno, it was funny to me and probably only my family would really understand the humor of it all so I guess you can just skip this paragraph entirely. Whoops, too late.

The attendance at work has been particularly horrendous the last week or so. We were doing bad but we hit new lows and our originally positive cash flow appears to have flipped upside-down in the last month or two. It is unfortunate since we already knew that the building would close eventually. It seemed for most of the year that we would be able to make a good argument to keep ourselves open but then Jeff left and bills started coming in that were somehow overlooked by someone somewhere in the company. One thing leads to another and we're in the red. I won't discuss how much since that is probably not legal. Most people could probably look at our parking lot and figure out that we're in the red so I figure that is OK. In any case, it seems to make a greater argument for me to switch over to Rave come January or February. I continue to be tempted to wait a bit and see if Jeff gets the GM position and is able to offer me a sum that would further entice my interest in switching ships. I'm in the same boat that Jeff was ... it isn't so much that I dislike Regal, it is that we know this particular building has maybe a year left in it and we'd much prefer to have job security where business is just coming out of your ears. Rave provides that and for (apparently) much more money than Regal is offering. I know money doesn't mean everything but for the amount they offered Jeff, I suspect they may be able to offer me a substantial increase as well and make it near impossible to say no. I'm not saying that Jeff will be able to get such an offer or that he would even be willing to give me such an offer but current impressions are that he would indeed be willing and that the offer could potentially be more tempting than originally suggested. That whole sentence probably made no sense but it did to me and I guess that is all that matters since this is technically a journal that other people happen to read ... maybe.

I won't lie. I'm beginning to have apprehensions about the surgery. I suppose a certain level of nervousness is natural when dealing with any type of surgery. There is always the off chance that I could die on the table for some freak reason. Somehow the .001% chance gets into your head and you go, "OMG I COULD BE THAT 1 in 100,000 person!" Of course, it is more likely that the person will be someone having open heart surgery or some other crucial area of the body. A hernia operation resulting in death is absurd. However, all operations have some level of risk or they'd just let anyone do it. I'm not actually sure that is what is worrying me though. I have this strange feeling that my insurance is going to give me a hard time about paying it even now that it will be after my pre-existing condition exclusion period has ended. I talked to the Regal benefits center back in July and they said after the period has ended they will cover it (they being the insurance company). I must assume that Regal does know a thing or two about the company they are using as the insurance provider. If not, I'll probably wind up calling Regal again and going, "hey, what gives?" and see what they say. I'm not really sure where to put that question mark since that question is the only reason the sentence should have a question mark. I think I put it in the right spot. Anyway ... theoretically everything will go fine and all will be well by next month this time. For those that don't know, I'll be having off from December 27th to January 2nd. Regal will be giving me sick time to use so I won't have to work myself to death, which is a bonus. I do believe I told that last part before but oh well, you just read it again.

I really need to call my Uncle and ask him what he would like for Christmas. Last year he seemed hesitant to want to trade gifts but I think he may have been mentioning that more on my behalf than on his since he most likely has a larger budget than my own. In any case, I will probably call tomorrow or the day after and find out what he wants. Emphasis on the want. I know he has 4 kids and a wife but sometimes you just need a gift that you'd enjoy having rather than one that you'd just need to have for the family or for convenience's sake. We'll see.

I found The Night They Saved Christmas on DVD. You don't know that I was looking for it but I was. I found it. It is a Region 2 DVD which means it plays on DVD players in Europe and Australia but you can play it on region free DVD players or on this program I found called AnyDVD. You can essentially decode it so it is region free and will play. I'm hoping it can be ripped and then burned onto a blank DVD as region 1 so I can play it on my TV. I'm not even sure if that is legal and I'd be happy to watch it on my computer to prevent legal issues. I guess I'll look into that and see what it says but I don't see why it should be a problem. They don't make the DVD in the US for whatever reason so I had to resort to getting a used overseas copy.

I'm not sure if you guys focus on what the Hess truck is from year to year but this year's model is quite unusual. They decided to break away from the utility truck (fire truck, vehicle mover, gas truck, etc etc) and this year's model is that of a monster truck. A pretty neat transition but definitely a change from the norm as well. I suppose change can be good sometimes though. Their charging $22.99 is not one of those nice changes. I remember seeing a commercial in the late 80s for a Hess truck and it was $8.99. Difference? I think so. Don't give me that inflation crap. Inflation hasn't been that dramatic since the late 80s.

Well I've bored you with enough mundane details about my life so I shall depart for bed. I have to work a double tomorrow and then I work Friday ... THEN I get a day off again (woohoo) before working Sunday morning. Rich heads for his wedding/honeymoon in the upcoming week so I'll be in charge I suppose until he gets back (muhaha). OK, now I'm really heading out. Have a good day/night/evening/sleep/dance step.