Pre-party prep

Yesterday, I went to the airport to pick up Charlie’s family who had just flown up from Orlando for the music party. Ok, Hartsfield airport is EVEN MORE of a nightmare than I’ve ever experienced and I’ve lived in Atlanta over 20 years. The airport construction seems to be going on and on and on. Yesterday, all of the parking lots – including the long term – were full. Park and ride was no option for Charlie’s father who uses a walker. After receiving a parking receipt from the attendant and being told that if I don’t find a space in 15 minutes I’ll be charged, I squeezed in between a Benz and a 4Runner and started the long walk to the terminal and baggage. Charlie’s parents and brother met me in their baggage claim and I told them to meet me outside the door that I would go get the car and circle around. Back out to the parking lot and circling the airport – twice – before I could pull over to get them. There were Atlanta police officers directing traffic and yelling at cars basically. I saw one officer chew out this couple who had pulled over to drop off in a striped area. The second time I was coming through I couldn’t pull over and Charlies family just came out and loaded into the SUV. Once in amidst total chaos another cop was yelling at me because I didnt drive over the cross walk fast enough. Hello, what if pedestrians were in the path?

I seriously think that the Atlanta police department puts their officers with the biggest anger management issues at the airport to deal with traffic. It’s scary that they’re carrying firearms, too. And, we worry about terrorists when we have angry gun-toting fools right in front of us.  I was never so glad to get the hell out of there.

Back at the house, finally, we unloaded and the airport experience was already making me ready for a drink. Too early we decided to go shopping at the liquor store instead – lol. The people who run Toco Giant see Charlie’s bro who likes to mix mean martinis coming a mile away with his shopping cart and are saying, Cha-ching to themselves. By the time we got back with cases of booze (which, reminded me of the time ten of us walked over the border into Juarez Mexico to buy alcohol for a New Years Eve party) it was time to go have one at Argosy in East Atlanta. We went there strictly for the atmosphere alone. Nestled in a warehouse-like building it has low lighting and a huge craft beer selection. The bartenders were very attentive even when Charlie’s mom asked about one of them’s stretched ear lobes. (Lord) Charlie’s bro was like Yeah, mom and those are tattoos – lol.

Next, we went to dinner at everyone’s favorite Apres Diem (even my picky-@ss sister likes this place and that’s saying alot). After dinner we went over to the Golden Eagle to have an after-dinner drink and to show everyone just how dark this place is inside. It’s always a shock until your eyes get used to it then you see the huge moose over the bar. This place always mixes a mean cocktail.

So, on the Facebook invite we strictly said NO KIDS. ADULT ONLY PARTY. What happens? We have these friends down the street that just had a baby. Charlie had spoken to them and one 1/2 of the couple expressed interest in stopping by just to say hi and she was like sure. We thought, husband would stop in and have a drink while wife had baby or vice versa or even the sister-in-law would watch baby while they both stopped in for 30 minutes or so. Well it turned into them posting on our site saying We’re bringing the baby and our sister-in-law and next thing you know every person with kids under 10 are asking us if they can bring their kids. Noooooooooo.

This is so annoying.

I took their bringing-the-baby post down and told them they can stop by with the baby but that I had to take their post down because everyone with a child would see that and ask if they could bring their children, too.  I hate to be like this but it’s really not fair to the other people invited with kids. I hate when people think they are the exception to the rule.  I already got a text from a friend of mine who has two children saying she saw that and had a babysitter but wondered if she could bring her kids, too. I was like, No, sorry.  Seriously, I never thought this was going to be a problem!

So far I think it’s supposed to be clear and no rain before the party but cross your fingers!

 

 

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all for nothing?

Have you ever dated someone that one minute they wanted to be in a serious relationship and the next they just wanted to date around?

