I actually did some work today. But the office was so hot and stuffy. I had a hard time keeping my eyes open. I wanted some coffee, but that would have made me hotter.
But I actually worked and it felt good to get some stuff accomplished. The IT supervisor came by to get some customer comment surveys filled out. Since one of my computers still wasn’t working, I filled out some more paperwork (again) to get it fixed. I’ve almost given up on that computer, but I needed when I finish up my packages. And our few phones don’t work.
But guess what does work? The air conditioner in our apartment! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! It’s nice and cool in our apartment now and I love it.
Tomorrow is running day. There are a group of us going running tomorrow morning. I think it’ll be along the same route that we hiked last week. I haven’t been actually running in a while, and I’m curious to see how well I run after doing cardio for a month or so on the elliptical machine.
I need to start taking notes throughout the day to remind myself of what I’ve done throughout the day. I can’t think of a thing right now. So I’m going to wrap it up.
Tuesday, March 31, 2009
Monday, March 30, 2009
Didn’t work
My attempts at skype didn’t work last night. I was able to sign up for an account, but when I tried to pay for it, I must have messed up my credit card info and I locked up paying with a credit card. If I can get onto paypal, I might try to pay with that.
Work got busy today. Chip and I sat down and told me everything that I already know about the packages that I deal with. I would have gotten more done, but my computer account was jacked up for a while. I kind of know why our internet and phones are so messed up, but that doesn’t make it any easier to accept. I plan on diving in whole heartedly tomorrow.
I worked out with Mike this afternoon. My chest is killing me. He has an aggressive physical fitness plan that we’re going to follow. And hopefully I’ll follow through with it. SO as of now, we’re doing cardio in the morning and weight training in the afternoons.
I got another roommate today. His name is Shawn, just like my other roommate. One of them might be named Shaun. The new Shawn is a cop who specializes in security and protection rather than law enforcement. He kind of told me what he did, and it sounds like it’s a pretty good job. The old Shawn is a computer genius. He told me about his job, and it doesn’t sound very fun. All he does is deal with dumb people all day complaining about their computers.
The office had to sit through mandatory training this evening. It was about customer service and never saying “no”. Instead, tell the customer how you can say “yes”. I got their point, but it didn’t have to be so darn long.
One of my favorite parts of my day is filling in the days of my countdown calendar. Tomorrow is going to be good, because I’ll have been here a full two and a half months. I’m counting.
Work got busy today. Chip and I sat down and told me everything that I already know about the packages that I deal with. I would have gotten more done, but my computer account was jacked up for a while. I kind of know why our internet and phones are so messed up, but that doesn’t make it any easier to accept. I plan on diving in whole heartedly tomorrow.
I worked out with Mike this afternoon. My chest is killing me. He has an aggressive physical fitness plan that we’re going to follow. And hopefully I’ll follow through with it. SO as of now, we’re doing cardio in the morning and weight training in the afternoons.
I got another roommate today. His name is Shawn, just like my other roommate. One of them might be named Shaun. The new Shawn is a cop who specializes in security and protection rather than law enforcement. He kind of told me what he did, and it sounds like it’s a pretty good job. The old Shawn is a computer genius. He told me about his job, and it doesn’t sound very fun. All he does is deal with dumb people all day complaining about their computers.
The office had to sit through mandatory training this evening. It was about customer service and never saying “no”. Instead, tell the customer how you can say “yes”. I got their point, but it didn’t have to be so darn long.
One of my favorite parts of my day is filling in the days of my countdown calendar. Tomorrow is going to be good, because I’ll have been here a full two and a half months. I’m counting.
Sunday, March 29, 2009
Are you gonna take me home tonight?
We’ve seen all kinds of bottoms. Big bottoms, small bottoms, fat bottoms, flat bottoms. But have you ever seen a square bottom? I have not. But I guess that God makes bottoms in all shapes and sizes. Here in Kissimmee, I they have the square bottom type. Just to prove it, I’ve attached some circumstantial evidence. If I ever see a ‘real’ square bottom, I’ll be sure to let you know.
