The Two Rs

Today is all about the Two R's - Ranting and Raving.

What is it with people? Aggghhhh. I could just pull my hair out. My one remaining coworker was out for a week, in last week, and out from noon yesterday to 1:30 today. All on business, but still out of the office. Since our other coworker left over a week ago, I am the one that has been helping train our new admin on the mail & on all sorts of stuff pertaining to her position as assistant to my coworker, and taking all phone calls. All this while helping my boss with this week's governance board meeting, a 2-day in house seminar I put together for a major carrier and partner of ours, helping with accounting functions, and my regular job. Which just so happens to include one of our week long seminars next week, where I have 90+ people attending.

My coworker is pissed because I asked her to take her phone off of mute/do-not-disturb. She has "too much to do" and has "renewals". Tough. S%*@. I told her I'm busy too, and am not going to field her calls for her. I've been taking them for the last 2 weeks. I told her if she didn't want to take her phone off do not disturb, I'd just forward the front desk extension directly to her instead of me, because I'm not going to deal with her cranky clients. (Justifiably cranky because she is never here and never takes phone calls when she is!)  Then she could sort through the resulting voice mails. She got all pissy, but took her phone off DND. Hah.

I am just too cranky and tired and over-worked to deal with her you-know-what. It has been an insane 4 months for me at work and I am just out of all patience!!

Reaping the Whirlwind

What a month. What a summer. Where in the heck did it go? Because it is officially fall now. Sheesh. I had a wonderful time in SF with my sister the last week. Of the 10 days gone, I had to give 2.5 to a work conference (which paid for my ticket out there!!!). That was additionally beneficial because I WON AN IP.AD.

Yes, you read that right! One of the conference vendors donated a 32GB WiFi iPa.d. Not 3G capable, but who cares? No 3G phone service where I live anyway! So it's basically a larger iP.od touch, but oh, so much cooler! Also at the conference I got to meet up with Janet W for dinner. That was a lot of fun! She even brought me some books! Whoo-hoo!

I can't believe how much my nieces have grown! Especially G, the oldest. What a young lady she is. It's wonderful! We had so much fun playing, even if I had a few headaches while I was there. She was extremely understanding. She is a really good kid. Especially with her 1 year old sister. Very patient, and more gentle/tolerant than you might expect a 7 year old to be!

S, my 1 yo niece, is hilarious. Shy at first, but once she warmed up to me it was great. She walks holding on to just one of your fingers. Actually, it's not really a walk, more like a full-speed-ahead charge! When you give her that finger to hold onto you'd better be ready to move! She's chattering up a storm, and is a great eater. Particularly loves bananas. Her favorite person is her big sister G. Wants to have and do everything her big sister does. It's so cute. Gonna be interesting when she gets a little older. [g]

I even got to spend some one-on-one time with my sister, which was fabulous. Those moments are too few and far between. She is such a good mom, both kids are wonderful. She is also amazingly patient, although she doesn't think so!!!!

My bil was on work travel the last half of the week, and we couldn't have timed our flights any better. His flight had landed at the same terminal I was leaving from right before my sis was dropping me off. He walked up just as I was starting the goodbyes. Which was fortuitous because I hate saying goodbye in the first place, and saying goodbye to niece G is much worse! She was just starting the "I don't want Tia to go" and the "Why does Tia have to go" bit when she spotted her daddy walking up. :) A great distraction!!!

(Please pardon the exclamation points. I blame it on excessive tiredness and coffee)

Almost a month already?

I can't believe it's been almost a month since my last post. Things have obviously been crazy busy here. We held our annual convention for work last week. It was a great success, but the weeks leading up to it were insane. I hate having the convention so close to a major holiday. Getting off early on a Friday and having a Monday off should be fun, not stress-inducing!

The 4th of July weekend was fun. On Saturday I cleaned like a madwoman, including renting one of those steam cleaners for my sofa. Little Sis' family came over to watch the fireworks, and we barbecued. Actually, I think it was the first barbecue of the season. That's how late summer has come to us! We had a lot of fun, especially Shanni's SIL. We introduced her to Sin.gs.tar for the PS2. I had no idea she loves karaoke so much.

Anyway. Fireworks were spectacular. No fires set by any neighbors, no runaway dogs...I was in bed by midnight and sleeping. A first for the 4th since moving into my house. It made me miss Scully, though. She hated fireworks and would bark all night long. Max and Leia aren't fazed in the least by the noise. A blessing!

That week a virus got let loose on our network (thankfully only affecting my laptop meaning I downloaded it! oops!) but it was a nightmare to clean up. Took three different antivirus/spam programs. The following weekend Shanni and I went rafting on the Missouri with a neighbor of mine. But that's a story best left to its own post.

Then the convention, which meant a week out of town working 15 hour days. Ughh. Last weekend I was pretty much a slug. Went on a puppy hunt (for someone else!) that Saturday, and mowed and grocery shopped on Sunday. This week has been all about playing catch-up both at home and at work!

Miscellany

On the road again for work. Last few weeks have been busy. Worked 9 hours last Saturday on our server; OS drive running out of space. What I thought would work as a fix didn't due to our configuration. If only we had 2008 vs 2003. But alas, if we had 2008, we most likely wouldn't have this problem to start with as it would mean a new server for us. Not anywhere needed, so not going to happen. But I know of a software program - relatively affordable - that will solve my problem.