This is similar to my current place of employment. One minute it seems like I’ll be around for awhile and the next there’s rumors of layoffs (they call them surplus’s). I’ve been through 4 rounds of these since I started 2-1/2 years ago. Currently, the company pays for my college tuition and it’s good money and benefits. I really don’t want to have to leave. Plus, it’s close to my house. Despite all that there’s another rumor going around that we’re going to have another one right after Christmas – yeah, great, get us through the holidays and then let the cutting begin.Two of the guys I work with are sure this is going to happen. Other’s on the team are like, Whoa??? Really?

Personally, I’d like to stay around until that happens – if it happens. That way if it does I wont have to pay back the tuition they paid so far. But, in the meantime I do have to look out for #1 and in doing so have put out quite a few job applications. My qualifications are somewhere in the middle of telecommunications engineer and project manager. I’ve managed a slew of different projects but what I’m really interested in is IT project management. I don’t have a whole lot of certifications yet in the IT arena although I’m a certified PMP. I have all kinds of talent managing all kinds of f*cked up projects is basically my experience. I’m currently studying for my Network + exam but it’s a long process trying to study this stuff while I’m in school studying that stuff as well and there’s, like, a gazillion acronyms in networking – someone needs to develop a trivial pursuit game of networking acronyms to help people study for these things. My co-worker who is sure we’re getting laid off after January keeps sitting for the CCNA exam. He didn’t pass it the first time but is taking it again in a few weeks and is sure he’ll pass it then. He said as soon as he passes he’s sending out resume’s. I’m currently ahead of him in school – in a Cisco class right now and thinking of taking the second class next semester. But, part of me wonders if I should be studying for CCNA instead of Network +.

Decisions, decisions. All this shit makes me feel really stupid and don’t get me started on Linux.

So, it puts a damper on our holiday plans. We were going to go rent a house in St. George for a week and take the dogs but I cancelled that yesterday. (Plus, who knows the shape that it’s in after hurricane Michael). School registration is in a few weeks and I’m definately going to take firewall configuration and ethical hacking and penetration testing. I need to learn some skills. I have a couple of mentors at work who are in the IT department I speak with monthly. I’m really hoping that after all this talking they will put me on a project and eventually hire me. I hope to think that all this isn’t for nothing. 

weekend chex mix

Whew! What a weekend! It all started out celebrating with Emil on Wednesday night at the Mexican restaurant with Adrianne. Adrianne had been wanting to surprise Emil with a birthday dinner and was able to schedule it that evening.

We no more pulled up and Adrianne got out – we’d all been texting how hungry we were and that maybe we needed to push the meeting time up to 5:30 instead of 6. Emil pulled up just then having gotten off work on time and we headed in to the restaurant to have margaritas and beer. This was the first time we’d been out with Adrianne and we had a blast talking and laughing over drinks. We all thought that night if we didn’t have to work the next day we would have been out a lot later. That night Emil mentioned that Benjii and Goya had texted her to see if she wanted to do something on her actual bday, Friday.

Fast forward to Friday Charlie and I decided to have a crab boil and whoever wanted to show up, show up. I picked up a half cake just in case Emil showed and it ended up they all showed. We hung out at the she-shed and listened to music while the potatoes and corn cooked in the pot we had going outside.

The next day, I managed to talk Charlie in to going to see A Star is Born. (Gaga does not disappoint) and we ran into Emil, Benji and Goya. We all ended up sitting together in the back row.

Yesterday, Charlie was a little hung over didn’t feel well and we threw together some cheese tortellini chicken soup  (if you make this halve the onion and add some more veggies – it was kind of plain but I know chicken soup is supposed to be that way) and camped out in front of the TV to watch this new series on Netflix, Maniac.

(what do you think of that? Were only on the 4^th episode but it’s very strange)

As we were sitting down Emil texted and wanted to know if we were around as she was in the neighborhood and I called her back and said, Come over!

