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The House Dad - by Jonathan Rosen

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The House Dad - August 2007

Daily Writing

August 28th 2007 14:13

Good Morning everybody,
Hope you are all well today. It has been very tough to maintain my writing schedule, with looking for a new job and doing school work. I like writing the blog and I also have writing to do for myself, work that I am trying to sell. It has been very tough to maintain and that is why I haven't been posting as much as I would have liked. The main problem is, I just enjoy writing and I do get upset when I don't make the time for it. I feel like the day isn't complete and I feel like I am letting people down. I know it's not like I have a massive following, but if even one person reads then I am happy. Even so, I like writing more for myself. I definitely need a writing job, but I know that will be tough to get. In the meantime, I have to continue doing what I love. I know that every time will be tough, to make the time. Just being realistic, but I want to try. The main thing is, when I have a few minutes try to get some blogging in. Either that, or try to become wealthy so I can just blog. Since I decided to become wealthy, I don't know why people won't listen to me and give me money. Until a job comes along, I am sitting in front of the computer all day, posting for jobs and writing other things. So, if you don't see a daily blog, I apologize and I am trying to get it in there more often. Until tomorrow, hopefully, have a great day.

Later,

Jonathan

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Query submissions

August 23rd 2007 14:51

Good morning everyone,
Hope everybody is good today. As you know, because I have brought it up so often, I have written a young adult book. It is now completely edited and I am starting the submission process. I am really starting with only agents, because I heard that is the way to go. That publishing houses really only take material from agents. The one exception is an editor at a publishing house that I met at a writer's conference. I am sending to her with a letter reminding her that we met. Some agents take postal queries and some only take e-mail queries. On Monday, I sent out 10 submissions. Within a day, I heard back from 3 of them. One rejection and two asking me to see additional material. Now, while pleased, I would like to know if anybody could give me advice on where to research the agents. I have found one of them in various agent search sites and it has mixed reviews. Nothing negative, just not many sales. The other I can't find any substantial news on at all. This is what I am fearful of, because I don't know the business. Even though I heard that it is not necessary to register your work, I did anyway, because some other friends of mine have made me paranoid. I didn't put it on my submissions query because it seemed unprofessional. I am just curious how to find out if an agency is reputable or not. While, it was nice to get asked for additional material and exciting as well, it won't make a bit of difference if an agency is going to screw me over. So, if anybody could give any advice, it would be much appreciated. I will keep everybody updated.

Later,

Jonathan

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Baseball

August 22nd 2007 15:38

Good Morning everyone,
Hope you are all well today. I am a big baseball fan, have been since 1976 when I was 8 years old. I am a huge Met fan. Suffered through many many bad years. They are in first place now and playing well, but being a Met fan, I am always waiting for the other show to drop. I keep waiting for them to really screw up. All that aside, last night was fantastic. I watched the Mets rally twice in the bottom of the 8th and then fall behind in the 9th and then rally again in the 9th to win. It was an exciting game and I was glued to my seat and rooting. As sson as it was over, I turned to watch the Angels put up 18 runs on the yankees. That was my ultimate dream, watching the Mets win and the yanks get smoked. I keep praying that somehow the yanks will miss the playoffs entirely this year. I love watching baseball, not just the Mets, but any game that's on. The exception is the yanks. I won't watch them play. The only reason I watched last night, was there was a scoring update where I learned the Angels were ahead. I will usually watch the opposition bat and then when the yanks are batting I will turn it off. I don't think they play on an even playing field and if they had to come back to the pack financially, they wouldn't be close to the playoffs every year. I badly want a salary cap in baseball. Let's see the yanks always be involved in the pennant race, when they can only spend the same as the other teams. I want for the first time in years, to just enjoy baseball in the postseason and not have to see the yanks at all. Let's all hope together. Everybody have a great day.
Later,

