It's been quite awhile since last writing here at DJ John Land. We're a week away from Thanksgiving and it's funny how quickly time flew by since June 1st.
The summer flew by quickly, but was fairly eventful. Though we didn't travel, we managed to enjoy the time here at the shore. We spent time walking, hanging out by the pool at the Empress, and celebrated a number of events with friends including graduation parties and sweet sixteens.
I continued training at the gym in town and participated in two events during the summer: the Avon 5K and the Warrior Challenge. The 5K was my very first, and I did pretty well, completing it in just over 28 minutes. The Warrior Challenge in July was tougher this year, but our team did okay. Outside of the Training Room, I still got a fair amount of running in and would do some arm and ab exercises on my off nights from the gym.
The project at work came to a halt toward the end of July because of the need to refocus on a federally mandated requirement that has to be put in by year's end. Though no one was surprised at the stoppage, it seemed like it came about very suddenly. The vendors were out the door within a day or two of the announcement. It was a shock and pretty upsetting, because I'd worked with these folks for a few years. I hope many of them got onto new projects and aren't out of work. It's not a good time to be unemployed.
The day after the announcement at work, the guys and I did our "Boy's Day Out", stopping at Smithville, NJ and then heading into Atlantic City. We all gambled a bit, but I started taking an interest in Craps. Since the trip, I learned how to play the game thanks to the videos on YouTube, and I did fairly well at The Sands while we were in Bethlehem in September.
Speaking of Atlantic City, things are currently on a downward spiral there. The Showboat (my favorite casino on the boardwalk) and the newly-built Revel closed down at the beginning of September. Trump Plaza shut down two weeks later. The closings resulted in massive layoffs of casino workers. The Taj Mahal is currently slated to shut down some time in December. The guys and I went there in October to celebrate Vinnie's birthday, and it was pretty desolate on the northern end of the boardwalk. The latest developments concerning the properties is that the Showboat is slated to be sold to a college, and the Revel's buyer recently pulled out of the deal (they were going to get the property for pennies on the dollar).
Al is scheduled to have surgery on December 10th, to take care of an issue of an infection in an area where a couple of ribs had been removed due to him having bone cancer just over twenty years ago. There has been a considerable amount of leakage in the area where the mesh is (what they had replaced the ribs with). Both of us are looking forward to having the surgery done and getting this taken care of. We're both anxious over it but at the same time trying to keep a good level of optimism that all will be okay.
Finally, a couple with whom we're friends are getting married a week from Friday! We're so happy for them and we're very much looking forward to sharing their celebration of love and commitment to each other.
That's pretty much what's been happening since June. I hope to get back into chronicling the stuff that's going on in my life.
-JS
The summer flew by quickly, but was fairly eventful. Though we didn't travel, we managed to enjoy the time here at the shore. We spent time walking, hanging out by the pool at the Empress, and celebrated a number of events with friends including graduation parties and sweet sixteens.
I continued training at the gym in town and participated in two events during the summer: the Avon 5K and the Warrior Challenge. The 5K was my very first, and I did pretty well, completing it in just over 28 minutes. The Warrior Challenge in July was tougher this year, but our team did okay. Outside of the Training Room, I still got a fair amount of running in and would do some arm and ab exercises on my off nights from the gym.
The project at work came to a halt toward the end of July because of the need to refocus on a federally mandated requirement that has to be put in by year's end. Though no one was surprised at the stoppage, it seemed like it came about very suddenly. The vendors were out the door within a day or two of the announcement. It was a shock and pretty upsetting, because I'd worked with these folks for a few years. I hope many of them got onto new projects and aren't out of work. It's not a good time to be unemployed.
The day after the announcement at work, the guys and I did our "Boy's Day Out", stopping at Smithville, NJ and then heading into Atlantic City. We all gambled a bit, but I started taking an interest in Craps. Since the trip, I learned how to play the game thanks to the videos on YouTube, and I did fairly well at The Sands while we were in Bethlehem in September.
Speaking of Atlantic City, things are currently on a downward spiral there. The Showboat (my favorite casino on the boardwalk) and the newly-built Revel closed down at the beginning of September. Trump Plaza shut down two weeks later. The closings resulted in massive layoffs of casino workers. The Taj Mahal is currently slated to shut down some time in December. The guys and I went there in October to celebrate Vinnie's birthday, and it was pretty desolate on the northern end of the boardwalk. The latest developments concerning the properties is that the Showboat is slated to be sold to a college, and the Revel's buyer recently pulled out of the deal (they were going to get the property for pennies on the dollar).
Al is scheduled to have surgery on December 10th, to take care of an issue of an infection in an area where a couple of ribs had been removed due to him having bone cancer just over twenty years ago. There has been a considerable amount of leakage in the area where the mesh is (what they had replaced the ribs with). Both of us are looking forward to having the surgery done and getting this taken care of. We're both anxious over it but at the same time trying to keep a good level of optimism that all will be okay.
Finally, a couple with whom we're friends are getting married a week from Friday! We're so happy for them and we're very much looking forward to sharing their celebration of love and commitment to each other.
That's pretty much what's been happening since June. I hope to get back into chronicling the stuff that's going on in my life.
-JS
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