I felt like I worked more than 50 hours this past week, but I am allowed to only credit myself 40 hours. My supervisors would be suspicious of me if they saw me put more than 40 hours because the firm will not pay paid overtime due to the economy. I know I could skip out if I wanted to, but I needed to work overtime because I got bombarded with work this week. I did ask for it as I pushed my group of project managers to get billings finalized so that I could place more time and effort to my other responsibilities. I am happy that they DID respond to me this month, unlike my other efforts in previous months. I only have one project manager left to bug, then I should be finished with processing billings this month. And it'll be done... on time for once!

The major event during my work week was the office meeting on Wednesday. The boss of the office wanted to give those in the office that day all updates our office has been involved with. He did his best to motivate the employees and provided positive examples that the office's activity is increasing. We did win two big projects, the office's chargeability is at 90% and other items. My accounting co-worker and I presented briefly touching on a few items we thought was important for everyone to hear. However, the mood in the meeting (to me) was moot.

The highlight of the meeting when one of the assistant project managers asked the boss whether we'd go back to hiring more people if we win more big projects down the line. The boss replied no, believing that the staff we have currently can handle the increased workload until it gets to a certain point. That answer confirmed to me that the firm is going to continue to stretch all of our staffers thin until further notice. The firm I work for is an engineering consulting firm, so the biggest operating expense the firm has is payroll. Until the increased workload justifies new hiring, I doubt the firm will hire any body anytime soon.

I did receive a nice notification from a college friend that her firm had a staff opening for a staff accounting. I'd be all over it if it wasn't for a few things. First off, which I am ashamed to admit, that I don't know how to drive yet. Second, my parents use both cars to commute to their workplace. They drop off and pick up my brother and I at our local train station, which is on their way to work. I hope that position is still open if I things somehow move my way.

Lately, I've been second guessing my choice of being an accountant. When I was a freshman in college, accounting seemed like a good career to get into. It's well respected, great salary, and plentiful job opportunities available at that time. However, I soon learned the hard lesson of competition. I was going against my peers and top students from other schools for the few staff openings offered. I managed to get in a couple of interviews, but ultimately failed to make an impression. I finally broke through with a summer job at my current workplace, which turned into a full-time position. But now after going through two years working in the grueling office environment, I wonder if this is what I want to do with the rest of my working career. I know I haven't worked as a true accountant, so I can't make a judgment on it yet, but if this is what I have to look forward to, I'm going to need a lot of support to keep me clear and sane.

Ultimately, I have to sit back and say that I am grateful to still work at a job that pays. I know there are plenty of people out there who would gladly do my job at a lower salary than what I earn right now. I am glad that I am living under a roof, have an opportunity to work, access to technology, and plenty of food and water to consume. It makes me feel bad that I could probably do more to support those who are far worse off than we are. I may hate my job, I may hate where I stand right now, but compared to many others living in our planet, I am way more fortunate. It still stinks that I have to continue to place my personal wants in the back burner as I continue to put forth all of my energy to others, but I realize that's life.

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I finally shipped off my malfunctioned X-Box 360 console to Microsoft's repair center somewhere in Texas. I had to pay for the box to ship it off as Microsoft provided a prepaid shipping label to us on Tuesday. I'm hoping that it'll be repaired and returned in two weeks, but I'm thinking early to mid-October is more likely for my console's return. It feels a bit weird to not play any X-Box in the last two weeks since I already invested so much to the system, as well as all of my friends on it too. The Playstation 3 is serving me quite well in the meantime.

I don't know why I love watching [American] football so much. I am glad that my Sundays will be a bit more exciting now that the season is underway. Anyone surprised the amount of injuries piling up this early in the season?

The City of Philadelphia can finally breathe as the Pennsylvania congress passed a bill to send additional funding to cover the city's deficit. The mayor threatened to enact his "doomsday budget" if the state failed to pass the bill to fund the city. The doomsday budget would close all libraries and layoff a lot of city employees, including police and fire departments. Now the state congress has to pass the state budget, which is STILL UNSIGNED! This is why the public is frustrated with the government, with actions such as this.

I went on a spending spree so far this month, and I hope I made the last purchases until the holidays arrive. Here's the insane list of purchases I made so far...

VIDEO GAMES
* Playstation 3 Slim Console [$300]
* The Beatles: Rock Band (PS3) [$60]
* The Beatles: Rock Band John Lennon guitar replica (PS3) [$100] [I thought the game was packaged with the guitar, but it didn't. So I basically spent $100 on a plastic guitar. I wanted to return it, but Wal-Mart wouldn't take back newly opened items. What the ....!]
* Dirt 2 (PS3) [$60]
* Guitar Hero 5 w/ guitar (PS3) [$100]
* Hot Shots Golf: Out of Bounds (PS3, used) [$35]

MUSIC ALBUMS
* The Avalanches - Since I Left You (used CD) [$4]
* Fennesz - Black Sea (LP) [$16]
* Oneida - Rated O (3xLP) [$23]
* Six Organs of Admittance - Luminous Night (LP) [$16]
* Yo La Tengo - Popular Songs (2xLP) [$27]

MUSIC RELATED
* Three tickets to see Mono on September 27th. [$36]
* A drum kit with a snare, three drums, bass drum, high hat cymbal and crash cymbal. (used, purchased from Craigslist) [$300]
* Various drum and guitar items. [$100]

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I hope all of you are doing well with your lives! Thanks for reading!