So, she came over for soup and we watched the first two episodes together. It was a great end to a fantastic weekend! Things are about to get cra-cra around here getting ready for the party and next weekend we have gay pride and the porchfest that Charlie is going to help Emil record her playing with both of her bands. I’m going to try to get out of school early so I can run down there and take in at least a little bit of music before it’s over. The hot weather is finally moving out this week so hopefully we’ll get some nice, cool long sleeved shirt weather. It will feel good to put on jeans again.

Have a great rest of your week and talk soon!

 

burying the bourbon, monday chex mix

I missed the Friday chex mix series so I decided to do a Monday chex series today. I haven’t really been up to anything except work and school as you know from the previous posts. Honestly, I’m so glad that October is here and the air feels a little cooler. We are making preparations for our party this month and almost Charlie’s entire family (minus the older boy/daughter-in-law who will be on vacation) are descending upon us for it. We buried the bottle of bourbon in the backyard yesterday praying it won’t rain.

(I know that’s a southern wedding tradition but it can’t hurt – plus, it will be fun digging it up and sharing on the occasion. We buried it right beside the shed, too.)

We have all the music, booze, menu and various other details all coordinated and taken care of. Hopefully, we will have a good crowd and it won’t rain.

Until then, more dull-birdness. I am trying to see the light at the end of the tunnel with school and I’m looking forward to a short vacation to the beach after the party. This holiday I am taking the entire week off from work and maybe we’ll go somewhere. Since we’ve never been able to find a decent dog sitter then we have to consider dog friendly airbnb’s.

A friend of ours is going through a hard time right now. We’re a bit worried. I flip-flop between “Snap out of it” and “Do you think you should go back and see your therapist?” – Probably the latter is the best advice I can give but I’ve vowed that I’m not doling out any more of it. The last time I gave out advice it wasn’t well received and I just thought to myself, Just keep your mouth shut, Lanie.

You just can’t save people. They have to save themselves. Maybe sometimes people just need to move through it to get to the other side. I was lying in bed last night thinking about this one blog I used to read and wondering what happened to the person who used to write it. I worry that they passed away. I should leave my blog password to Charlie in case something happens to me as I wouldn’t want people to keep coming back to my blog and wondering where I went. Adverse talk for a Monday but I’m off to more adversity of my Linux class. UGH! I hate that class. I really do. But, I’m still here and kicking it in the @ss.

Happy Monday, y’all. It’s half way over and Friday’s even closer!

 

No Mas

I am so tired this morning. We had a very busy weekend and all I want right now is have some down time.

Saturday, we met up with a friend of mine who I used to work with. She’s had an exceptionally hard time lately so it was plans I didn’t want to cancel despite feeling tired and her being an hour late getting to the restaurant we decided to meet at. We ended up closing the bar with our favorite bartender (in Decatur), Wendy. As we were walking to the car we passed this late night restaurant/bar named Victory and my friend said, What’s that? Let’s go there!

Both Charlie and I were like, No, maybe next time, we’re beat.

It would be one thing if my friend drove herself home from Decatur but she comes in to town via the train and we have to drive her back to the train station so she can drive home. She doesn’t like to drive why it’s like this. So, long story short – it was good to see her but next time it needs to be at around 5:00.

The next day, we had tickets to Dawes at the Tabernacle with Emil. They were good but I really doubt I’d see them again. I love seeing shows at that venue, though. Before the concert we went down to this restaurant on the west side of town called No Mas (which, means “no more” in English – look at the writing on the wall, Lanie!). We met Emil’s friend Erin down there for dinner and she was originally going to go with us to the concert. When Charlie and I were at that restaurant before we had a really great time and the food was ok. One of the great things about the place is that they have this really great store that they sell goods from Mexico and we like to go in there. Well, had we realized that we’d get slung up in a bunch of Falcons/surly Saints traffic we surely would have decided to go somewhere else. Plus, once there it was packed to the gills with drunk football fans. There were two couples at the table next to us and one of the women of the couples just started going off on her boyfriend? Husband? (God, I hope not for his sake) guy friend? It was so bad at one point we were looking around for a manager. People seemed to ignore it except for us. We were all kinds of stressed. All I could think about was the time I went out with this Bi-polar woman who did that same kind of stuff. We’d be at a restaurant with all her friends and she’d start screaming at me across the table in front of everyone.