Anyway. Because of those 9 hours, I got off work early on Monday, and had most of Tuesday off. Then headed to where I am now for one of our 3.5 day seminars. That's going very well. New instructor started the institute. So far so good. He's doing really well.

I think I made a mistake, though. This hotel has a chocolate lover's break package, and it included chocolate covered strawberries. That was a huge hit. I think I might have gotten myself into trouble. They'll riot if I don't do that again. But so far it looks like it will be cheaper than if we did everything a la carte like before. We'll see. This is the test run.

Went to a "See 'Em Dead" restaurant for dinner. One of those places with big game animal heads all over the walls. But the steaks are to die for. (Like we ever go some place where they aren't!) And the atmosphere is very much like the stereotype/romanticized atmosphere of the West. Exactly what our instructor (from FL) wanted. His fiance came with him, and they are a hoot. So is the next instructor, who flew in yesterday afternoon and joined us. I can't remember ever laughing so hard or so much at a work function. We shut the place down! But it was fun. Three times a year I get to eat steak three nights in a row. All on someone else's dime. ;)

Monday Morning

Oh boy, it's only 10:30 am and I'm ready for bed. Did not sleep well last night. Woke up about 3 or 4 am singing "John Jacob Jingleheimer Smith". I so do not want to know what I was dreaming about. Went back to a fitful sleep where I dreamed a combo of "Emma" (watched last hour on PBS before bed) and a hurricane and a crime show. Holy smokes. So should not have had that ice cream last night. :(

Have a board meeting this afternoon. It's via conference call, which I hate because I have a hard time hearing and making out voices. Makes it difficult to take proper notes. Although maybe I can get our new secretary/treasurer to do this. Last one wouldn't....I'm nervous about it because while we did okay overall, we did lose money on a few classes. I've stream-lined the classes we were losing money on, but we're packing so many new things into the schedule (at the demand of the boss) I'm worried about the impact on attendance. It's a tough economy, agencies are being stricter on what they'll pay for, and so on. There're also a few areas I just can't seem to make progress on and it's frustrating. But overall I think the meeting should be positive.

Max goes in for surgery on Thursday. Trochlear Modification is what he's having done:

The patella rides in a groove at the bottom of the femur (thigh bone). In toy breed dogs this groove is shallow, which allows the patella to slip. If the groove is deepened, the patella stays where it belongs. The normal groove in the femur is lined by slippery lubricated cartilage, called hyaline cartilage. This cartilage is peeled or cut away, the bone underneath is sliced out to form a deeper groove, and the cartilage is replaced. Techniques that do not preserve the original cartilage are no longer recommended. (http://www.veterinarypartner.com/Content.plx?P=A&A=2448)

The quoted cost is about $1200 total for having both legs done at same time. It includes the surgery & miscellaneous stuff surgeries require, pre- post- surgery x-rays, follow up/recheck visit, rehab evaluation and visit, post-op meds, stitches removal, etc. Not too bad.

I moved the surgery up after talking to the doc, because Max seems to be having more weakness in the hind legs. I've removed the box spring and frame from my bed, and now sleep on a mattress on the floor. Less stress on his legs. He's fast, and just so darn hard to keep from jumping on/off things. He's also walking a bit more bow-legged to my eyes. So I talked to the vet. I'll just have to be very careful to keep his bandages and the incision as dry as possible. (Easier said than done...still have 6+ inches of snow on the ground, more in forecast!) Rehab exercises can be done indoors as he is so small.

Of course, this means he won't get to finish obedience training. But we've made it to the halfway point (this week), and I'll finish with Leia so at least I can continue his training on my own later.

Leia is doing great with training. We walked to the post office on Saturday and she did fabulous heeling and ignored some big barking dogs that we passed. Ones that used to make her refuse to walk further. She does "sit" and "down" like a pro. We're still working on her understanding of "stand". And she doesn't like to have me stand too close to her. It's hard to get her to sit right next to my leg and look forward. She wants to sit angled so she can keep an eye on me. We're working on that...

From the Road

Well, my plans to workout each day while on the road, and to eat better have gone by the wayside. (sigh) Ate like a pig last night. Definitely should have said veggies and not potato, and desert should have been a "no". I'd already eaten cookies during the afternoon break. This morning - and lunch - were no different. Although I started well at lunch. It was a buffett, and I got a little bit of a few offerings. Then went back and had seconds on the spaghetti (yeah, tomato, can't resist!) and had a brownie wedge & small slice of german chocolate cake. (oink, oink). Will I do better at dinner? One can only hope. Maybe. [g]

The dogs are doing fine...Max is eating, which was a worry for me. Leia adores KT. (She's house & dog sitting for me). Monday night Leia wouldn't sit with me on the sofa. Instead she draped herself across KT's lap for hours. And I do mean "draped" and "hours". Most animals and little kids react this way to KT. I think it's because she is very calm, non-threatening, and just plain doesn't care if they like her or not. They know she won't be constantly kissing and hugging on them. Something Shanni doesn't get. Yet.