I fell asleep watching Watchmen last night. My alarm went off this morning to go to the gym… THAT wasn’t happening for sure. I woke up right before eight to go look for the Godfather. I looked for about thirty minutes and didn’t find him. I guess he was stuck in traffic, so I saw Mike and we went and got breakfast. Toast and jam and Cinnamon Toast Crunch. I haven’t had CTC in a long time and it was good having a super sugary cereal. I’m still waiting to find Sugar Coated Chocolate Bombs, or is it Chocolate Coated Sugar Bombs?
I then went back to my room and finished watching the movie. It was really good. It followed the book very, very closely. If you haven’t seen it yet, and you liked the book, GO SEE IT NOW!!! The Newsweek review was wrong.
After lunch, I finally found Godfather, but I was in a hurry, so we didn't get to hang out.
I went to work and Mike, Ashley, and I had to go to a newcomer’s brief. Boooor-ing… I was so sleepy Later, back at work, our connectivity came back up. Partially. I decided to play the “how many days can we go without having to do any actual work” game, but I’m going crazy being bored. I’d rather be busy to help the time go by.
Chip and I spoke later in the afternoon, and we’re going to pow-wow tomorrow to get me brought up to speed on the packages that I sent up while I was still at Boston so I can start taking over what will soon be my job. I don’t really want to play the “don’t do any work” game.
I’m going to try to sign up for skype now.
I fell asleep watching Watchmen last night. My alarm went off this morning to go to the gym… THAT wasn’t happening for sure. I woke up right before eight to go look for the Godfather. I looked for about thirty minutes and didn’t find him. I guess he was stuck in traffic, so I saw Mike and we went and got breakfast. Toast and jam and Cinnamon Toast Crunch. I haven’t had CTC in a long time and it was good having a super sugary cereal. I’m still waiting to find Sugar Coated Chocolate Bombs, or is it Chocolate Coated Sugar Bombs?
I then went back to my room and finished watching the movie. It was really good. It followed the book very, very closely. If you haven’t seen it yet, and you liked the book, GO SEE IT NOW!!! The Newsweek review was wrong.
After lunch, I finally found Godfather, but I was in a hurry, so we didn't get to hang out.
I went to work and Mike, Ashley, and I had to go to a newcomer’s brief. Boooor-ing… I was so sleepy Later, back at work, our connectivity came back up. Partially. I decided to play the “how many days can we go without having to do any actual work” game, but I’m going crazy being bored. I’d rather be busy to help the time go by.
Chip and I spoke later in the afternoon, and we’re going to pow-wow tomorrow to get me brought up to speed on the packages that I sent up while I was still at Boston so I can start taking over what will soon be my job. I don’t really want to play the “don’t do any work” game.
I’m going to try to sign up for skype now.
Saturday, March 28, 2009
Amazon.com
Isn’t amazon.com the greatest? I was able to order some small fans, speakers, and headphones in one night for me here. But for some reason, they wouldn’t deliver to me here, which is odd since they were able to ship to me in Boston. It’s just one zip code number away… So I had my packages delivered to Sara to mail to me. It might be an extra few days, but the stores here are wiped out with the extra people we have passing through our neighborhood.
I went to the gym this morning. I don’t know what I like better, going early in the morning or in the mid afternoon. Since we work so late into the evening (at least we did at Boston)it was nice having a break in the middle of the day. If that trend continues here, then I think I’ll start going in the afternoon again. But I like working up a sweat and then showering and going into work.
When we got into work today we still had no connectivity with our phones or with our computers. I really can’t imagine what is taking so long. Everyone is quite upset with the phones because we can’t get any long distance calls to go out. It’s unbelievable. But I went to talk to our director of communications about getting phones on our desks. At least that way when the lines come back up, we’d have some. And guess what… they are on back order. Granted, these are the fancy Cisco phones, not just regular phones… but still. Come ON!
I also can’t find the mail drop box. I’ve asked around and no one else knows where it is either. I guess we just have to give it to the mail person when he come around. Of course if you don’t see him (or her – I don’t know) then it’s too bad.
On a positive note, our laundry service has a one day turnaround. At Boston, it was a three day turnaround. And there’s no limit on the amount of stuff you can turn in. As long as it all fits in the complimentary bag, then we’re good to go.
My buddy Ed is coming to visit in the morning. He lives and works nearby. The pictures that he took when he visited Boston didn’t turn out, so we’re going to try to get our pictures taken together.
