Underhanded, dirty, no good scoundrels, and Sports too!

July 14, 2008
Well it's been three weeks since my former place of employment, Pizza Street, closed in my hometown of Fort Collins. I know, I know, "Pizza Street, Rich?" you ask with a tint of "what's so great about a pizza place?" in your voice, but honestly, I had it pretty good there.
I was given a decent birth in being able to run the store, taking on the responsibilities of making sure customers were satisfied, and even was allowed to drink at work if I wanted.
I worked at the Street from Jan '07 through June 20th '08, and was promoted to Assistant Manager in November of '07. What also started in November was envelopes full of cash instead of checks. I knew this was not exactly legal, but looked the other way because taxes were not being taken out. On June 17th I attended a store meeting in which one of the owners told two drivers and myself that the Street would close that weekend!
Everyone knows when you are planning on quitting a job, you should give your employer two weeks notice, yet they didn't even give us one week!
After being laid off, I claimed unemployment through the great state of Colorado. Even though there are more strict rules, like visiting possible employers 5 times a week, instead of 3, I was up to the adventure. Until I received paper work from the state in which the owner of Pizza Street said I made less than I did in the last quarter of '07, and apparently did not make any money through them in the first half of this year!
This of course affected the amount of money I can receive through unemployment, down to about $200 a month, which is $100 short to even make my cheap rent.
This is so frustrating, and appalling that the two owners are heartless enough to kick me while I'm down, due to them.
Both gave me lip service and acted friendly to me also. Brian said of all the employees, he was worried about me most. Tom constantly sided with me in disputes about Tiffany, the GM of my store, and reassured me I would know if the store would be closing even for a move, let alone a store closure. I understand that the unemployment payments I may acquire would come from their "struggling" pockets, yet I feel they owe me at this point.
The problem is, I really just want another job. I do not want to be on unemployment because I know that it will be a huge hassle to get everything worked out about how much I really made last year, and that I worked there this year. There are no records showing how much money I made, therefore, I cannot think of a way to prove so. Overall, Pizza Street, and I mean the Pizza Streets in Colorado, are owned and run by dirty, lying, no good scoundrels that care about nothing more than fattening their wallets. Then again, this is Capitalist America, isn't it?

Sports!
MLB
Now onto my true love, sports. The Colorado Rockies, my favorite MLB team since 1993 and the days of Baseball a Mile High, are blowing it throughout the first half of the season, again. It seems to happen every year. Spring Training, excitement, high hopes and dreams for the Rockies, especially after their magical season of '07. Yet, just like last year, the Rox are far from first place in the division, and pitching is a major reason why.
Jeff Francis, the "Ace" of the staff has looked more like a Joker. At 3-7 and a 5.67 ERA, Francis has been down right horrible in the first half. Morales was sent back down to the Springs and AAA ball, Jimenez gives up at least two home runs a game, I can throw it harder than Redman, and don't get me started on Vizcaino (who I had the "pleasure" of watching in person a week ago).
Then again, so has the entirety of the Rockies. Tulo, Holiday, Francis, Hawpe, Taveras, it seems everyone has been hurt this year. Bad luck or not, the Rox will need something monumental once again to happen in the second half if they want to make the playoffs for two consecutive years.
I just found out the Home run Derby is tonight! YAY! Oh BTW, two Rockies in the All Star game, Holiday and Cook, our only good pitcher. And Clint Hurdle, the manager of the '07 National League Champs!

NBA
Donaghy and Foster, sitting in a tree, B-E-T-T-I-N-G! The referee found gambling and fixing games, Tim Donaghy, is getting another ref in trouble this week. After the feds looked at Donaghy's phone records, they found that he called Scott Foster, another NBA official, before and after 54 of the 57 games the two officiated together during the 06-07 season! According to ESPN. This is appalling, and I can only hope that nothing is found that further soils the NBA. I am a huge fan of the NBA and Denver Nuggets, and would hate for there to be a wide-spread conspirency in the Association. One thing is for sure, if the two were in it together, or other Refs are found to have been betting, David "Too" Stern will come down on them, hard.

This is my second blog post ever so thank you to anyone who read any of it, and please comment! I gotta go catch the home run derby, peace!