I feel bad for KT. She didn't get into the college she applied to. I was afraid she wouldn't, but hopeful if they did an interview her personality would work for her. They went strictly by grades. She's a 2.7, with a middle of the road score on the ACT. So. Poor kid is crushed. And her mom! It drives me crazy. I love Mom M, but am really irritated. KT should be okay, she should be in college. But her mom just didn't give her the attention she needed. I know, I know, she was a single mom working night shift so many of those years. But not during KT's high school years. She could - and should - have been helping her during that time. It makes me want to cry. But what can I do? I'm Shanni's big sister, and the deed is done.

Only thing I can do is encourage her, and hopfully help her get into the local technical college that has a 2-year program affiliated with one of our state universities. Then she could transfer.

I'm sure there's tons in the news I could comment on, but really. My head aches just thinking about reading any news stories, so I'll just not. [g] Give myself a break so to speak. I should get some work done, but think I'll go back into the seminar I'm running and listen. It's the biggest seminar we've held since I started at this job 8 years ago. One hundred and one participants. I'm pleased at the turn out. :) Now if I can just keep these kinds of numbers going through the next year. It's great two of my board members are attending this seminar, too. Makes me look good!!!!

And tomorrow I get to go to a real bookstore. Hoo-yah. How's this for motivation: no workout tonight, no bookstore tomorrow. Deal?

New Orleans. Bourbon Street.

Sitrep: Walked 4+ miles last week and over weekend.

I was in New Orleans last week for a conference. Wandered around the French Quarter Tuesday morning. It was the nicest day there. Just wonderful. Meetings didn't start until the afternoon, so I had a half day. The conference was at the Hilton, right on the edge of the French Quarter. I wandered up Canal Street to Decatur, and then down it to Cafe Dumonde for breakfast. Beignets and Cafe au Lait. OMG. Are those beignets fab-u-lous! Managed to eat them just about every day, including for breakfast my last day there. Thank goodness for the beignet stand at the airport! That breakfast Tuesday morning was lovely. Sitting on the outside patio with a slight breeze, some coffee, those beignets, and live music. Just perfect. The cafe is right on the corner of Jackson Square, the sun was shining, there were trees, lots of greenery, a park is right in the square. Was bummed all the museums and other attractions closed by 5pm. What the heck? We were in meetings all day! So no aquarium, zoo, or WWII museum. I really wanted to see that last one. And the factory that gave tours on making a Mardi Gras float, start to finish. That would have been interesting. Had dinner at Gordon Biersch, a microbrewery. Yes it's a chain. No I didn't eat cajun/LA food. I don't do seafood, or really spicy stuff. Loved the beer at Gordon Biersch. The last night in New Orleans a group of us "did" Bourbon Street. Much less crowded than I expected, and a lot more run down. Not sure what I thought it would be like. Honestly, the buildings reminded me a lot of Paraguay. Makes sense, given their age. Wasn't enjoying the smell of pee and throw-up that wafted by occasionally. Makes me wonder how disgusting it is for Mardi Gras. Being a lightweight, I had a beer with dinner, then nothing else until we got to Pat O'Brien's about 11pm. I wanted that Hurricane glass, so waited. Drink was okay. (Half rum, half hurricane mix, which I would swear was kool-aid). Strong, though. I don't like the taste of rum, so that's probably why I didn't like it. I did like the grenade drink one of my compatriots got. That was melony/lemony or something. We also stopped at the Cat's Meow bar, which is karaoke. A few of our group got up on stage. I did not. I also got some beads, and didn't have to do anything for them! [g] Some girls were up on a balcony and threw them at the guys in our group. All I knew was beads were raining down around my head, so I grabbed them up. ;) And now I'm home and back at my desk. Ah, joy. I haven't been in the office for most of the last 2 weeks. It's no fun being back now. :(

One of those days

Where it probably would have been better to not leave the house. Or the bed, for that matter. Sigh. I know better, when I get this tired. I just have no tolerance. Suffice it to say, very bad day at work. Had a run in with Attila over something so stupid...I saved us $2500 on something and she could see no good in it, totally was hostile and angry and I just couldn't handle it. When I get that mad and frustrated it can only come out...you guessed it...in tears. Lur-ve-ly. Mad myself scarce when that started. Ackkk. It got better, the boss backed me BIG time, and made Attila apologize to me. Heh. Anyway. Just wanted to check in. Gotta go...at class at the library. I'm such a geek in my spare time I'm taking a free class on L.i.nux at the library. 3 nights running. Sheesh.

Fay, Fay, Go Away...

Sitrep: 1/2 Lawn Mowed, ~2 mile walk

Talked to the folks - again - this morning. The streets around them are flooded and closed, but so far the cul-de-sac they live on is okay. The sewage system is flooded, though, so that's not much fun. There are water use restrictions from that...limit how much you use, etc. But they have power. My SIL's grandfather is above water as well...at least when she checked on him yesterday. She hadn't called yet this morning when I talked to her. My lunatic sister (yes, lunatic!) went jogging yesterday when the wind/rain let up some. They (sister & bil) were going again this morning. [insert rolling of eyes here] They also went swimming yesterday evening with their 4.5 yr old during a short rain break. Just in case y'all didn't know this, but swimming pools filled with fresh rain water are cold. Just saying. Saw on the weather channel that the Ace Hardware in A1A Plaza put their generators on sale for 30% off yesterday. That's surprising. A nice surprise! Not too much else going on in my world. Crashed big time last night. Two days of running around and socializing until 8pm wears me out. I think I played solitaire for several hours. And did you know that if you shuffle a deck of cards continuously for over an hour you'll see all the Aces pass through the bottom of the deck? Really, you will. Some of them several times over. This morning was Business Plan presentations at work - to the whole office. Fifteen minutes per presentation with a 5 minute Q&A. Glad that's over. Now I get to implement mine, and be "monitored" in my progress. Oh, joy. Not.

