Last night I had dinner with some friends to celebrate the divorce of one us (not me!) We want to wish her well on her new official single life. I have been saving some money and putting aside items from this month budget to afford it. I figured around 125 should do it. Then another friend who got a substantial raise yesterday treated all of us! (ok there were only three ) but I really fought for paying my own way. She just said Nope! So I have had two free meals this week.

Today I am having lunch out with a friend who has decided to leave the position in the office where we work. He is having a hard time getting projects done. He blames it on everyone else but really he has no diplomacy, rubs people the wrong way and they don’t want to play with him. He is also very “I have a degree in this so I know everything and I have been in the military for so long that I am an expert at running centers like this” attitude. He does not understand the concept of mutual cooperation and has done nothing outstanding in the 9 months he has been with us. My former boss admitted he made a huge mistake in hiring him but now we are stuck with him until he leaves.

I work with people who have 30 + more years of experience doing the work that we are doing. And I have a damn masters degree in this subject and have been accepted to two others to begin in the fall (the one he wanted to attend but was turned down by our office and management! Sometimes it pays to be a contractor.) Anyway it could make things interesting. I like him personally but I believe his business ethics and work skills need improving. I do not know him we enough to make those comments to him nor would I. He could make life a living hell.

Spending today: parking 7, lunch at hamburger joint around 10.