Jonathan

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Trip to Epcot

August 21st 2007 15:16

Good morning everyone,
Hope you are all well today. On Satyrday, we went to Epcot center for my son's 5th birthday. I always loved Epcot, it is my favorite of all of the Disney parks. We had a great time. My son enjoyed and we went with his grandparents and my sister's family. He enjoyed that everybody was there for his birthday. It was a great time to be there, even if it was on a Saturday. We left Coral Springs a little after 6 in the morning and after several stops, we got to Epcot around 9:45 A.M. Of course I was tired, but it was worth it for one day. It wasn't very crowded and there was a slight breeze. It was a great day to be there. We started with the Nemo ride, it was his favorite and then on to Crush. It is an interactive movie screen, where Crush, the turtle from Nemo, speaks in real-time to the kids in the audience. Out of the four kids he spoke with, two were in our part. My daughter and my nephew. I kept pushing my son to raise his hand, but he was too shy. My favorite is Soarin', the virtual reality experience over California. WHat an incredible ride. It really makes you feel like you're flying over California. You even lift your legs when you're over the water. The Mexico ride was revamped and I think I like it better. It now includes Donald Duck, Jose and Panchito from the Three Caballeros. We left there at 7 and got home at close to 10 P.M. It was very tiring, but as I said, for one day well worth it. Anyway, that is all for now. Hope you all have a great day.

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Epcot Tomorrow

August 17th 2007 16:08

Good morning everyone,
Hope all of you are well today.Last month was my son's birthday, he turned 5. Due to the situation we are in financially, we didn't make a big birthday party for him. Instead, we gave him a choice, a party for all of his friends or going to Disney. Like most kids, he chose Disney. We bought the seasonal pass because we are Florida residents. If you go more than once, it pays for itself. So thankfully, we had this pass, because to pay for the day now would have been rough. But now, all we have to pay for is the expenses during the day, lunch, etc. He is very much looking forward to it. Surprisingly, he chose Epcot over the Magic Kingdom. The thing is, he loves the Nemo ride as well as Crush and Soarin'. He was very excited about Soarin' last time, because it was his first time on it. He made the 40 inch height requirement for the first time, so a whole new world of rides were opened to him. My wife and I are trying to make it a fun day for him and give him a wonderful birthday experience. We are not even going to a hotel tonight, in order to save the money. The bad part, is that means getting up at 5 in the morning tomorrow, since we live around three hours away. We want to get there by the opening, to give him a full day and my parents are going with us. We need to get there early, because my mother needs the electric carts they rent there. She has a lot of trouble walking around. It will definitely slow us up, but as long as the family is together, it doesn't matter. The important thing, is that my kids have an outing with the family and their grandparents and have those memories later on. When my father-in-law passed away last year, it made everybody realize how short life is and they have to spend as much time with the family as possible. All I know, is that I'm looking forward to it and hope my son loves it. Anyway, that is all for now, Hope you all have a great weekend.

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Submission Day

August 16th 2007 14:56

Good morning everyone,
Hope everybody is good today. As I've mentioned ad nauseum, I have written a children's book. I hired an editor to clean it up and after a couple of months, she finally finished. I looked everything over and it looked good to me. Now, is the part that scared me. I have no more excuses, I have to start sending it out. I have been both excited and nervous about this. While, I like my story and think it is good, I am still expecting a ton of rejection letters. It is the nature of the beast.It is depressing and you can't take it as a validation of your work. The editor suggested I send it out to agents instead of publishers. Many publishers won't accept unsolicited manuscripts and the ones that do, have it in the giant slush pile, where they hardly ever accept anything. I know somebody working in a publishing house and she told me that they were told to accept very few manuscripts, to reject almost all of them. It is not a very encouraging story. Don't know that agents are any more willing. I figure though, there have to be a few agents that are willing to accept new talent. It is how they make their money. I will attempt it fora few months and see. I didn't want to go into the self-publishing mode right away. I know it is an option and there are success stories, but there is a stigma attached to it. I will have to see. I will keep everybody updated. That is it for now, hope everybody has a great day.

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So Sorry

August 15th 2007 14:56

Good morning everyone,

Hope you are all well today. I must apologize. This last week, I have been going through hell trying to get everything in order. I have had my online courses and my wife and I have been actively searching for employment. We have also been debating whether or not we should sell our house and live in an apt. for a year or two until we get back on our feet. We were about to pull our kids out of the private school they went to and send them to public. I know that is not the end of the world, but I felt bad because of all of their friends being in the other school. I also have been trying to get everything together for book submissions. It has been stressful. In the meantime, I have neglected my blog. The problem with that, is that I enjoy blogging.It is relaxing for me. So, I must make time for that. It is just a half an hour or less each day and I will make the time for it.I need a little fun time with all of the other nonsense that is going on. That is it for today, but starting tomorrow, I will get back to my full daily blog. Until then, I hope you all have a great day