I got up and went to exchange a very bad margarita for a Mexican beer and use the restroom and by the time I got back the woman had thankfully stopped shouting aggressively at her man and was even snugged up to him holding his arm.

Yep, that’s Bi-polar – one minute you’re a piece of shit and the next it’s all puppies and flowers and love you’s. In place of aggressive shouting was the shouting over the crowd and noise – so either way she kept shouting. As we left and passed by their booth and if I still had my drink I thought about accidentally on purpose tripping and spilling my beer on her head but knew it would an even bigger fight after that.

I was so glad to get out of there. Erin excused herself and said she wasn’t feeling well and caught an Uber home and Charlie, me and Emil went on to the concert from there. The concert was even quieter than that restaurant it seemed. It was a very mixed crowd there, too. There were people our parent’s age mouthing all the lyrics of the songs like they knew them all. I had to look up how long this band had been around and they didn’t really look that old.

The next day, I was pretty fried from being out late all weekend. I skipped my Linux class – honestly, I don’t think I could have done it if a gun were pointed to my head. But, I can skip once in a while just not always. This guy loves to throw a pop quiz on us from time to time just to keep everyone showing up because honestly, the class is so boring.  This week we’re just laying low and having some friends over for dinner on Friday. That will hopefully not be a late night because I have class the next day.

So, between work and school my butt is kicked this semester and we have all kinds of people coming to our music party next month so I’d better rest up because it’s going to get even crazier.

 

 

dull bird

I must apologize for being away for so long. School and work has been kicking my ass these days as you can probably understand. So, this post is a conglomerate of days and what I have been up to.

Thursday:

I’m at a cyber security conference today and (maybe) tomorrow. Mostly, what I am trying to glean from it is networking opportunities. And, I was over work this week and thought I could use a few days off to do something different pertaining to school.

I’ve been here since 9 this morning and have volunteered a little with my student information security club and have made a few decent contacts. Since I got in for free for being a student it’s been well worth it.  I was beat by the end of the day, though. I didn’t even hang around for the recruiter happy hour. I figured a large portion of the people who were there were already working in the field and my time would be better spend at that point getting on the train and going home to have my own happy hour with my wife.

It turned out to be a good choice as by the time I got back to my side of town I was feeling a bit rundown. I think the allergy season is kicking in again and I am SO OVER this 90 degree weather that’s stretched out for a number of months here. Football is (thankfully) back on and I’m desperately waiting for cooler weather to get here so we can have bon fires in the back yard and Charlie can rent her log splitting machine.

Friday:

While I took the day off from work to go to the conference I just couldn’t muster it. I wanted a day off to do whatever I wanted to do. A large portion was spent transferring my wife’s 300 something photos from her phone, FB and What’s App into a Google cloud. I’m buying her a digital camera with a HUGE SD card for her next trip – just saying. What a wonderful thing these clouds are. I think that will be a future certification that I need to get.

Saturday:

College football most of the day with homework and studying in between. Not only am I studying class stuff but also for my Network + certification. I’ve decided that no one is going to even look at me unless I get a few certs under my belt and I’m bound and determined I’m going to be certified in this before Christmas. Even if I get a C in Linux.

