36 posts tagged “work”
So, I have survived my crazy week of travel with our new team member. She, by the way, is fabulous and I can't express how much I enjoyed having some company on the trip. Getting home last night was...a nightmare really. Bad weather all over the place made for lots of late flights and cancellations. I finally crawled into the house here around 12:45am.
Today has been full of work stuff - wrapping up things from this week, conference calls, scheduling for July, etc. But, for the most part, I am done now and must move on to the insane amount of housework that has to be completed before 8pm tomorrow!
Laundry: I have to get the guest bedding and towels washed! All other laundry can then be done as time permits...but those first two are a must!
Cleaning: Vacuuming the entire place will happen this evening. There is dog and cat hair in and on and around everything. I will also try to get all the dog bedding washed before tomorrow evening so that it doesn't smell so stale in here. It doesn't stink, but it all could use some refreshing. And the bathrooms...they both need to be scrubbed. Top to bottom. Inside and out. I should probably do a quick scrub of the kitchen floor too while I have the supplies out.
Organizing: My office and bedroom look like a bomb went off. I need to get things put away. Granted, Dad probably won't be hanging out in my bedroom, but the office? For sure!
The car will go to the wash/detail place tomorrow morning to get cleaned and I will do a quick grocery shopping trip on my way home.
Then, to the airport. Dad gets in sometime around 8:00pm tomorrow evening. Hopefully, he will have an uneventful trip. Traveling these days is crappy as it is...weather doesn't need to compound the crappiness.
Totally unrelated - I got the shoes that I ordered from Simple Shoes. They are adorable, turquoise canvas style shoes. I am going to wear them around the house later today to see how they feel...but just from opening the box, I love the way they look!
Marly's ear is markedly better. She missed her ear drops last night due to my late night arrival home and my being too tired to wrestle with her, but this morning she let me do them and was such a good dog about it. I think she is realizing that the drops are making the itching and soreness go away. The report is that they were good girls at the kennel...however, I think the ladies there just love Sadie more than anything and would say anything to get her there more often. Even up to and including the fact that they charge for Marly at the 30-60 pound dog price. Ha! Both pups seem contentedly tired today which is nice since I have so much to do and don't have enough time to take them to the park today (besides which the weather isn't cooperating for that either).
Oh yeah, Neil put up some old photos of Marly...I already forget how tiny she was when she came to live here! She will be 11 months old tomorrow.
So this weekend on our little vacation Sadie surprised the living daylights out of me by bounding down a really steep embankment and then by proceeding to charge right into the stream and start splashing about. She even beat Marly into the water! Though, she still made it clear that she does not like to be in water where she can't walk about - she tried to follow Marly into an area that was a bit deeper and immediately turned around and stood on a rock in the middle of the creek and whined at Marly until she came back.
Getting back UP the embankment with Sadie was a bit trickier, but we got her there by placing her feet about half way up where there were some rocks she could get a foot-hold on.
Then this morning at the dog park she actually chased tennis balls with Marly! She out-ran Mars the first few trips, but then slowed way down. It was nice to see her active, but now she is gimping pretty significantly this afternoon. Doggy daycare tomorrow and Wednesday will be good for her. She can still play but it won't be so strenuous.
I have an insane schedule between now and my dad's arrival:
- Tomorrow - Wednesday: I am in Pittsburgh working
- Thursday: hair appointment over lunch and then a meeting with a branch manager locally here in the afternoon
- Friday: jam packed with con calls and prepping for my trip the following week
- Saturday: Marly to the vet in the morning for shots and to pick up heart-worm medicine, then in the afternoon I get to sit around and wait for the glass repair people to come and glue the chip in my windshield
- Sunday: pack for my work trip
- Monday - Thursday: in Winchester, VA for work (training a new team member to boot....whhheeeee)
- Friday: more con calls and trying to wrap up work stuff before my time off
- Saturday: car into the shop for routine maintenance and oil change. Dad arrives Saturday night
So, somewhere in there I need to get the car over to the detail shop to get cleaned since it is a disaster from our trip with the dogs, clean the house, and get all the laundry done. Heh.
