I figured I'd just put up a blog entry to update how things have been and what's been going on since I haven't been in the scene much lately.

I worked in the mortgage lending industry and things haven't gone so well lately. The company I worked for was bought up by Citi.

Since the takeover I've ended up with a lot less money due to less bonuses (about 7 to 8 thousand less a year) and the place I'm with was put into Citi holdings which is the bad bank. (Which means no job security).

Its been pretty chaotic for me, I'm on my eighth manager since January and have been switched from wholesale to retail and its been pretty difficult.

I also ran into a car problem which was that my car stated going through about a quart an hour on the freeway of oil which made me scared if I drove to out of state tourneys that my engine would burn out on the trip.

So with my competitions becoming limited and my financial resources a lot less I decided to pull back from the sport for a while until things get sorted out.

So far I paid all my credit card debt, and I paid off the loan for the bad car. I haven't finished saving up to get another car yet or sorted out what I'm going to do with the career.

Since hitting the clubs 5 nights a week isn't going to work out for me I'm working out at home (I still have my fencing dummy) and pumping iron and using my rowing machine pretty much.

Michigan's economy has gone into this horrible downward spiral and is worst in the country right now. So that makes career changes a lot more difficult. I feel like I'm holding onto a slippery rope staying where I am.

It might be best to move financially to another state that isn't completely screwed but my brother moved away so I'm the only one able to help my parents out and their health has been getting a lot worse lately so I want to stay in Michigan if I can.

I've been eyeing the German longswords and thinking of trying some of their exercises at home also.