Now that I have my own office at my house, about the only I miss from working in a full office is the extra help from a secretary when I need something filed or something researched. I just can’t seem to keep up with the filing.

My current system does not work very well – I have a couple of piles of papers on my desk and on the bookcase behind my desk. Every once in a while the papers get knocked down and scattered by the dogs walking on them. That drives me nuts! But this week I am going to dedicate at least one hour each night to get caught up with my paperwork. I can’t stand a messy desk and I can’t find the papers I need anymore. So it is time to bite the bullet and get my filing done.

When I drove through Mt. Juliet earlier today I was surprised to see that the real estate company where I used to work was closed and the office furniture was being loaded onto a moving truck. So I stopped in to see what was going on, and it turns out that the broker decided to buy a new, larger house and set up a home office instead of keeping the office building in town.

Her husband and son were loading up all the desks and filing cabinets whene I stopped by, and she asked me if I wanted to buy anything from the office, like a floor lamp or bookshelves. I have a home office, too, but I have already bought most of the things I need.

I was surprised when she asked if I wanted to buy the old high volume copier. That used to be her pride and joy. It is an old Konica black and white copier, with automatic duplexing and a 20 bin sorter. She told me that she had found a place on the internet to order the Konica Minolta drum and toner cartridges at a great discount price. The web site, www.gmsupplies.com sells both new OEM and compatible supplies from 30 different manufacturers, which is probably the most complete supply source anywhere. They carry supplies for printers, fax machines and copiers and offer free shipping on orders over $50. That is a great deal in itself and cheaper than driving to a store and paying for gas to get there and back.

Tonight’s Great Race had some interesting challenges for the different teams. I was cheering for the couple from Kentoucky, as I thought the woman was a sweet and simple country girl who needed a break. Her husband was a little too mouthy sometimes – to the point of probably abusive if he had been in private instead of being shadowed by a camera crew. He said many flattering things about her on camera, but his actions showed a more aggressive side and he berated her several times unnecessarily.

So of course, during a challenge where the couples are split up, the woman from Kentucky goes down a mountain trail and makes a wrong turn, ending up miles away from where her husband was waiting for her. She was so upset at her mistake, but did her best to get back to him as quickly as she could. She ended up hitchhiking with a local who drove her back to the rendevous point. I though they might be eliminated or penalized for her getting a ride instead of completing the task as assigned, but as it turned out, they were the last to check in and were eliminated.

To the credit of her husband, at the end after being told they were eliminated, he did credit his wife for being a good woman and someone whom he cherished. I was said to see them go, I think this would have been an experience of a lifetime for them both.

This afternoon I drove down the Starbucks in Hermitage and decided to sit down with a newspaper and just chill out for an hour or so. I wasn’t there long when a lady came in who I recognized right away as one of my former neighbors! So I had to say hello, and invited her to sit down with me for a little chat.

Jane looked exhausted, which is why she came in for a caffeine pick-me-up. She has been keeping her grandchildren full time for about 6 weeks and when you are not used to having little ones underfoot all day and all night, it can wear you out. She’s going to have them for at least another 2 weeks, but today they are visiting their father, so she has a day to shop and pamper herself with a tall machiatto.

Jane’s daughter needed a residential alcohol rehabilitation program to help her with detox and counseling. When she got her second DUI, she finally had to admit that she needed help. The scarey thing is that she had been driving while intoxicated and she had the kids in the car with her.

The judge made her bring information on alcoholism to court with her and made her pick out the alcohol treatment center right there in his chambers during her DUI trial. So she picked out where she wanted to go and he made her call the admissions counselor using his phone and she made the appointment. They usually have a waiting list, but they found a way to get her in their program right away. That was six weeks ago.

I am the first to admit that I know little about alcohol rehab but I know there are some excellent programs, like the Orchid Recovery Center, which specializes in addiction treatments just for women. They can also help with substance abuse, like prescription drug abuse and cocaine addiction. So talking with Jane brought a lot of new information about alcoholism to my attention.