Right now I have to go pack for my trip at oh dawn hundred tomorrow morning. If I am lucky, I will be able to catch a flight that will get me home around 7pm on Wednesday...if not, I am stuck not getting home until after midnight. *sigh*
Survived the trip to GA. By the way, anyone looking for a pet friendly vacation spot should check out the Sliding Rock Cabins in Ellijay, GA. We stayed in a very nicely furnished cabin that was stocked with all the utensils and linens and bedding and such...including necessities for the dogs (bowls, towels, a dog bed, and even dog toys and treats!). The cabin was on a gorgeous lot back in the woods with a creek running out back. The dogs (even Sadie) had a blast back there...it was shallow enough to wade all the way across but deep enough in a couple places that the dogs could swim.
Friday we rented a pontoon boat and puttered around Carter Lake (I think that is the name). We stopped a few times and went swimming (the water was devine!) and I got a bit pink, but no one seemed to come away with any serious sun which was good. (Of course, we were all pretty well covered with sunscreen and when not in the water we were under the canopy on the boat.) Neil got some great photos of some nesting Great Blue Herons. It looked like mom, dad, and three young ones. I took some photos too, but didn't have a very long lens so we will see how they turn out. You can see Neil's photos from our trip on Flickr.
Saturday we went horseback riding. It was a blast...just an hour trail ride. Nothing extreme, but a ton of fun. It was Chloe and Neil's first time on a horse and they both did great. Beth and I both have ridden in our youth so once we were back in the saddle as it were, things came pretty naturally.
Then today was the long trek back home. Marly is being a pill now that were are back in our own house (dumped the water dish in the kitchen, got out and ran into the neighbor's yard across the street - the lady was a bitch about it and I told her to go jump in a lake...I was already pissed enough as it was without having to deal with her). I was going to bathe the dogs, but I think that will wait until tomorrow...after I haul them over to the dog park. I think I am going to try to get up and over there right at 7am when it opens so it isn't too hot and I can get back here to work during normal office hours. I also need to soak my plants again in the morning...some of them were about dead when I got home this evening. *sigh*
I had a blast on this trip, but I am still annoyed at having to go...there is SO much to be done here and no time to do it. Tomorrow I have to cram a ton of work stuff in while doing all my laundry. Then I am gone Tuesday and Wednesday (Pittsburgh....blech). Thursday and Friday are filled with all sorts of meetings and then I fly out at the crack of dawn the following Monday and will be gone until early Friday morning (by early I mean 2am or so)...while still being expected to put in a full day Friday which will be crammed with finishing up a ton of things before my dad gets here Saturday. Gah. Somewhere in there, I need to get the dogs groomed, my car into the shop for 30k maintenance and oil change (and probably new tires soon too), and also get it over to the car wash place to get cleaned inside and out before my dad comes. God knows when any of this will happen...oh yeah, I need a haircut too. SO low on the priority list, and yet SO needed.
Sunday Nail and I went into the city to take pictures of stuff. I just wasn't feeling inspired. I think I snapped about three shots. He got some good stuff though. In the afternoon we took the pups to the park to burn some energy and then over to the lake where they splashed around for a bit.
Yesterday I had to work just during the day, so the dogs stayed home. Holy cow! They were actually OK last night, but this morning Marly has been a pain in the ass - eating books, dumping the water dish/fountain all over the kitchen, stealing the kitchen towels, eating shoes, etc. I know it is because she was locked up all day yesterday...but unfortunately today, we won't make it to the park until later this evening. I am not sure I am going to make it until then without killing her! (It would help if she would quit whining, but she won't. She is desperate for attention and her sister is off sleeping right now.)
It is hot. Summer showed up with a bang...it is already 81 and humid. They say the high today is only 84 - I don't believe it since it is already so warm. Tomorrow is supposed to be 94. *sigh* At least I got all the plants watered this morning.