Monday:

I went to school early to study before class. I ran into two classmates in the lab – one is in my Linux class that night. Can I just say that I cannot stand the prof for this class. He explains nothing. He just gets into his virtual box and starts typing dos commands. He also nags us about turning in our homework on time. Hello. This is adult learning the last time I checked. Last week we had our first test that was open book. I know, open book should be easy but you only get so long to do a 50 question test and you have to have most of the questions committed to memory or else you won’t finish it on time. So, I blew through it in 20 minutes because I’d studied my ass off for it. Originally, I was planning on bouncing after the test but the prof told us that he would give us an hour to do the test and then at 7:05 we’ll start lecture. So, you did the math – I’m sitting there for 40 minutes twiddling my thumbs waiting for the end of the test. Actually, I opened up my Cisco and did a lab while I waited.

This whole class has been so f*cked up. The prof doesn’t tell us when he makes the chapter review tests available nor the labs. We just have to eck out time in each of our days to constantly go to the website and check. Tonight he just loaded the next chapter lab. I’m one of these people who like to work ahead – actually, I need to work ahead in order to make sure I stay caught up with all of the workload. I just realized tonight from a classmate that the labs don’t necessarily need to be linked in order to do them. So, I’m mf-ing doing about 3 in a row this weekend. Along with studying for my Net+.

So, yeah – this is my life. Honestly, I’m not a fan of Linux. I don’t see myself as being a coder. I’ll probably never be hacker/coder like Lizbeth Salandar.

But, give me a switch and some wire and I could probably figure out how to set up a simple network, hence, why I like Cisco so much better. I can get with that. In fact, I’m loving my Cisco class and my other security class but at the end of the day I do need to learn some code. I will probably end up teaching myself. I see Linux for dummies in my future. Or maybe I will take a Python class. I started teaching myself a little python and it’s really not bad.

Tonight, we walked in to class and he hit us with a pop quiz. This guy is really not winning any popularity contests these days. I tried to switch profs at the first of the semester but it was too late – I was stuck with the guy. SIGH. At least I made a friend in class instead of only knowing that wack-a-doodle girl in there.

So, this is my dull bird school life. I really hope all this pays off someday. I’m already looking forward to Thanksgiving break. -Sigh-

middle of the road chex mix

So, this week Charlie has been out in Idaho on a ranch with her mom. It’s been just me and the furry babies holding down the fort. Thankfully, we’re off from school this weekend for the holiday so I won’t have to find someone to cover letting the dogs out on Saturday again. Aside from Emil coming over last Saturday to eat Chinese food and get wasted I haven’t really done anything except work & homework. (I plan on getting ahead of the game over break). I’ve been kind of a dull bird, although I have asked Benji and her to do something as I haven’t seen those girls since they moved into a new house together. I guess they have been nesting.

I joined this information security club through school and tomorrow night I’m going to one of their meetings and a representative from a [major airlines] is going to be there to talk about security. Should be interesting and I’m looking forward to getting out of the house. I decided to take off a few days from work and go to a hacker’s convention in a couple of weeks. I’m hoping to network my @ss off at this thing. Ever since our merger everyone at work has had this doomsday attitude. All they talk about is that we’re going to get laid off. Every meeting our boss schedules everyone’s says “Here it comes, it’s going to happen.”

Sure, everyone’s bracing themselves but why do we have to talk about it all the time? I understand their concerns but honestly can we just shut up about it? The time it takes bitching about it could be the time it takes to write up a resume and send it off to a couple of openings to see what happens. Me, I’ve already been doing that for months now. This is normal for me. I’m just hoping I can find something that coincides with my current curriculum – cyber security.

Meanwhile, my wife is partying with a Heisman trophy winner’s fiance’e.  I got the football question on the phone last night of do you know of…….I was thinking my wife is really missing football and me – lol. So, she’s meeting famous people out there. I’m glad she’s having a good time and no, I still don’t want to go horseback riding -but fly fishing – I could work with that.

But, it’s all about school and career right now and which direction I’m going. I could kick myself for not sitting for the Network + exam this month but honestly, I knew I wouldn’t pass it and it would be a waste of $$. I ordered a new book to study for it so hopefully by Christmas I’ll be ready. I have to get these certs and get the hale out of here. It’s the only way. In the meantime, I’m just keeping my head down and working, studying and networking my @ss off – in more ways than one. This song comes to mind and such a great live recording, too. Enjoy!