Speedy Gonzalez, That's my name!

Sitrep: 1/2 lawn mowed. Last night. At 9pm. Even under a full moon (barely up!) and outdoor lights, I did a lousy job. Note to self: don't mow after sunset.

Well...I have no idea what happened to last week. After Tuesday it's all a blur. Except Friday afternoon. Our boss decided to do a staff outing. Normally cause for the grumbles, but not this time. They took us up the road to "Tons of Fun". An arcade/mini-golf/go-kart place. We had BBQ ribs and chicken for lunch, then a round of truly hilarious mini-golf. Then we got on the go-karts. That was a hoot. I might keep to the speed limit on the real road, but get me on a go-kart and the pedal is to the metal. [g] I was standing on that gas pedal hollering in my head "Faster dammit, faster!" I was fourth to start, right after two of my coworkers and my boss. I could not get past him. He was hugging the curves and going flat out...But I'm smart. ;) I saw that one of my coworkers, P, was not going as fast as us, and after a few laps we were catching up. D and N blew past her, but I could tell my boss B was going to keep on going until the last minute. So I started to pull out and go wide around the curve...Then K (who'd been right behind the whole time) thought she'd scoot between me and B and get past us. Hah. She fell right into my trap. B got too close to P and she panicked, moved left. Too late, I was zooming right in there so she zoomed right, cutting B off. He had to brake, then K had to swerve behind me to miss him. And I just flew right past all of them. [g] I came in third. :) One of the best moments, though, was when W blew past J (who just became a grandma for the first time), screaming "Move over Grandma!!!" Too funny. Then a quick trip to DQ, and we got to go home an hour early. Naturally, it being payday, I stopped at Hast.ings to browse the books. Didn't do much this weekend...read a lot. Lounged around a lot. Sigh. Worked some yesterday, last minute. Ughhh. Argued with Shanni some. That girl has got to learn how to deal with disappointment. Geez. So what if the store doesn't have the locker lock you want...they'll get more in or she'll find it at another store! No cause for pouting, etc. Today I feel like a ping pong ball...one of our annual seminars we do for a local company is today and tomorrow, and the instructor is in town from Florida. So I'm doing the chauffeur thing, and popping back and forth from the hotel to the office and back again to make sure everything's okay, the instructor doesn't need anything, and so on ad infinitum...I went home at lunch to let the fur baby out because I have to do the dinner thing after work today. At least I'll eat nice. But now I have to go home tonight and clean like mad because I didn't this weekend and the sun room is looking more like a junk room and I'm having someone over this week to look at the gas valve I broke (part 1 and part 2) beginning of last winter . They have to be able to get to it to fix it. Sigh. I also want them to quote how much it will cost to move the water hookups for the washer & dryer up to the main floor, so I can seal that darn floor instead of keeping that huge hole for the hoses to run through. They'll kinda need to go down into the basement. So the stuff parked on top of the access door has got to go... Gonna be a fun night. Not. ;)

If You're Ever...

Sitrep: 30 minutes Swimming

If you're ever in Bozeman, Montana on a Thursday night, have dinner at The Mint Bar & Cafe in Belgrade, just outside town.

The food is phenomenal. I had the tastiest, tenderest steak I can remember (which says a lot, since I order medium well or well done). It was like butter in my mouth. And whatever they marinate it in...O.M.G. The fries were delicious as well...tangy and salty and just perfect. And you won't find a better vanilla bean Creme Brulee. The atmosphere is great...very Montana yet tasteful....The Mint has been around since 1904 so the history is fun.

And on Thursday nights, an extra special treat with entertainment by Montana Rose. Great mellow beat, kinda bluegrass meets country meets something else...She has a wonderful voice, and the band is excellent. Live music with the best dinner I've had in a long time!

The company was great; I love listening to our Ed Consultant J. swap stories with the instructors...especially when we can get him talking about his travels in Europe, or his years in the Navy. Tonight was no exception, great dinner company (except for one of the instructors, who I don't like for some reason. I can't quite put my finger on why I distrust her so much. Must puzzle that one out.)

Driving back to the hotel we were treated to a Montana sunset over the countryside and mountains. Breathtaking! And a perfect end to a perfect evening.

Last night a wonderful Italian place, tonight the Mint...who knows where we'll eat tomorrow?

