Two hours until my 33rd birthday. Happy Birthday to me!

This week I got some bad news, later replaced by really good news. I guess many saw that there was a proposed spending freeze for federal employees. While not exactly excited about that, I understood it. Then the next day I found out that my expected annual performance appraisal bonus was doubled what I expected. So that extra money will exceed the 1.4% raise that was proposed for next year. What an awesome early birthday present! Our organization must have done really well in our performance indicators. I'm proud of us. Despite what the public perception may be of federal employees, we really do try to go above and beyond for our veterans.

I was feeling a little bored today and decided to do some Christmas shopping. I know, I'm so bad. I really need to get presents for men, but it's always so much easier to shop for women, so that's what I ended up buying. Oh my goodness, the mall traffic was crazy. I didn't even make it to the mall. I just shopped near the mall then I wimped out and left. Besides, my brake tag expired in October and I suddenly remembered that fact. My car was in the repair shop for most of last month due to repairs from my accident in September.

So the moral of that story is, don't go to the mall on the weekend in the month of December. That's just crazy. I need to not forget that lesson next year. I really do not ever remember it being like that before now. Maybe this is a sign of economic recovery. I sure hope so.

I don't mean to be flippant about the economic prosperity I enjoy, but I'm kind of tired of hearing about what's wrong with our country. I'd like to start hearing that we're doing great. Sometime soon please. That will be my wish when I blow out the candles on my cake.