 

my day as it compared to “Ironic”

You ever had one of those days where you could have just stayed in bed. Maybe in hindsight you should have decided to take a mental health day?

Yesterday was one of those. Freaking Mondays, I swear. I felt kind of like this guy. Despite sleeping the best that I’ve slept for a while the previous night and coming in to work on the later side of what I normally do I could tell it was going to be one of those days right after I got in.

I have this one guy I share an office with and when he’s in a bad mood it’s time to put the headphones on and zone out. I was doing just that and thinking, If I were to get that one job that I interviewed for and that I should be hearing back any day from then maybe all my coworkers would be HAPPY and we’d all be working as A TEAM and saying things like, Hey, let’s head on over and discuss this work solution over a game of pool after we clear out the yoga mats from the class that just ended.

See what I mean?

Instead, I happen to look at my phone and see that I had a missed phone call. From California. And, oh a message of – thanks for coming in but we’re moving forward with other candidates at this time.

Fuck.

I was sitting there thinking, Well, you did just buy this expensive laptop to do school work on and made an investment to stay in school which your current job pays for and if you were to get this then you may have had to drop some classes, drop out or be so crazy busy you’d be stressed out.

It’s a black fly in your Chardonnay. It’s a death row pardon two minutes too late.

You know – making analogies. But, it still fucking sucked. I spent almost 6 hours talking to these people. Geez. I should at least get a t-shirt. The I showed up for an onsite interview with [large tech company] and all I got was this t-shirt. But, I brushed it off and went on despite my workmate yelling into the phone in the background and being slightly pissed off.

It’s like ten thousand spoons when all you need is a knife……

So, I had my Linux class that night. Which, I gotta tell you has not started out well. The curriculum required an expensive book and lab access then once purchased no one seemed to be able to sync it with the school’s grading system nor can some even get into it. The professor knows DICK about what to do about it. He’s this guy who only wants to teach command line in a virtual environment. Fine, teach that but don’t require us to spend $150 on expensive online lab access if we’ll never be able to be graded on it. I went in last night hoping that the kinks would be worked out and it was the same as the previous weeks. I was actually trying to help the guy behind me and then he asked that wacka-doodle woman next to him if she got the same thing and she said her labs had been graded already (which that was my email to the prof as to why mine were still processing) and when the guy asked her how she did it she snapped, I’m not up for helping anyone right now. I was thinking, Wow then you should have not said anything to begin with. I mean, no need to be rude, bitch. I think the guy even got up and left. I have no idea. So the prof lectured for an hour – ½ without a break. I got up and went to the restroom and came back just as he was saying he would end lecture then and we can work on the lab. I did the lab – which was different that the one I had already done – I figure I will eventually get graded on some things that I’ve done – and left.

It’s a free ride, when you’ve already paid…….

So, when I got home Charlie had gotten the mail and finally the card that my sister sent for my birthday with money in it got here (I might say, almost a month late) and guess what? Someone had already torn open the envelope and stole the cash out of it.

And, isn’t it ironic, don’t you think.

A little too ironic, and yeah I really do think.

just another chex mix friday

(this is what Georgia feels like right now)

Last Thursday, I had a day-long interview –can’t really disclose anything about it but let’s just say I felt it went well and I was ready for a drink afterwards to, if anything, celebrate making it through. I probably won’t hear anything for a couple of weeks if I do.

I’m at a juncture right now with what I want to do. If I were to get this job it would mean growing in the profession I’m currently in and I would probably have to put school on hold or reduce my load to one class because I’d have to jump in with both feet. It would be a great opportunity for sure.

If I don’t get the job then I’m going to just continue to tread water where I am and go to school. So, really no skin off my nose either way – that is, unless we go through a lay-off in September like people are saying could happen -they like to call it “surplus”.