After dinner we went back to the office. We had partial internet connection and my inbox was chock full of all kinds of work stuff. But that had to wait, because Saturday night is movie night. Tonight we all sat around and watched a movie called Taken. It was an action thriller that everyone seemed to enjoy. Spencer said that Ashley had to pick the movie, and though she wanted to watch The Devil Wears Prada, she realized that not many guys in the office wanted to watch that movie, so she picked a ‘guy movie’.
After the movie, as we were all walking back to our apartments, we enjoyed the rain and the lights of the city. Our neighborhood in Boston didn’t have many city lights. But here – we’re in the middle of the city. And at night it’s beautiful.
I went to the gym this morning. I don’t know what I like better, going early in the morning or in the mid afternoon. Since we work so late into the evening (at least we did at Boston)it was nice having a break in the middle of the day. If that trend continues here, then I think I’ll start going in the afternoon again. But I like working up a sweat and then showering and going into work.
When we got into work today we still had no connectivity with our phones or with our computers. I really can’t imagine what is taking so long. Everyone is quite upset with the phones because we can’t get any long distance calls to go out. It’s unbelievable. But I went to talk to our director of communications about getting phones on our desks. At least that way when the lines come back up, we’d have some. And guess what… they are on back order. Granted, these are the fancy Cisco phones, not just regular phones… but still. Come ON!
I also can’t find the mail drop box. I’ve asked around and no one else knows where it is either. I guess we just have to give it to the mail person when he come around. Of course if you don’t see him (or her – I don’t know) then it’s too bad.
On a positive note, our laundry service has a one day turnaround. At Boston, it was a three day turnaround. And there’s no limit on the amount of stuff you can turn in. As long as it all fits in the complimentary bag, then we’re good to go.
My buddy Ed is coming to visit in the morning. He lives and works nearby. The pictures that he took when he visited Boston didn’t turn out, so we’re going to try to get our pictures taken together.
After dinner we went back to the office. We had partial internet connection and my inbox was chock full of all kinds of work stuff. But that had to wait, because Saturday night is movie night. Tonight we all sat around and watched a movie called Taken. It was an action thriller that everyone seemed to enjoy. Spencer said that Ashley had to pick the movie, and though she wanted to watch The Devil Wears Prada, she realized that not many guys in the office wanted to watch that movie, so she picked a ‘guy movie’.
After the movie, as we were all walking back to our apartments, we enjoyed the rain and the lights of the city. Our neighborhood in Boston didn’t have many city lights. But here – we’re in the middle of the city. And at night it’s beautiful.
Friday, March 27, 2009
It’s up!
Yes! We finally have internet in our apartments! Below, you’ll find postings for what has happened in the past three days.
Last night I banged on Mike’s door and asked what time he wanted to meet at the gym, five thirty or six. He chose six (thank goodness), but I wanted him to think that it was his choice. So we met at the gym and it was pretty chilly this morning. And, it turns out the gym has no heating or air conditioning, so we jumped on some elliptical machines to get warmed up. After an hour on the elliptical machines we went to get something to eat.
Fridays and Sundays at Kissimmee are late reporting days, so it’s like having a half day twice a week. Mike had some work to catch up on, so he went into the office to get caught up on. What it is I have no idea because we had no internet or phones working in our offices. I, on the other hand, took a shower and went back to sleep for a few hours.
I woke up just in time to get dressed and get into work. Sometime in the morning, someone got a hold of a dozen monitors, so Mike, Ashley, and I put our computers together only to find out that no one got any computer mice. A very nice lady from I.T. came down and finished setting up our computers and also brought a mouse for each of us. However, there is still no connectivity in our offices and we don’t have our accounts set up yet.
We putzed around for most of the afternoon and cleaned up again. I had turned on the fan on our air conditioning unit last night and it blew out a lot of black construction dust and who-knows-what-else. The stuff was all over and it was like I hadn’t even dusted yesterday.
And speaking of air conditioning, my apartment is in the basement. So is Mike’s. We don’t have windows and our apartments are hot and stuffy. Ashley’s apartment is on the third floor and her room is too cold. We are told that our heaters/a.c. units will be working soon. I certainly hope so.
Last night I banged on Mike’s door and asked what time he wanted to meet at the gym, five thirty or six. He chose six (thank goodness), but I wanted him to think that it was his choice. So we met at the gym and it was pretty chilly this morning. And, it turns out the gym has no heating or air conditioning, so we jumped on some elliptical machines to get warmed up. After an hour on the elliptical machines we went to get something to eat.
