This morning as I swept through the muck of Monday morning's rush hour traffic, the focus of my thoughts fell upon those applying their false faces during our joint march to employment.

Those who pursue this application of a false face are more than those who applying makeup during this drive in their attempt to hide the attributes of their "social imperfection of beauty" so that they may gain favor merely on a false attractiveness, but also include those poor souls who use the drive from home as a buffer so that can slide on their "How are you doing? I'm fine" mask with no regards to whether they are dying on the inside if not already dead. Surely, we were not meant to be so shallow, so superficial.

As I continued down the road of many, I considered the popular music of our culture that does not dare to dive into the depths of human existence, rather merely wets the appetite of the "false faces" to satisfy their insatiable desire for social acceptance. Of course, there would be no market if there was no demand.

As a Psychology professor pointed out to me long ago, we as people are not lions, rather we are sheep. If I may continue with the analogy: sheep which seemingly enough are like lemmings, plunging by the thousands to the depths below.

From the moment of my birth
To the instant of my death
There are patterns I must follow

-Simon and Garfunkel

There are times when one floats through his day full of joy and contentment, where the world seems "right" and the promise of an even a "brighter" tomorrow is within a moment's grasp.

The past few weeks I have embraced this remarkable perspective upon my walk of life. Yet, those lovely things came to a shuddering halt. Today is not one of those blissful days. I do not perceive love's renewed entrance within the near future.

No, I find myself in the place which has long since become worn for me. It is a familiar place and like a stone from a riverbed, it is worn smooth with the passage of time and in its holding attributes of the bland, it has no jagged edges, nothing that would be unexpected, for even the unexpected is expected.

We pursue what seemingly enough cannot be won by our own merits.

With your heart in your hands and the sweat on your brow
You build the things that really make the world go around
If it works, if it runs, if it lasts for years
You bet your bottom dollar it was made right here
With pride, honor and dignity
From a man with a working man's Ph.D.

-Tippin

All right, perhaps Aaron Tippin's blue collar classic is not addressing your run-of-the-mill network administrator. But then again, I am not your run-of-the-mill network administrator. Of course, the argument could be made questioning its validity for personal application because, frankly, when do I sweat in breezy 67 degree serverroom / office? I sweat when the network crashes. I think it applies with the overall theme of working hard with pride and competency.

But regardless to all of such seesawing banter, I did not choose these lyrics to describe my end user management work ethic. In my aggressive pursuit to bring to a close all of my debts and put myself in a fluid position for the future, I am closer to acquiring a second job. I am considering on a schedule that will add an additional 28 work hours to my schedule which will bring the tally of total hours at work to 58. If my methodologies prove fruitful and my calculations are correct, I should be able to wipe out $4,000 of credit card debt in three months.

Unless I take upon more desirable opportunities, I do not foresee moving out during the next 3 months for financial reasons, though I do yearn to do so. Halloween is turning out to be a bigger date than I had initially planned in reaching my weight of 170.