Back by Popular Demand.

My fans were starting to get restless so I better post something.

I went back to Michigan last weekend to attend my older brother's commencement ceremony. It was a big day as the last of the Phelan boys got his bachelor's degree. It was a nice ceremony but I particularly enjoyed the chocolate chip cookies and punch served afterward. He now has a BBA with a major in Marketing so if anyone knows of employment opportunities for recent marketing grads please let me know. :-)

I also got quite a bit of business taken care of while I was up north. I helped the folks with some retirement stuff, did some investment banking work for TPG, had a meeting with my second largest client, and talked with my friend about the condo investment we are no longer going to make. I even got the Firm to reimburse me for my plane ticket, which may represent the first direct payment I've ever received for providing investment advice. Well, at least the first cash payment. I have been very busy lately with the pro-bono PAM (Phelan Asset Management) work. It sure beats writing exam reports. Also of note on the trip was the heavy turbulance on the flight back down. It may have been the worst I've experienced. I had to hold onto my laptop so it wouldn't fly off the tray table. It was a little nerve-racking but the lighting out the window was cool to watch.

Not too much exciting happening here. However, we did learn a new trade today. Ceramic tiling. Let me tell you, laying the tile isn't too tough but doing the layout for one tile grid that includes 5 rooms is a real bitch. It took us a couple hours just to figure out the layout. It was the most difficult type of house that we build though so it should be cake from now on. Tomorrow we are supposed to be learning how to shingle a roof. I'm glad we are learning different trades because that damn punchlist and painting work was starting to kill me. Actually, it's not that bad but the more I learn the more things I can try to do and screw up on other people's houses when I'm done here.

We've had a little drama in the Corps this week with some members frustrations with management coming to a crescendo. Basically, we were given a BS busy work job to do with volunteers from Enterprise Rent-a-car and they caught on that it was BS (they were supposed to frame a house and were raking islands in a subdivision instead). They asked Brian if it was busywork and he said yes. One of the volunteers filled out a negative survey and Brian got a one-on-one lecture and then we got a group lecture about how every job is important and necessary. Well, obviously that lecture was BS too. So Brian might start looking for other employment elsewhere this weekend, which is too bad because he is just about everyone's favorite co-worker. All of the management BS doesn't bother me much because I've been dealing with this type of stuff for years and I do a pretty good job of keeping things in perspective I think.

Well, I hope that will keep the disgruntle blog reader's happy for a while. Also, if I don't get at least a couple comments for a post I won't post again for a while because I assume no one is reading so throw out some BS comments.

Upcoming events: Jacksonville Symphony, Superbowl Party, and another trip to Orlando. Stayed tuned.

-Jonnie Juicebox

PS - The picture is part of the 94 home subdivision we just started at the beginning of January.