Fridays and Sundays at Kissimmee are late reporting days, so it’s like having a half day twice a week. Mike had some work to catch up on, so he went into the office to get caught up on. What it is I have no idea because we had no internet or phones working in our offices. I, on the other hand, took a shower and went back to sleep for a few hours.
I woke up just in time to get dressed and get into work. Sometime in the morning, someone got a hold of a dozen monitors, so Mike, Ashley, and I put our computers together only to find out that no one got any computer mice. A very nice lady from I.T. came down and finished setting up our computers and also brought a mouse for each of us. However, there is still no connectivity in our offices and we don’t have our accounts set up yet.
We putzed around for most of the afternoon and cleaned up again. I had turned on the fan on our air conditioning unit last night and it blew out a lot of black construction dust and who-knows-what-else. The stuff was all over and it was like I hadn’t even dusted yesterday.
And speaking of air conditioning, my apartment is in the basement. So is Mike’s. We don’t have windows and our apartments are hot and stuffy. Ashley’s apartment is on the third floor and her room is too cold. We are told that our heaters/a.c. units will be working soon. I certainly hope so.
26 March 2009
Today was a pretty good day. I set my alarm clock last night for five thirty this morning so I could go to the gym. And when my alarm clock went off this morning, I got up, re set it for seven and fell right back asleep. I just wasn’t feeling like it at all. And My shins hurt after the hike yesterday morning. And I haven’t taken a day off in a while… so that’s how I justified it.
I went into the office around eight and my friend Ashley had arrived a few hours earlier. Mike and I asked her about the training she had to do the day before and she was mad. Real mad. She had gotten stuck training some of the new people in Boston at the last minute, even though the people taking over part of her job knew over a month and a half ago that she was leaving. The directorate that was supposed to take over the project had backed out at the last minute and that left Ashley to have to pull an all nighter the day she was supposed to leave in order to make it all better.
The three of us were supposed to go to one of the nearby offices this morning so that we could take care of computer issues and also get our Kissimmee credentials. Why this wasn’t coordinated in advance is obvious. The Kissimmee folks are really in a bind with their lack of manning and with their lack of resources. I hope that when our replacements get here, we can take care of a lot of this in advance.
So we jumped on the bus and rode over to the old offices to get to work. And it was a real mess. It took the three of us four hours to get (almost everything) taken care of. I should mention here that Tony went with us, but was absolutely no good at all. We have figured out that Tony is an ‘all talk and no action’ kind of a guy. And he’s lonely. We tried to include him in what we were doing, but all he did was complain about this and that… eventually we just ignored him. He’s not going to get many friends like that. It was actually kind of embarrassing how he was griping like a little kid.
And since Tony is more senior than me, it wasn’t really my place to say anything to him. But I did talk to someone else to talk to him some other time.
We had to wait about an hour and a half since we missed the next bus, so we walked around and did a little window shopping. I need to buy some plastic drawers for my closet. I don’t have any drawers right now and I have everything stacked in neat little piles or stored in boxes. Living like this is going to get old after a while. While we were there, we picked up the mail that we had sent back in Boston. So now I have some more stuff to mail back to Boston.
We got back to the office to find out that no one had gotten any computer monitors or phones for our office. I don’t know how we are supposed to get to work when we don’t have computers or phones. This isn’t the business we had 20 years ago. Nothing really gets done without technology. And speaking of technology the internet was down at work. I couldn’t believe it. Work was coming to a screaming halt. Additionally, we could make local calls but our long distance capabilities were down as well. What the heck were we supposed to do?
Well, we cleaned. I was bored, as was Mike and Ashley. So when Spencer started sweeping, we found the cleaning supplies and we swept, Mike mopped, and I dusted everything. My allergies have been acting up again. The dust and grime and crap that is in the air was coating everything. The dusting rags were turning brown and sticky and I cleaned as many of the flat surfaces that I could see. I also cleaned the baseboards and got in the corners to get everything that I could. Here’s the kicker… Even while Spencer was cleaning, Tony just watched. That really got my goat.
Mike and Ashley found out that there was some place nearby that was playing music and asked if I wanted to go after work, but I wasn’t feeling like it. I wanted to get into the boxes that I picked up and find out what I didn’t need and what I could mail back. Also, one of the boxes has my clippers in it and I wanted to cut my hair tonight. I found my clippers and typed this up. And so I’m going to sign off.