I also scheduled to have my HVAC system serviced next Monday. I have lived here two years (as of August) and haven't had it done. I suppose I could read up on how to do it myself, but I just don't have the time or energy...and it is one of those things that I want to be sure is done right. I also need to pull out my fridge and clean the coils on it. Maybe I can get my dad to help with that when he is here.
Speaking of which...he is coming to visit at the end of the month (June 28 - July 5). He is still pretty gimpy with his broken collar bone so most of this trip will be light projects (read: he will watch TV while I paint) and sight seeing. It will be good to see him though.
Next week we are headed to GA for some vacation time. The dogs get to go which will be very fun - we are headed to some cabins up in the mountains that cater to having the four-legged family members along.
I have been taking on the huge project of digitizing all of my DVD collection so that I can download movies from the server here at home when I am on the road. It is slow going, but so far so good! Really, the fact that the Xbox360 is out of commission right now is what sparked this move to get the movies onto the server. The Xbox was my DVD and HDDVD player...without it I wasn't able to watch any of my DVDs.
I had planned to work on painting this week, but I think right now the focus is going to move back onto just getting this place clean. It is really, really gross. I am embarrassed.
Right now, though,I have to get some stuff done for work. The rest of the week is full of projects - my Q3 schedule, finishing up a couple files, completing a couple proposals, and I think a few con calls. My 1:1 with my manager is today so we shall see how that goes and what pops up that needs to be done from that. My goal is to be completely caught up this week so that next week on vacation I can just relax and enjoy without worrying about what still needs to get done.
You know, generally speaking, I think of myself as a capable and intelligent human being. But this week has totally dumped me face first in the poop pile.
My "listen-in" by my manager yesterday was a huge disaster. Besides my completely missing two major topics that, had I not been so stressed out about him listening in, I would have never missed. Then my manager pushed me right over the edge during our follow-up to the point that I let him have it. Granted, I never swore or resorted to any name calling, it was still borderline on the unprofessional side (at least in my opinion of what should be considered professional...).
And really, though I will vent here or to family and friends, I usually NEVER actually say the sorts of things that I finally said yesterday in any kind of professional setting. The really sad part is that my manager actually told me that of the meetings he has listened in on thus far, mine was by far one of the better ones. That in itself scares me. Just HOW bad is our team as a whole? And thank goodness I wasn't on the receiving end of one of the other follow-up calls.
Then today...I had a 2-down with my boss' boss. It was of the same ilk as my bi-weekly one-on-ones with my direct manager. "This is your time, your agenda, to talk about whatever is on your mind." Well, at least with my manager I can just come out and say, "I have nothing" because I know I will be talking with him whenever I need to during the week. However, when the once-in-a-trimester occasion arises to speak with the next level up...I can't really just come out and say that. The problem is, if I don't actually have anything (in a business sense) I am NO good at pretending to yap on about things. I mean, ask me a question, give me a topic, etc. and I can go as long as you need me to...but throw a blank ball in my court and you are not likely to get much of a return. There was dead air. I am sure that the Big Boss now thinks I am a complete moron and thinks that the past half-hour was a complete waste of her time.
The bigger problem? I personally think the past half hour was a complete waste of MY time. If I truly had something I wanted to pass on to our upper levels of management, I am of the personality to do just that.
The summary of the week: I have discovered just how unqualified and capable I truly am at my job and how inept I am at playing the corporate politics. None of which helps with motivating me to look for anything else...because who the hell wants to hire some incapable employee?
It is Neil's fault that I have fallen in love with the taste of some good bubbly mineral water. Either because a) he is the one who introduced me to drinking the stuff (it is his general favorite thing to drink and it is always in the house) or b) because he is the reason I moved to this ultra-warm climate and the cold bubbles and light mineraly taste are darn good after working in the yard. Regardless, it is his fault.