Settling In

Last Week's Sitrep: 1x Boot Camp, A whole lotta box & computer moving!
Goals: 2x Boot Camp, Lawn (Mowing/Trimming/Edging - if the grass dries)

We're finally settling in at work. For the past hour I've actually been able to stay at my desk and go through email from the past week. Thank goodness for Out of Office! That's the nicest feature we gained moving over to an Ex.change Ser.ver. I decided to wear jeans today, even though we're supposed to be back to our regular work rules. But I just had this feeling I'd still be crawling around under desks today, and hauling computers around. Which I did. Whoever wired this place did a bang up job with the numbering. Not! It took the tech and I hours today to figure out which lines went to which ports/jacks in the reception area. Which is where we added three cubicles. The actual offices were labeled okay, except one the wires for the data and phone ports were backwards. So he decided to switch them. Only he switched them on both ends when they were only backwards on one end. So all of a sudden that worker (the noisiest one!) was dropped off the network. [g] Oh, it's been a heck of a day so far!

Best thing - our boss - the executive director - came in today and gave each of us a gift card to Sta.rbucks as a thank you for all our hard work for the move. Wasn't that sweet of him? Too bad I no longer drive past Star.bucks on the way to work. I might just have to go the long way for a few days. ;)

Settling In

Last Week's Sitrep: 1x Boot Camp, A whole lotta box & computer moving! Goals: 2x Boot Camp, Lawn (Mowing/Trimming/Edging - if the grass dries)

We're finally settling in at work. For the past hour I've actually been able to stay at my desk and go through email from the past week. Thank goodness for Out of Office! That's the nicest feature we gained moving over to an Ex.change Ser.ver. I decided to wear jeans today, even though we're supposed to be back to our regular work rules. But I just had this feeling I'd still be crawling around under desks today, and hauling computers around. Which I did. Whoever wired this place did a bang up job with the numbering. Not! It took the tech and I hours today to figure out which lines went to which ports/jacks in the reception area. Which is where we added three cubicles. The actual offices were labeled okay, except one the wires for the data and phone ports were backwards. So he decided to switch them. Only he switched them on both ends when they were only backwards on one end. So all of a sudden that worker (the noisiest one!) was dropped off the network. [g] Oh, it's been a heck of a day so far! Best thing - our boss - the executive director - came in today and gave each of us a gift card to Sta.rbucks as a thank you for all our hard work for the move. Wasn't that sweet of him? Too bad I no longer drive past Star.bucks on the way to work. I might just have to go the long way for a few days. ;)

Instead of Building An Ark

Sitrep: 1x Bootcamp, 3 days moving (servers, computers, boxes - ughh)

I bought living room furniture. Makes loads of sense, doesn't it? [g] It has been raining steadily since Thursday morning. You'd think this was Seattle, not Montana. It's the most rain I've seen in the 7 years I've lived here. But I don't mind. I like the rain. And it's a good excuse not to do yard work!

Anyway. Back to the furniture. I've been wanting a new sofa for quite awhile. And additional seating. And a coffee table. And...well, you get the picture. What I have is all hand me down or put-together furniture from Walm.art. You know the kind I mean? Looks decent enough, but after a few years they start to fall apart. So I decided to go looking and see if there were any sales. I went to every furniture store in town, except one. But I've been there before and they have a limited selection of sofas, and no living room sets.

After visiting them all, I ended up back at the first store I went to. They were the only ones that had what I wanted. They were also offering 60 months interest free financing. Heh. Works for me! [Although I was almost seduced by a purple loveseat & sofa set at another place. But purple would require repainting my green living room as I just can't do purple & green. Can you say "bruise"?]

So I bought the sofa, arm chair (it reclines like you wouldn't believe!), two end tables (taller rectangle one) and the cocktail table. These pictures don't do it justice. The fabric doesn't look striped at all. Has more of a texture pattern; almost like leather. And the detail on the wood is hard to see. Anyway. I'll take better pictures when it gets delivered. They say June 17th, maybe earlier. But that works for me.

Yes, I realize I got brown. But it really is lovely, and works for the look I want. I'm all about those earth tones, nature, etc. Probably why I like the Arts & Crafts movement in the first place!

Also this week, we completed The Big Move into our new office building for work. Since I'm the IT for our company, it was up to me to develop the plan for moving the computers and technical equipment. They wanted us to be down the least amount of time. Furniture was being dismantled, taken to the new place and reassembled on Wednesday. So my plan was to move the server first thing Wednesday morning, set it up, then bring over the computers and set up each workstation as the desk went up. I got the ok from the bosses to do this, and it worked like a charm.

I had the network plus two workstations up and running by 1pm. The rest would have been up, except there were issues with the desks being set up. By end of day the majority of the computers were up and connected. No printers, however, because the boss neglected to include them in her instructions to the techs adding additional wiring, even though I'd pointed out to her where we needed Ethernet jacks for them. Ahh, such is life.

Everything else got moved in on Thursday in the pouring rain. I also spent a good portion of that day moving computers around because people kept moving their desks. Okay, two people did that. Moved one time each. But when you're crawling around on the floor 2 days after doing Alden's Boot Camp workout, and both of those days included hauling servers and computers and monitors and printers...Oh, the agony.