School started Monday night – YAWN – I was so tired. My first class of the semester – Linux. When I walked into the building I recognized a classmate I had in networking last semester – Nancy – she was down the hall in a security class I’ve already taken. She has this Linux class, too, but on another night. We talked about how we were clueless about the textbook and lab access for the class, etc. When I walked into the room there was another classmate from my first semester in Hardware and Maintenance. She’s a bit of a wack-a-doodle but very helpful in figuring out how to access the labs. Between her and another guy they figured it out and by the end of the class we were in. But, it was 8:00 by then and the prof let us go. The labs alone are going to take a while to do we were told. Here we go again. I’m sure I’m going to have labs coming out of my @ss this semester as I have two more classes back to back on Saturdays.

What have I gotten myself in to, is what I keep thinking.

In the meantime, I’m still studying for that Network + exam that I guess I’m going to bite the bullet and go sit for it by the end of this month because this version of the exam that I’ve been studying for is going away. Our prof was talking about Linux certification and I was like, Not now, dude. Maybe down the road but I don’t see it. Probably next is Security +. I’m just trying to get enough IT knowledge down so I can be a project manager for IT related projects – I don’t need to be the IT person.

So, Larry and Sherry got into trouble. They took vacation together to move in together this week and didn’t tell anyone. Normally, when we take vacation days or if we’re going to be out of the office we’re supposed to put in into this system that shows we’re out. That way if anyone’s looking for us then they go there and see that we’re out. If we’re managing an area then we need to put in a backup person to handle that while we’re out. As Sherry just does ADMIN work (even though she’s being paid to be an engineer) she doesn’t have to put anyone down. But, Larry is managing three areas (he got two of Patricia’s areas after she quit left) and he put no one down t handle his shit. This is very bad from the company standpoint. We cannot take vacation or be out if there’s no one to cover our shit.

I always have Chris cover me when I’m out. I even coordinate my vacation days with his to make sure both of us can cover each other while we’re out. The new boss has said that he’s going to be going to each office to work a day or so and wants to coordinate with everyone those days – meaning, he doesn’t want to show up at an office to work when no one is going to be there – like he did on Thursday when he showed up to Larry and Sherry’s office and no one was there. Not good for them but Baxter let them get away with murder while he was a manager so I’m not surprised that they have never imputed their stuff into the system when they were out.

Since the new boss has taken over snarky dickhead that sits out in the OTP office has been killing us with spreadsheets. I almost feel I’m back at the Wanna-build-roads-but-only-throw-people-under-the-bus place. Granted, no job is perfect but it would be nice if more than one person on the team would take on more of a mentor role instead of the mentality of “This is your shit, handle it.” The job I interviewed for last week I had to meet “The Team” and it was all about collaboration and working as “a team”. I wanted to laugh because none of the jobs I’ve ever been in had that mentality. Oh, they SAID they were a team but mostly it’s been here’s some shit, handle it type of mentality.

We don’t have big plans for the weekend – especially since I will be in class most of the day on Saturday and it’s Charlie’s last weekend until she goes out of town on a trip with her mom. I think we plan on just laying low and staying close to the house – especially, since, Bailey, one of our dogs gave us a scare on Wednesday. Charlie was walking her and Sadie and Bailey got into a yellow jacket nest and got stung a couple of times and went into shock. Charlie called me at work to come get them and take them to the vet but when I got on the road there was all this school traffic and I called her back and told her to call Heather up the street and I would meet them at the vet. So, once there Bailey got a shot of Benadryl and Cerenia and then fluids. She seemed to be stabilizing pretty quick and we took her home and laid her down on the couch and put the TV on for her. Poor thing. So, now we’re looking in to possibly a liquid form of Benadryl and some more Cerenia for the doggie first aid kit.