Today’s Chronicle had an article about homekeeping that was interesting to read from a California perspective. They wrote about what items should be kept under the kitchen sink. The point is that this is a prime location and should be used for the most important items, that you use every day.

• Dry cleanser
• Liquid cleanser
• Dishwashing liquid
• Window Cleaner
• Sponges and scrubbers
• Vases
• Trash

So that’s their list. You can read the entire article from the link. I don’t agree with this entire list, but I don’t live in California.

So we didn’t get the nasty snow and ice that the weatherman forecast for us yesterday. That’s a blessing. I went ahead and bought some extra groceries and stayed in last night. I got a lot of fun surfing done – found a lot of nice sites and new links.

There hasn’t been a lot of news that was all that interesting, but I’ve been learning a lot about holidays and book authors and even more details about commonplace objects and foods. It is amazing what you can learn when you turn off the TV and start looking for interesting web sites.

Most days I am a happy person and I like to look on the bright side of things. But there are some people who are just too darn perky all the time and they get on my nerves. I’m sorry, but its just not normal for humans to be perky ALL the time.

Evidently, I’m not the only one who has noticed this, because I just found this hilarious video on “The Onion” web site about a drug called “Despondex” for people who are too happy. Obviously, this is a joke, people! But I wish I could order some for Rachel Ray and a couple other people I know locally.

I have an old desktop PC in the extra bedroom that I use every once in a while. But to be honest, I usually work on my laptop pc when I’m at home. If I’m on my laptop then I can sit on the couch in the living room with my dogs, or sit up on my bed with it. Sometimes I even go outside and site on the swing, because the wireless router reaches a long ways from my downstairs cable modem.

The old desktop PC still runs Windows XP, which is nice. But I am starting to have some problems with the PC being old. Like, the new printer that I bought does not work as a “plug and play” peripheral with old PCs. I have to download the printer drivers from the internet to get the printer to work with the desktop.

That’s a big inconvenience, but its nothing I can’t handle. I have been working on computers and networks for over 15 years, and I’m not afraid to download hp drivers and install them. That is easy!

A couple months ago my new laptop downloaded an upgrade and for some reason the upgrade made my camera not download my photos anymore. So I had to download the Sony driver so I can printer the photos from my digital camera. That was easy to do and I’m glad I can stay on top of these kinds of technical things. In fact, a good site like www.driverssoftware.com makes it easy enough for anyone to download and install drivers. So bookmark this drivers site for future reference!

From poking around some of my old bookmarks, I decided to check out the Adam Carolla web site and see what he’s got going on. OMG! Yesterday was their last radio show!

I have no idea what happened. The web site is not updated and neither are their MySpace pages. I’m shocked that their show has been canceled or not picked up or whatever happened. All I can glean from the web site is that Adam is going to continue broadcasting via podcast. Which sounds like a bandaid to him not being on the radio with his own show. Bummer!

We are going to be in Atlanta in early March for a regional sales meeting. I’m looking forward to seeing some of our sales managers again, but i’m also looking forward to seeing some of my friends who live in the Atlanta area. I’m going to drive down in my own car so I’m not trapped into all company functions for the week. If I have my own car I can get out of a few things and see my friends for dinner or maybe even a show.

One of my good friends, Adam, was telling me about this new Atlanta hi rise condo development in Buckhead, called Sovereign. This beautiful futuristic building will change the skyline of Atlanta with it’s tall graceful shape. Have you heard about the Sovereign Buckhead?

If you know Atlanta, then you know that Buckhead is THE place to go for shopping and great restaurants. I always stay in that area unless my company puts me somewhere else for a company function. We do have alot of meetings in Atlanta and I love that city. It is always a lot of great things going on and it is a much nicer major city than Miami or Washington – or even Dallas. I’m so jealous of the people who are buying these new condos at the Sovereign – it is right in the middle of the best of Atlanta!