But at least it's over with. Just about everything was unpacked when they let us go at 3pm on Friday. The last of the wiring was still being finished. But holy cow was I exhausted. I was in bed by 7pm every night starting Wednesday. I didn't get up until 9am today. Well, I did stumble into the kitchen sometime before that to feed the dog, just to shut her up. I'm not sure what time it was. Knowing her, it was too early for breakfast. She tries that sometimes. Okay, every weekend. After getting up, I gamed for a bit, then rushed to shower so I could listen to "Says You" while getting ready for my planned Window Shopping that turned into a Major Purchase. :)

It's Never Easy

Goal (5/4-5/10): 2x Abs, 2x Arms, 30 minutes Miscellaneous
Sitrep: 1x Lawn Mowing - 30 min

Arghh. I've been trying to blog for several days now and never seem to get to the "publish post" part. :) Very busy at work right now, although it's tapering off, thank goodness. I like to be busy, not slammed.

And it's those darn little projects that kill me. What I thought would take just an hour yesterday, ended up requiring the better part of the afternoon, and multiple phone calls for quotes. What is this grand project? Getting us away from an actual fax machine and to Internet Faxing. Turns out if you want incoming faxes actually routed to people, it's more complicated than just signing up. Sigh. But I still think it'll be cheaper than having a fax machine, dedicated phone line, toner, maintenance on the machine and paper. We'll see what the higher ups decide.

I've managed to stir the waters at work...I asked in our staff meeting this morning if everyone can please send a staff email when they plan to take a different lunch than usual. Twice last week when I started to head to lunch I discovered I was the only one here. Delaying lunch isn't that big a deal. Being the only one here to answer calls for an hour is. And one of those days I had an appointment that I - luckily - could reschedule at the last minute. Literally. Good thing I walked to the back to let them know I was leaving for lunch, or I wouldn't have known and just blithely walked out the front door! Of course, now I'm getting snippy comments. Tough shit. There's such a thing as common courtesy.

Anyway. Sorry about the cursing. I'm in a cranky mood, frankly. Probably has something to do with the rainy day oustside. Or the constant headache I've had for days. Now I remember why I like Spring, yet dread it's arrival.

On a positive note

I used my heart rate monitor this weekend while mowing the yard. Turns out that little push reel mower is quite the workout. [g] No wonder I always feel like my head's going to explode when I get done...I'm working too hard...way over my target heart rate zone. So mowing my yard took 30 minutes. Twenty of them in my target heart rate zone. And I burned 465 calories. Nice. I might look at this as a workout instead of a chore from now on! Which is good, because that crazy grass that took over last year seems to thrive no matter the conditions. Hot, dry, cold, wet...it grows. Fast. I've mowed twice already this season, and there was snow on the ground just three weeks ago!

Round and Round the Mulberry Bush

It's been that kinda day, ya know? It all started when I woke up at 4 am and dozed off and on until 6am. Finally fell asleep only to have the alarm go off. At 6:52, which means I had to have been sleeping through it for 7 minutes. [g] No wonder the dog was antsy.

Then I put my pants on inside out and it took a few seconds for it to register why the zipper tab wasn't where it was supposed to be. Or the button. And this was after I'd showered and eaten breakfast.

It didn't get much better at work...silly me forgot to have the server in a different automatic updates schedule than the workstations and update server. So when the server shut itself down for a restart after installing those approved updates...I guess you could say it caught everyone unawares. That was fun. Not.

And since I feel like I've been in repetitive/backwards mode all day, here's something eerily similar to what I blogged about last week in Muddy Waters.

http://my.earthlink.net/article/nat?guid=20080430/4817eec0_3421_1334520080430803073911

I have to wonder at the timing of this. Did the events in TX give the person making the abuse report courage or the idea? Hard to say. I'm probably being paranoid, being as that's a pretty common state of being for me, but is this "open season" on non-mainstream faiths by local governments and/or religious opponents? Shades of the daycare child abuse scandal in the 1980's, perhaps.

At least I can end this post on a positive note a la Cranky Otter - I had a nice email chat with Dad this morning on Global Warming of all things. :) Just a sharing of ideas and info. That was very nice. :)

Miscellaneous Meanderings

Debrief: 1x Arms & Abs, Mowed Yard (push reel mower)
Goal (4/28-5/4): 2x Arms, 2x Abs

Well, I'm back home and still super exhausted from the trip out of town. In spite of the migraine, and a fill-in Ed Consultant driving me crazy with his last minute exam changes, I managed to make it to Mich.ael's Cr.afts (someone gave me a lovely 50% off coupon while I was browsing the aisles) and to Barnes & Noble. Twice. Okay, the second time was just for the Cafe Mocha to keep me going on the drive home. And oh, what a lovely drive. The weather had cleared and it was sunny. Beautiful, especially going through the canyons. It's just greening up thanks to the onset of Spring and the amount of snow/moisture we've had this winter. The Summer heat & dryness hasn't set in. Only pang that disturbed the beauty was the thought that if the moisture doesn't keep up through Spring, there's going to be plenty of fuel for the fires this Summer/Fall.

Stopped at Shanni's on the way into town to pick up the mutt. That was funny. I made it all the way into the living room and said her name several times in my normal voice before she heard me. She was sprawled across their couch sleeping the sleep of the just. (Or rather, the sleep of those who've just spent their days tormenting hapless dogs & people, and attempting to cow the cats - and then running for her life!) Once she realized I was there, she did the usual "oh, it's been horrible, I've been so abused since you abandoned me!" routine. Like I fell for that.