So, it’s been kind of an exciting week and 1/2. How has yours been? What’s up for the weekend?

Cheers!

be thankful friday chex mix

It’s been kind of a scary week.

After our group luncheon on Tuesday to meet the new boss really nothing anyone really gleaned from it. No one really knows if we’re staying in the same locations, doing the same duties or if it will get shaken up. Larry and Sherry The Wonder Twins may finally get separated and Sherry’s been worried. Sherry’s worried because she’s never been the engineer she’s been hired to BE. She just got on because Larry told Baxter (our old boss) that he wasn’t coming (in more ways than one) without Sherry. Now with the new boss Sherry might actually have to do some work. Patricia took the most recent package to leave so she will be gone at the end of this month. I think she saw the writing on the wall and decided to go back to truck driving with her husband.

The other day Shampa and I were instant messaging and (me liking to stir up shit out there) said that according to Sherry she thought everyone was moving back over to the old construction office where Larry and her sat. I knew this would stir up that office because they all sit OTP and would hate driving to inside the fruit loop. But, she apparently turned around and called another person on the team who in turn called Sherry and guess who’s company phone went off around 4:30 yesterday – mine, from Sherry. Sherry wondered why I was telling everyone that she said we were moving back there.

I asked, well didn’t you tell Dan this morning? Dan’s been talking about it all day.

Dan and I share an office and he often drives me crazy.

Just know that anything you tell Dan goes into concrete as fact.

I wanted to say, You’re the stupid bitch that started the rumor by telling Dan. It’s not my fault he took it as fact.

Afterwards, I texted Shampa that I took it that she told Sherry about our conversation. (BITCH) That’s the last time I tell her anything.

Meanwhile, I’m not so sure that the involuntary force reduction they got recently won’t turn into a voluntary reduction soon. Especially, getting a new boss in the mix. I saw dark clouds on the horizon so I started looking again. Well, I had been applying to some things since May. The other day I had a telephone interview with a large company similar (but different) than the one I’m with. I thought the interview was a disaster because the guy had me on speaker phone and I could barely hear anything he said. It took all my concentration just to hear what he was saying. At one point I made him repeat a question and even said, I’m having a hard time hearing you because you have me on speaker phone I’m getting an echoing effect.

Instead of saying, Oh I’ll take you off speaker phone, he said, Sorry and repeated the question. Not what I wanted, dude.

After hanging up I thought, Well, I bombed that one. Until last night I got an email from the recruiter saying Chris (was that his name? wow good thing I didn’t call him Dick which is what I thought he said his name was) really enjoyed your conversation concerning the position and would like to invite you to meet the team for on site interviews (wait for it) all day. Please send me your availability for all-day blocks starting from July 27……

All I could see was ALL DAY. I’ve never had an interview last ALL DAY. Oh my God. What could we possibly talk about ALL DAY? I’m kind of trying not to freak out about it. I’ve already dragged my suit out of the closet (I think it’s been almost a year since I’ve been on an interview) and made sure it fit. I’m going to work on a portfolio package to bring with me.  I guess all I can do is put it in my mind that I will nail it either way. (I have a lot of meditation to do between now and then).

I’ve saved the worst for last because this stuff sounds trivial compared to what my friend it going through. I have this friend I worked with at the Department of  trying to build roads but only threw people under the bus Transportation. Her brother has been kidnapped and we don’t know what to think. It’s been in the news and then they found a body in a lake nearby but they can’t identify it yet so they don’t know if it’s him or not. It’s been an ongoing nightmare for my friend and we feel so terrible for her and her family and all we can really do at this point is pray for them.

All that really puts things into perspective and it’s also really scary. We go about our day-to-day business not knowing what can happen next. Anything can happen at any time so it’s important to thank our lucky stars that we have a job to go to, people at work to bitch about and ALL DAY interviews. So, happy Friday, hug your person and tell them you love them and have a great, safe weekend!

Cheers!