Oh! I just remembered, Chip told us that we should have internet in our apartments in a few days. The contractor that was hired to install our wi-fi bought the wrong type of routers compatible with the buildings that we live in. With everything else that hasn’t gone right since this office opened, I wasn’t surprised.
I went into the office around eight and my friend Ashley had arrived a few hours earlier. Mike and I asked her about the training she had to do the day before and she was mad. Real mad. She had gotten stuck training some of the new people in Boston at the last minute, even though the people taking over part of her job knew over a month and a half ago that she was leaving. The directorate that was supposed to take over the project had backed out at the last minute and that left Ashley to have to pull an all nighter the day she was supposed to leave in order to make it all better.
The three of us were supposed to go to one of the nearby offices this morning so that we could take care of computer issues and also get our Kissimmee credentials. Why this wasn’t coordinated in advance is obvious. The Kissimmee folks are really in a bind with their lack of manning and with their lack of resources. I hope that when our replacements get here, we can take care of a lot of this in advance.
So we jumped on the bus and rode over to the old offices to get to work. And it was a real mess. It took the three of us four hours to get (almost everything) taken care of. I should mention here that Tony went with us, but was absolutely no good at all. We have figured out that Tony is an ‘all talk and no action’ kind of a guy. And he’s lonely. We tried to include him in what we were doing, but all he did was complain about this and that… eventually we just ignored him. He’s not going to get many friends like that. It was actually kind of embarrassing how he was griping like a little kid.
And since Tony is more senior than me, it wasn’t really my place to say anything to him. But I did talk to someone else to talk to him some other time.
We had to wait about an hour and a half since we missed the next bus, so we walked around and did a little window shopping. I need to buy some plastic drawers for my closet. I don’t have any drawers right now and I have everything stacked in neat little piles or stored in boxes. Living like this is going to get old after a while. While we were there, we picked up the mail that we had sent back in Boston. So now I have some more stuff to mail back to Boston.
We got back to the office to find out that no one had gotten any computer monitors or phones for our office. I don’t know how we are supposed to get to work when we don’t have computers or phones. This isn’t the business we had 20 years ago. Nothing really gets done without technology. And speaking of technology the internet was down at work. I couldn’t believe it. Work was coming to a screaming halt. Additionally, we could make local calls but our long distance capabilities were down as well. What the heck were we supposed to do?
Well, we cleaned. I was bored, as was Mike and Ashley. So when Spencer started sweeping, we found the cleaning supplies and we swept, Mike mopped, and I dusted everything. My allergies have been acting up again. The dust and grime and crap that is in the air was coating everything. The dusting rags were turning brown and sticky and I cleaned as many of the flat surfaces that I could see. I also cleaned the baseboards and got in the corners to get everything that I could. Here’s the kicker… Even while Spencer was cleaning, Tony just watched. That really got my goat.
Mike and Ashley found out that there was some place nearby that was playing music and asked if I wanted to go after work, but I wasn’t feeling like it. I wanted to get into the boxes that I picked up and find out what I didn’t need and what I could mail back. Also, one of the boxes has my clippers in it and I wanted to cut my hair tonight. I found my clippers and typed this up. And so I’m going to sign off.
Oh! I just remembered, Chip told us that we should have internet in our apartments in a few days. The contractor that was hired to install our wi-fi bought the wrong type of routers compatible with the buildings that we live in. With everything else that hasn’t gone right since this office opened, I wasn’t surprised.
25 March 2009
What a day! A bunch of people at work wanted to go hiking this morning, so we loaded up our backpacks and went for a walk. It wasn’t an especially long walk, but with a backpack full of water, I was pooped when it was over. It was a crisp clear morning, and it really was beautiful seeing the sun rise over the mountains. It was good fun just hanging out and seeing the city on the side of the mountains that surround where we live. That being said, it’s not something that I want to do all the time. My shoulders were pretty sore throughout the day where my backpack was sitting.
Later on we grabbed breakfast and headed into work. Our new office has no computers or… It’s easier to say that we had four desks and two chairs. That’s really no big deal for now since our office will be for me, Mike, and Ashley when she gets here. Mike and I nabbed a chair out of another office for Ashley and we also had a little meeting with Spencer, our new boss. Mostly we talked about our roles within the office and how we were going to fit in.