I am doing a review for a branch that is spread out in several locations locally this week. It is a blessing and a curse...mostly blessing. I get to sleep in my own bed each night. I don't have to get up at the crack of dawn each day (not that I don't do that naturally anyway). And all my toiletries are on hand without having to dog through a suitcase or a make-up bag. The curse is that I have quite a bit I ought to get done in the evenings that I am not doing because I am home and have other things to do during my off hours. Normally, this wouldn't be an issue even when doing a local review because most branches are a bunch of people in one place. Unfortunately, this is a bunch of people all in their own locations. Which means I don't even take my laptop with me because there is no place to hook-up and no time since all my 'down time' is spent driving to the next office. Ces't la vie. I will get it done tomorrow afternoon and Friday.
Tomorrow is another story all together. My manager is going to be listening in on one of my interviews as part of our internal quality control. It makes me nervous even though I know I have nothing to be nervous about.
*sigh* I always feel like I am back in school and I am going to make some horrible mistake and get in big trouble. I HATE that feeling. Though, to be truthful, I live almost every day with that feeling...that I have somehow done some unknown terrible thing that is going to get me in huge trouble (i.e. permanently ruin my relationship, lose my job, get evicted from my home, have my dogs taken from me, etc.) Over-anxious much? Yeah. I dream almost nightly of major natural disasters and wake up in a panic (after fully panicking in my dream) because I am not ready. Well no shit (pardon the foul language), but no one, even if they think they are prepared, are truly prepared for such an event - I mean I am talking cataclysmic floods, earthquakes, etc. So yeah, my point with all this, besides pointing out to everyone just how much of a freak I really am? I am stressing out because I think I am going to lose my job tomorrow even though I logically know I won't.
So yeah...tonight I am going to veg out in front of the TV with a couple beers, a movie or two and my dogs...snuggle them close and try not to think about What-If.
Today Marly decided to make a dash out the front door and chase Bandit all the way across the cul de sac, through the neighbors' yards and into the woods back behind those houses. I finally got a hold of her and brought her home. I just hope Bandit recovers and comes back too.
This week was just an overnighter in Raleigh. My schedule is sporadic over the next few weeks. Though, we are taking a nice little family vacation in June with the pups which will be fun! Some cabins in Georgia that cater to having the four-legged kids along. Special treats, beds, bowls, and towels all provided - along with gated front porches. I am really looking forward to it! I even have enough PTO left to take two days off so I don't have to work.
Now, if I could just get my dad to tell me when he plans on being out here. Unfortunately, I will probably have to work half days while he is here, but even that won't be too bad. Hopefully, with the time change he can sleep in while I work.
I have not been feeling well the past week or so. Major body aches, but more than that, random fever that comes and goes. When it comes, it hits me hard! Sweats, chills, the works. I also want nothing more than to just sleep when this happens. And that too is an immediate need. I go from being wide awake to freezing to death and nodding off in no time flat. My tummy has not been happy with anything I put in it recently, either, but it doesn't feel upset. Stuff just goes in and runs right through. I suppose I ought to go see a doc soon if this doesn't stop. Though, I think most of the achey stuff is from all the yard work I have been doing and is mostly unrelated to whatever else is going on with me.
OK wait, I do take some of that back, or rather I should specify - the muscle aches I think are due to the yard work. I am unsure of the joint aches that have come up this year. Unfortunately, I think some of those are from the added pounds I am carrying around on my frame these days. I really, really need to loose some weight. Serious weight. I am giving myself until December 22nd to lose 40 pounds (which, for the record, puts me at a weight that is still significantly more than all the charts say I should weigh). 31 weeks at a safe 1.5 pounds a week would allow me to lose 46.5 pounds...and knowing that I won't actually lose a steady 1.5 pounds each week I think it is still doable. We'll see. But I have to start NOW! I will be trying to regularly track my progress here - and will label those entries with "health" or some other such thing so feel free to skip if you aren't interested.
I am still in small town, nowhere PA. This morning what to my wondering eye did appear? Snow! (There may as well have been reindeer too with as shocked as I was.) Tomorrow it is supposed to be 65 here. Go figure.
I finally get to go home tomorrow - everyone here has been really nice and accommodating of my extra time spent in their branch today. But, I can't wait to get out of here and sleep in my own bed. My back and arms are killing me from the weed-eating this past weekend and I haven't been sleeping at all in the hotel.