Spent the rest of the weekend cleaning house, doing laundry, and mowing the yard. Sigh. I really really want to tear out the lawn and re-sod it. Whatever grass moved in last year is still thriving. It grows so dang fast it's crowding out more and more of the nice grass. The kind that gives you that soft carpet. It's hardly spring-like weather and I've had to mow the backyard twice!!!! It was quite a workout...my arms hurt and I thought I was gonna die. It needed to be mowed last weekend, but since it started snowing that Saturday morning, that was kind of not an option. Yesterday was lawn day in my neighborhood. Every house on my block had someone in the yard fixing sprinklers, trimming, mowing, etc. I've already had the lawn service people out 2x - once for the aeration and last week for the first fertilizer/weed killer treatment of the year. Hopefully this will help the real grass take - and keep - root.

I put myself back on the Clar.itinD again. Hopefully that will help. Although so far I'm only doing so-so. The switch from snow last Friday to sunny & windows ope on Saturday is just killing my body.

Not much more to say. Lounged around yesterday, working in the house, spoiling the dog. I'm almost done with "The Birth Order" book by Kevin Leman. Not bad, although as a middle child I find it somewhat lacking. [g] He has very little to say about middle children. I also picked up the latest by Sandra Schwab. Can you believe our Wa.lMar.t got it before Hast.ings? They still don't even have it listed in their database. Stupid store. I can't wait until we get a Bo.rders or Ba.rnes & N.oble. Anyway. I'm saving that book for a few more days - must get the library books read first. I'm out of renewals. :)

When White is Bad, & Other Silent Dangers

Sitrep: Zero, much to my embarrassment

I never thought of "white" as a "bad" color. I still don't, but around here, it being April, many people hate white. At least, when it's falling out of the sky. This arctic front that came through last weekend has been dumping a lot of snow. We definitely need the moisture. The snow pack is back to normal levels this year, for the first time in something like a decade. (Or so I hear.) Unfortunately, the 10 inches received by GF and approximately 6-8 inches received in H/EH, isn't sticking around long. In town, that is. I'm assuming that's not the case higher up in the mountains. Since I came up to GF yesterday morning for work, it has pretty much been constantly snowing. A solid 4 hours yesterday and about an hours worth since I came downstairs this morning. Worst of it is it's the kind of snow that looks like rain, and melts on the ground. Best thing of it is the top half of my car is red again, not brown like the bottom half. ;)

Our faculty for this seminar is National and from out of state. One of them called me on Monday asking what to pack for MT in April, especially this week. Ummm, shorts and a parka? It's really that unpredictable. A few days before this front we were pushing 80*F. Yes, indeed, we were! Now we're back at highs in the 30's. Ahhh, such is life in the "far, far West". ;) I wouldn't change it for anything.

The best part of being on the road at these things is the food. We get to eat at the nicest restaurants, and I eat soooo much better than usual. "Better" meaning steak. Yes, this is me talking. I eat steak now. Oh, the things living in MT has done to me! (Actually, that started in Paraguay...MT just reinforced it!) But last night I was feeling "responsible" and thought since I'd eaten a burger & fries for lunch, I'd have the soup & salad bar for dinner. I skipped the lovely cream of tomato soup. whimper. Not that it did me any good. Something I selected took my mini-headache (the kind you get when you're dealing with 80 people at a conference complaining about the room being "too cold" and "too hot") and turned it into a migraine. Alas, guess who forgot to pack her migraine medication???? Yes, that would be me. I haven't had any in so long (not real migraines, just sinus headaches) I didn't even think to toss that little packet in my bag. It was not the funnest night. At least the pain got bad enough to make me throw up (get that poison out of my system!). Funny how once I throw up the pain eases. Finally got to sleep around 2 or 3 am. I've got a local pharmacy filling my prescription just in case. These true migraines usually stick around a few days.

I'm feeling better now, and plan to hit the fitness room in the hotel this evening. I should be feeling right as rain by that time. :) I'm just wondering what happened last night at dinner. I was pretty careful with what I selected. I think the 1000 Island dressing had more garlic in it than normal. It tasted different than what I'm used to...That's happened before, usually with store bought stuff, though. And usually not with such a harsh result. Maybe combined with the peanut butter cookie I had in the afternoon. I'll be skipping those today!!!!

I managed to get my car to the dealership today for the 60k mile maintenance. Funny how I picked the one large town in MT that not only doesn't have a Barnes & Noble, it also doesn't have a dealership for my car! They love me here today. They're letting me use 2 coupons at the same time because I'll be spending enough...Maintenance (a big one) plus All wheel alignment (desperately needed, to be sure!) plus Brake Inspection (also needed!) = $$$$$$$$$$$$$$. So the brake inspection is free, and I get 10% off the alignment. That's about $35.00. Hey, every little bit helps! Although I'm sure this will take care of the stimulus rebate I'm getting. [g] But that's okay. This needed to be done!

Everything's Coming Up Roses

Sitrep: zero

So Shanni got to meet the President & First Lady this morning. The awards ceremony was held in the Rose Garden at the White House. Pretty exciting for her! Here's a link to the video of the ceremony: http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2008/04/20080417.wm.v.html

It's about 14 minutes long, the first half is the Prez giving a speech, then the awards. Shanni & her group are the second to last. About 11 mins in. She's the one standing in front of the First Lady.