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Looking for new job

August 9th 2007 14:53

Good morning everyone,
Hope everybody is well today. I apologize for not writing the last few days. I mentioned this a few months ago, that times were tough and my business isn't doing well. Unfortunately, the time has come that I can no longer ignore it. It looks like I will have to make a career change after twelve years and look for something else. I work gor myself now, but it has been going downhill and I am frightened to go back into the workplace. This week, I have been posting on job sites, going to employment agencies and networking to try to find something else. It is a frightful time and I am worried, but I am trying to work my way out and find something. We are worried about losing our home. I should say that my wife is much more worried than I am. Of course, I don't want that to happen, but I told her that if it does, we get an apt. jobs and build again. It won't be fun, but as long as we stick together, we will make it work. I am upset about the kids, since they are young and don't know what is going on and if that happens, their world will be turned upside down. It is tough, but we're not the first in this situation and we won't be the last. My other problem, is that I never finished my degree. Currently, I am taking online cousre and am approximately 40 credits short. I was less that, but the school didn't accept all of my old credits. It will take me a little over a year to get through it, but after that I will finally have that all important piece of paper in my hand. It will not only be better for me job-wise, but also for my self-esteem. Not to mention, that I didn't want to be hypocritical to my kids later when I forced them to finish college. Didn't want them to throw it back in my face that I never finished. So, here we go. The only bad thing is what to do until then? I'll figure it out, but if anyone has any ideas, let me know.
Later

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Softball

August 3rd 2007 15:37

Good morning everyone,
Hope everyone is well today. I have been playing and coaching softball for around 22 years now. In my mind at least, I happen to know a lot about the sport and the little inticacies. I know what's right and wrong. I coach both my daughter's team and an adult team of men. The When I lived in NY my teams won 8 championships and lost 7. Since I moved to Florida, my teams have won 12 championships and lost 4. I don't say it as a bragging thing, because who cares in softball, but I know how to play the game correctly and try to preach that to my teams. I only say all of this, because my latest teams drive me crazy. Over the years, besides trying to preach the right way to play the game, I have also gone out of my way to try to obtain the best talent. I am like a mini-Steinbrenner, which is ironic because I hate the yankees. What I did, was whenever I saw a good player, I asked him to join my team. It was difficult at the beginning, because the teams I took over were so bad, but I am a good salesman. I got very lucky at the very beginning, when one of my players brought his cousin on, who was head and shoulders above the rest of the team. I had to build around him. Also, if we ever beat a team, I sought out the best players on other teams and asked them to play with us the following season. If they agreed, the good players usually had friends who were other good players. Little by little I built a team, until my teams are usually powerhouses which compete for the title every season. The only problem with all of this, is sometimes I have players who goof around too much and think that we are just going to roll over everybody. It has happened several times before. In the middle of the game, there is playing and laughing. Two things about this. One, if it was done to me, it would burn me up, so I hate it when my teams do it. Last night for example, we are in the fifth inning and leading 20-6. There is a mercy rule in the league, which states that after 5 innings if a team is leading by 12 or more runs, the game is called. We were actually leading 20-4 in the inning and some of the members on my team start making errors on purpose and the pitcher started walking guys on purpose to let the other team score runs, to let them get under the ten run rule so we could bat again. I was furious. It's not everyomne on the team, but just a couple of guys. The ringleader was the guy pitching for me last night. He used to be my main pitcher and I like the guy, but he fools around too much. It is tough to control a team when your pitcher is goofing around. That is the reason I went out to get other pitchers and when I did, my team really took off. We would have won a few more championships along the way, had we had different pitchers earlier. Last night, the other two pitchers were gone, so I had to let my first pitcher on the mound. It reminded me about all of the stuff that used to aggravate me. Even though, my teams are so good now, I sometimes miss the days when my teams were mediocre and everybody played explicitly by my rules. I used to make everybody on the team take one strike before swinging. See, we weren't as talented as other teams, but yet won a couple of championships literally by walking. We always led the league in walks and always had baserunners. The teams that we played, would swing at first pitches a lot and swung even at 2-0 and 3-0, even when they are losing. My teams were very disciplined. Now, when the teams I have are so talented, these guys want to swing the bat and we don't have a lot of walks anymore. It is a trade-off. I am happy with my teams, but still frustrating because we sometimes lose to teams that we should have killed because we fooled around too much. Last night was an example and it is why I am writing about it today. I used to get rid of people that didn't play my way, but I have mellowed. I will straighten it out, but it still kills me when people don't play the right way and it is what I teach my daughter's team to do.

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