Around lunch time, I went back to my office to finish unpacking and start packing a box of stuff to send back to Dover. Mike and I stopped by the dry cleaners to pick up the required bags to turn our clothes in. Free laundry service is a nice perk for this job. And one thing that is better than Boston is that the laundry service here has one day turnaround. Hooray for that!
After lunch I had to dig around and find my Motrin. My shoulders were really feeling it. Ashley and Tony were supposed to come in after lunch. But Ashley had to stay at Boston for one more day for some training. Mike and I met Tony when he arrived at the offices and helped him with his bags, introduced him to some of our co-workers, and got some of his processing done. There are also three people in his apartment and he was kind of ticked. Whatever. Live with it.
Dinner was grilled chicken with some kind of seasoning, rice, and a big salad. After dinner, Mike and I visited Shawn, who is my roommate, and tried to get some computers for our office. There is such a lack of ANYTHING here, and we were heroes when we came back with 24 computers. Actually, we came back with 24 CPUs and keyboards and now we have to get more monitors and a computer mouse for each system. What a pain!
Our internet at work is screwy. Yahoo mail doesn’t work for some reason. The phones are worse. All of our phone calls have to go through the Boston office, which might explain why the phones up in Boston were so touchy and hard to get through. This office just got started back in January, and the real opening wasn’t supposed to be for another couple of months. Instead we went ‘live’ early and nothing is as it should be. Everyone who has been here for a while keeps telling is newbies that we need to roll with the haphazard way things seem to happen. I guess we could chalk it up to growing pains.
But that’s going to make leaving here so much sweeter. We don’t have internet connections in our apartments yet. We’re being told that we’ll have internet hook ups in one to three weeks.
I keep telling myself that I’m only here for another four months. I’ve already reached the 35% mark, but who’s counting?
Later on we grabbed breakfast and headed into work. Our new office has no computers or… It’s easier to say that we had four desks and two chairs. That’s really no big deal for now since our office will be for me, Mike, and Ashley when she gets here. Mike and I nabbed a chair out of another office for Ashley and we also had a little meeting with Spencer, our new boss. Mostly we talked about our roles within the office and how we were going to fit in.
Around lunch time, I went back to my office to finish unpacking and start packing a box of stuff to send back to Dover. Mike and I stopped by the dry cleaners to pick up the required bags to turn our clothes in. Free laundry service is a nice perk for this job. And one thing that is better than Boston is that the laundry service here has one day turnaround. Hooray for that!
After lunch I had to dig around and find my Motrin. My shoulders were really feeling it. Ashley and Tony were supposed to come in after lunch. But Ashley had to stay at Boston for one more day for some training. Mike and I met Tony when he arrived at the offices and helped him with his bags, introduced him to some of our co-workers, and got some of his processing done. There are also three people in his apartment and he was kind of ticked. Whatever. Live with it.
Dinner was grilled chicken with some kind of seasoning, rice, and a big salad. After dinner, Mike and I visited Shawn, who is my roommate, and tried to get some computers for our office. There is such a lack of ANYTHING here, and we were heroes when we came back with 24 computers. Actually, we came back with 24 CPUs and keyboards and now we have to get more monitors and a computer mouse for each system. What a pain!
Our internet at work is screwy. Yahoo mail doesn’t work for some reason. The phones are worse. All of our phone calls have to go through the Boston office, which might explain why the phones up in Boston were so touchy and hard to get through. This office just got started back in January, and the real opening wasn’t supposed to be for another couple of months. Instead we went ‘live’ early and nothing is as it should be. Everyone who has been here for a while keeps telling is newbies that we need to roll with the haphazard way things seem to happen. I guess we could chalk it up to growing pains.
But that’s going to make leaving here so much sweeter. We don’t have internet connections in our apartments yet. We’re being told that we’ll have internet hook ups in one to three weeks.
I keep telling myself that I’m only here for another four months. I’ve already reached the 35% mark, but who’s counting?
24 March 2009
What a long, long day it’s been. I’m in Kissimmee, now I’m missing my old life in Boston. I don’t know how the saying goes, but it goes something like, “The Devil you know is better than the Devil you don’t.” Also, another saying is, “the grass isn’t always greener on the other side of the fence”.
