You guys? Thank you. Thanks for listening, for your support, and your encouragement. You’ve given me something that makes up for the sleepless nights - and y’know what? Y’all are right. There’s no reason to give up something I love.

I still hope that it’s over and that my ghost from the past understands and decides that they’re through with me once and for all, but in the light of day, I know that if they really wanted to find me, they could. (Yea, 21st century technology and all that? Not a problem.) And so, I have come to realize that I actually appreciate that they asked me before making contact. And so I’ll say it: “Dear Ghost - Thanks. I mean it. I hope you’re happy and that life gives you the best it has to offer.”

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And now? Well, obviously I owe you a post after my bout of panic-assedness yesterday, so here’s a discussion from outside the Hotfessional office door today.

HotAdmin: “We need to order 2008 calendars for the staff, but the purchasing system doesn’t have them in the catalog. “

Hotfessional: “As long as we’re not getting $40 or $50 calendars, I guess people can go buy them from “Paperclips” and put them on their expense report. Or we can wait until January and go get them really cheap from The Dollar Store!”

HotAdmin: “Or I can just print off calendar templates from MSWord and have them bound with those plastic thingies!”

Hotfessional: “Y’know, that could save me from having to have layoff discussions with everyone. I can see it now -

‘Here Jane! You get the first quarter 2008. John, you get throughApril! Atta boy! Damn. I’m sorry Sally, you only get January. That’s really too bad.’”

Snort. So, we can’t buy calendars. All equipment replacements are on hold. Employees have end dates and are leaving pretty much weekly. Managers are looking out for themselves and paying little attention to their staff or coworkers. Morale? Sucks eggs. Stinky, rotten, ‘Ooops, forgot I hid that there’ Easter Eggs. So, you get your laughs where you can and thank heaven for your friends and family.

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Oh, and the school bus situation? Got a call from the transportation office lady with the correct bus number. Her response to why we didn’t get a card mailed to the house with the information? “Oh, he’s a Junior. We don’t send bus information out to Juniors or Seniors.”

People? WTF?

First off, he’s a 15-year-old Junior. We live two miles from the school. The district assumes what? I’m going to drive my 15-year-old to and from school every day (yea, I can interrupt meetings at 2:30 in the afternoon to go pick my kid up - that’s going to go over well.)

Or maybe, that he’s going to walk or ride his bike? Sure. (Okay, I walked 15 miles uphill both ways in snow up to my chin…or wait, was that my father?) Need I remind you? This is country-ville Michigan. And? He’s a 15-year-old boy. If it’s not baseball, he’s only walking from the computer to the refrigerator and back. And half the damn time? He’s asking you to do the walking for him. “Mom, can you bring me up that cold pizza???!!!??”

Or, that all Juniors are 16 and can drive (um, no?) and (this is my favorite), have their own cars. Okay, it’s the Motor City, but having a Michigan address does NOT mean the auto industry gives you a set of wheels on your Sweet Sixteenth. (That would be 90210, not 48108.)

So, Poor Shortman. Until he does get his license and we work out some sort of schedule for him to use one of the vehicles and he figures out what he’s going to do to earn the $50 parking permit fee (Oh! another reason they don’t want Juniors riding busses. Fifty bucks to park your car. That Ford Motor Co. gave you.), he’ll be riding the bus.

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—- And this? Because you all are the best. —-