Afterward she called me, all excited. They were getting ready to go to the zoo, and after that the memorials. She's still more awed by the fancy hotel ("There's a LAKE in the middle of the hotel! We ate dinner on it!") than meeting the President, but it's going to be a fabulous memory for her. I'm glad she's having so much fun.

I'm having a great day myself. It's my 35th Birthday. Got some cool gifts - new camera battery, camera cleaning kit and a heart rate monitor watch. I think this new toy will help me get back on the exercise track. I'm such a geek. [g] I'm also hoping to take pictures this weekend. If the weather holds!

Got my hair cut at lunch today, and my hairdresser wouldn't let me pay since it's my birthday! Wasn't that sweet of her? Then I got my DL renewed...it took less than ten minutes, there was no one in line. To top it all off, they took a new picture...and I'd just come from the hairdresser. At least the hair looks good. [g] I'm sure my smile will be more of a grimace. Hah. ;)

It was tough not checking the BB today during work. Just about drove me crazy. But it doesn't look like too much went on. Coworkers are none too happy about the new time managment monitoring. They announced at our staff meeting today they will be implementing internet monitoring software. And we have to track what we are doing in 15 minute increments for the next few weeks. All I can say is as irritating as it is to track, I got a lot more done today! Which I expected.

And I killed the copier. LOL. At the end of the day, just over halfway through getting all the books printed for next week, it stopped and threw up a message "System Error. Call XXX-XXXX. C2550." And that was that. No copier. They'll be in tomorrow to coax it back to life. [g]

Well, I'm off to email the video to tons of people. I need to see if we can get a copy of it somehow. :)

Up My Mind - Again

Sitrep: Zero.

It's been a lackluster week and a half when it comes to the exercise front. And last week I had spaghetti for dinner every night. It's no wonder I feel like something the cat dragged in. Tomato is just not good for me. I'm getting better, though. Used to be I'd binge on the stuff for months...after just a week the thought of anything with tomato turns my stomach...

Shanni is in Washington D.C. now. She just called - they went swimming. [g] Tomorrow they're going to see all the memorials. She's promised to get her picture taken at the Lincoln Memorial, at my request. She's going to be there on my birthday. How cool is that?

Her flight out was an adventure. An hour delay getting out of here due to high winds. Then their connecting flight had mechanical probs and they sat on it for an hour. So by the time they got to D.C. and their hotel, they'd missed tonight's social event. They get to set up their display and present it tomorrow. Shanni is having a blast, she really is. Loved her first airplane trip, loves the fancy hotel...Her mother is having a nervous breakdown, however. [g] She was up all night crying. I was on the phone by 5:30am with Shanni, who was not too thrilled with her mom..."She's squeezing me to death!" I could hear her eyes rolling. lol. When I talked to M. this afternoon after they'd arrived in D.C., she sounded a bit put out that Shanni is having such a good time.

Anyway. It's been an exhausting day. Lots of meetings at work...they're cracking down on the, uh, lack of production in the office. So I'm blocked from the bulletin board and this blog during the day. Bummer. But not really...I'm in charge of IT and can change that setting as I wish...But I need to be more disciplined anyway, so...I'm bad enough, but not as bad as a few others that do nothing but surf the net all day. I don't know how they think no one notices...It's a small office. Oh well. I'll just have to blog on my own time. I will miss the BB though. I'll have to look at setting it up to allow access during lunch hour or something.

I'm dog-sitting for a friend, and somehow his dog is on the sofa next to me and my dog is curled up on his bed across the room sending us a very pathetic look. [lol]. She's met her match in this dog, my Scully has. ;)

I guess we did good at the fundraiser meet with U.nited W.ay yesterday for Big Brothers Big Sisters, because they (BBBS) called me today to see if I could speak again tomorrow. Ughh. Hate that, but willing to do it for this program. Only I've got tomorrow scheduled to get my driver's license renewed. I've put it off to the last minute naturally. It's $40.00. And fifty cents. Can't forget that fifty cents for the mailed postcard reminder. [rolling eyes] Oh well.

Going to be a crazy rest of the week so I don't now if I'll be blogging much. Big seminar next week for work, so I'm neck deep in preparations for that. I also need to get the car detailed (got a coupon for that, whoo-hoo!), get my license renewed, get my hair cut (got to look presentable at the seminar next week), get the car scheduled for maintenance next week, attend a gardening class on Saturday and maybe some Earth Day celebrations, meet Shanni at the airport at midnight (ughh) and then on Sunday is my birthday celebration at her house. German chocolate cake with this most delicious coconut pecan icing and vanilla ice cream.

And somehow I'm having a contractor in sometime in the next few weeks for an estimate on remodeling the bathroom. Ackkk. It's Morning Owl's dad, so he'll give me a good deal. Nothing fancy, just wanting to move some plumbing around (oh, that's easy!). I'll reuse the sink and toilet, but I want a new tub. Oh, not one of those jet tubs or anything. But one where the back at least slants. I have no idea who designed these bathtubs with straight backs. Whoever it was they oughta be shot!!! There's just no way to get a nice relaxing hot soak when your back is ramrod straight. [g] Anyway. This might just be a pipe dream...it might be a bit beyond my reach. But getting a quote is as good a place to start as any.