New toys...

For the last 3 years we've had a couple piece-of-crap Audiovox cellphones, but we finally upgraded to new phones this week so I'm doing the new phone dance (which in my case is scarily similar to "Elaine" dancing on the show Seinfeld... I can't dance). That's the nice thing about working for a company that refurbishes cellular devices, is we now know which phones are garbage and which ones are a better quality. Honestly folks, sometimes price does give more value- the cheap phones really do have more problems and for the most part the more expensive ones are usually worth the price. My personal favorite are the Treo phones; they're a bit heavier PDA touchscreen phone, but they have Windows software and the best camera I've seen on any phone... it's like looking at a TV screen. But yes they are way too expensive for me, so I got a Sanyo Katana.

First, a rant about our old phones: I'm not a fan of Audiovox. From the phones I see at work the charger pins fall out, they have display problems, and like our own personal phones they have a whole assortment of "software issues". Each and every day my phone would freeze up and/or turn itself off and come back on. I'd be in the middle of talking to someone and next thing I'd know I was talking to a phone that's turned off! Argh.

The new Sanyo phones: It's about the shape of the Motorola Razr, but a more solid construction (I don't like the Razr, it has issues too). It has a nice large screen surface area, and sharp high-resolution color. Plus, woo-HOO, it has a CAMERA!! I'm just thrilled to finally have a camera phone (the only drawback, it has no flash). Now I can take pictures of things like my artwork shown in the next section of blog...


Another artwork...

Here's my first picture taken with my new camera. I've had this work finished for a little while, but didn't have any photos of it to post to show ya'll.

This art is a picture of the racehorse "Peace Rules", ridden by Edgar Prado. I drew it with PrismaColor colored pencils on matboard, and size is about 15" x 20".

If I sell this one it ain't gonna be cheap... it's one of my better works thus-far. But before selling it I'd like to get some prints made, which also isn't cheap so I have to wait til I have the money. After I do eventually get prints made I'll let ya'll know in case anyone wants to buy a print or the original.

Speaking of money...

I finally got my raise at work. I'd been promoted back in MAY to being a company trainer, and was promised a pay raise and yet wasn't told how much or when because it was "still being negotiated" with corporate headquarters. So all this time my co-trainer and I've been asking about it and it's been dangled in front of us like carrots. We finally got fed up and arranged a sit-down with our boss's boss, who said he had "forgotten" about our raise. But he then met with the powers-that-be and got it settled.... an extra $2.50/hr, which equates to another $400 a month in my pocket. Plus, backpay going back to Nov 1... which is better than a poke in the eye with a sharp stick, and yet they're basically screwing us out of backpay since MAY which is what we feel is owed... somewhere in the neighborhood of $2400 or so, not including the overtime hours. Welcome to corporate life, Ben Dover...