I miss my dogs!
And my cats!
(Oh yeah, I miss my guy too...) ;-)
In other news - apparently I am only about 2 miles (as the crow flies) from the crash site of Flight 93. I am not going to go, but it was interesting to hear some first-hand accounts of what the folks here saw and heard.
OK...I am off to goof-off for a bit before I try to get some sleep. Tomorrow morning is semi-early. I have a 2 hour drive back to the airport.
I am back in PA. This time in the Western part of the state...a couple hours outside of Pittsburgh. It is amazing to me how dilapidated this entire area is.
I understand Pittsburgh can be a great city with some fabulous museums, sports, art, etc...but so much of it has been let go. I know the economy here is rough - has been - since the decline of the American steel industry. But still, it is an entirely different perspective to witness it first hand.
There has also been a strange little cold front that is blowing through (same with back home too)...temps dropped over 10 degrees from this past weekend and are then expected to rise almost that much with this upcoming weekend. The overnight low tonight is supposed to get down to freezing here. Strange. Good thing I remembered to bring my jacket!
Apparently this evening Neil bought each of the dogs a hickory smoked beef thigh bone. This is after they got to go to the park again today and chase squirrels. *laugh* According to Neil, Beth got to witness just how fast Sadie can be. She doesn't show it much these days with as stiff as she is getting, but for a squirrel? Oh heck yeah! Tomorrow there are a couple trips to the dog park planned...I am jealous. I want to go too!
Now it is time for me to finish up the work I was doing this evening and maybe read a bit before I head to bed. Unfortunately, traveling out of this place doesn't work well so I am stuck here until Thursday. *sigh* Too bad I wasn't thinking at 4am on Monday while I was packing and didn't also throw in some project stuff I am working on. I am sure I will come up with something to fill my time.
The weekend wasn't all bad, but I get very little of the MUCH needed yard work accomplished and that frustrates me to no end. I feel like there is never time to get everything done these days and that something important always has to give. Some folks may not consider housework or yard work important, but I take pride in my home and I want to keep it nice (which is tough enough to do with two dogs and three cats...let alone adding a job that always has me away).
We did hit up two farmer's markets on Saturday. The first was the Charlotte Tailgate which was very small, but nice. It was also their first weekend of the season, so I expect it will be larger as things get going. While we were there, there was also an art festival happening that we didn't know about, so we perused those booths too. There was some very lovely stuff, unfortunately, out of my budget right now.
After that we headed over to the Charlotte Farmer's Market. This is a permanent state run market that is open from March until October (I think)...all day Tuesday through Saturday. And I think they are also open Sundays during the peak season. I had NO idea this place was here! It was fabulous...and also very obvious that regardless of the hours, if you are going there to buy produce, go early! There was also a crafts building that we didn't go check out, and a greenery building that we did go check out. Lots of great plants (indoor, outdoor, and edible) for sale.
We picked up some numy stuff and will go back again next week when I can get some more things for myself since I will be home the following week to enjoy them! Now that I am doing this, I am going to have to work out some sort of weekly dinner plan so that I know on Saturdays what I need to grab. Mostly, I want to be sure to plan so that I don't just get stuff that looks great and then have it go bad because I wasn't around to actually eat it.
Then we took the dogs to the dog park with their new pooch pass. What a great place! Completely fenced in, poop bags stations very conveniently located throughout. Water. And at least a couple acres for them to romp in...partially shaded with trees. We will definitely be frequenting this park since it is clean and convenient.
Then I got roped into hanging out with Neil and Beth...I should have gone home and started the yard work. But, I didn't. And we had a lovely evening!
Today I got the necessary yard stuff done. Mowing and edging and some sweeping off the patio and the garage. But of course that took forever so I didn't get anything else done out there that I needed to do. Maybe next weekend.
This week I am traveling....I will be in a small PA town for a couple days. It sucks, because this is a review I could do in a day and a half if it were local, but I have to add on two more days just for traveling. Stupid.