First of all, I got up at five this morning in order to pack my bags and go to the gym. Since we figured that we’d be traveling all day, we wouldn’t be able to go to the gym in the middle of the day like we are used to. So I got up and packed my bedding and got on my favorite elliptical machine. Mike never showed up at the gym. I guessed he was getting an extra hour of sleep.
After I showered and got dressed, I packed the rest of my stuff and looked at all of the crap that I managed to accumulate and bring with me. I went into work and checked my e-mail and sent one last time. I didn’t know when the next time I’ll be able to check it. Joey said he’d take us to the airport, but since he was just at the gym, he had to go back to his place and shower up. We had a medium sized SUV that our Directorate uses, but we needed something bigger for all of the bags that Mike and I have. I walked over to Willard’s office and asked to use their Suburban. All of our stuff should fit nicely in the ‘Burban.
I’m a freak about needing to be earlier than on time. Mike and Joey kept telling me to chill out.
Mike and I shook hands and said goodbye to everyone but Ashley and Tony. They are supposed to be coming down tomorrow. Joey showed up and took us to the airport. They don’t have curbside check in and they didn’t have skycap carts, so Mike and I had to carry all of our stuff (multiple, multiple trips) into the airport. That was not fun.
We showed up and got our bags weighed and waited for our flight to board. Our plane was a Casa-212, a nice little 12 seater turbo-prop aircraft. Our pilot looked like a biker. Shaved head – six foot something – 250 pounds – and had a goatee that was probably hung down two inches. The flight to Kissimmee was uneventful. At one point we flew between two mountain peaks and the mountain peaks were ABOVE our plane. Okay. That part was eventful, but the rest of the flight was uneventful. We landed and got out and waited for our bags to get picked up.
When we got out in front of the terminal, our ride wasn’t there. I called Chip, our sponsor, and the guy who answered the phone said that he had just left for lunch. I hoped that actually meant that he was on his way to the airport. Nope he had gone for lunch. We waited for an hour and I called again. This time Chip was in a meeting with some bigwig. Unbelieveable!!! So I called the Kissimmee travel coordinator, and she said that our ride was on his way and his name was William. So I went back out to where Mike was waiting with our bags to tell him what was going on. Sure enough, five minutes later, William shows up with Spencer, our new boss.
While all this was happening, Mike was spazzing out. He doesn’t like to have to wait on people. I thought it was a nice change from when I was pinging earlier.
And they brought a small SUV. They looked at me and Mike like we were crazy with all of our bags. Just wait until they pick up Ashley and Tony. Not all of our bags would fit in the truck, so we had to strap a few of them on top. I wasn’t too cool with that, but I didn’t really have an option. It was only a 15-20 minute ride to from the airport to where we’re living. Right away I was missing Boston. I promise I won’t complain if I can go back. This place is Spartan living.
Don’t get me wrong. It’s pretty nice in the grand scheme of things. Spencer and William dropped by the apartments where we’re going to be living. But we don’t know which room yet, so we left everything in the hallway. Spencer took us to the office where we’re working and the place is a madhouse. The office has only been open since the end of January, and it’s in a constant state of “what the heck is going on here”. I get the impression that most of the work that gets done is crisis management, and in the short periods of calm, real work gets done. We finally saw Chip, who apologized for not coming to pick us up.
Both Chip and Spencer were busy with the latest fire that needed to be put out. They told us to just hang out in the office while they had to take care of something. I took a nap and Mike walked around. Spencer came back and introduced us to some tall guy who’s name escapes me now (it began with a “T” and sounded French/African). Tee took us on a tour of the office building and showed us around. We finished up by getting our apartment assignments. Mike is in 006 and I’m in 015. They are both in the basement. Mike shares his with two other guys; and right now I have one, but another is coming soon. I started unpacking and getting situated.
At five fifteen I was supposed to meet Chip and Mike for dinner. There is a little eatery on the ground floor of our office building where we eat all of our meals. I won’t get into the meal. It wasn’t as good as we had it at Boston.
After dinner, we went back to the office and Chip took us on another tour of the building. I don’t really know how to describe it. Since the building is so new, they don’t have any pictures on any of the walls, so every hall looks the same. Chip was about to tell us to finish unpacking, but there was a professional development course being offered to all of the managers, and it would look nice if the two new guys showed up on their first day. I thought that was baloney. I thought that if ANY day was a good day to skip a professional development class it would be the day where we had to unpack and get settled in. Alas, we had to go. It was on money and finance. And I fell asleep. There was maybe 50 or 60 people in there, so it wasn’t obvious.
Afterwards, Mike and I were talking to some other guy who thought that we had noticed him sleeping in the class as well. I seriously don’t think I got anything out of it. Maybe I just didn’t want to get anything out of it. Mike and I left to go back to our rooms and try to finish unpacking. I’m going to find a couple of largish boxes and to pack with my winter stuff. Especially if a third guy is going to move in to where I’m staying.
I met my new roommate. His name is Shawn and we didn’t talk a whole lot, he was on his way to the gym. He seems like a nice guy. I think that he’s the kind of guy that will keep to himself like my old suitemate, Mike, did. Not jabber all the time like Dustin. Dustin was nice and I liked him, but he loved to talk sometimes.
So I’m typing this on my bed now. We don’t have internet and I don’t know when I’ll be able to send this. I’m pooped. It’s been a long, long day. 17,238 steps today. Good night.
First of all, I got up at five this morning in order to pack my bags and go to the gym. Since we figured that we’d be traveling all day, we wouldn’t be able to go to the gym in the middle of the day like we are used to. So I got up and packed my bedding and got on my favorite elliptical machine. Mike never showed up at the gym. I guessed he was getting an extra hour of sleep.
After I showered and got dressed, I packed the rest of my stuff and looked at all of the crap that I managed to accumulate and bring with me. I went into work and checked my e-mail and sent one last time. I didn’t know when the next time I’ll be able to check it. Joey said he’d take us to the airport, but since he was just at the gym, he had to go back to his place and shower up. We had a medium sized SUV that our Directorate uses, but we needed something bigger for all of the bags that Mike and I have. I walked over to Willard’s office and asked to use their Suburban. All of our stuff should fit nicely in the ‘Burban.
I’m a freak about needing to be earlier than on time. Mike and Joey kept telling me to chill out.
Mike and I shook hands and said goodbye to everyone but Ashley and Tony. They are supposed to be coming down tomorrow. Joey showed up and took us to the airport. They don’t have curbside check in and they didn’t have skycap carts, so Mike and I had to carry all of our stuff (multiple, multiple trips) into the airport. That was not fun.
We showed up and got our bags weighed and waited for our flight to board. Our plane was a Casa-212, a nice little 12 seater turbo-prop aircraft. Our pilot looked like a biker. Shaved head – six foot something – 250 pounds – and had a goatee that was probably hung down two inches. The flight to Kissimmee was uneventful. At one point we flew between two mountain peaks and the mountain peaks were ABOVE our plane. Okay. That part was eventful, but the rest of the flight was uneventful. We landed and got out and waited for our bags to get picked up.
When we got out in front of the terminal, our ride wasn’t there. I called Chip, our sponsor, and the guy who answered the phone said that he had just left for lunch. I hoped that actually meant that he was on his way to the airport. Nope he had gone for lunch. We waited for an hour and I called again. This time Chip was in a meeting with some bigwig. Unbelieveable!!! So I called the Kissimmee travel coordinator, and she said that our ride was on his way and his name was William. So I went back out to where Mike was waiting with our bags to tell him what was going on. Sure enough, five minutes later, William shows up with Spencer, our new boss.
While all this was happening, Mike was spazzing out. He doesn’t like to have to wait on people. I thought it was a nice change from when I was pinging earlier.
And they brought a small SUV. They looked at me and Mike like we were crazy with all of our bags. Just wait until they pick up Ashley and Tony. Not all of our bags would fit in the truck, so we had to strap a few of them on top. I wasn’t too cool with that, but I didn’t really have an option. It was only a 15-20 minute ride to from the airport to where we’re living. Right away I was missing Boston. I promise I won’t complain if I can go back. This place is Spartan living.
Don’t get me wrong. It’s pretty nice in the grand scheme of things. Spencer and William dropped by the apartments where we’re going to be living. But we don’t know which room yet, so we left everything in the hallway. Spencer took us to the office where we’re working and the place is a madhouse. The office has only been open since the end of January, and it’s in a constant state of “what the heck is going on here”. I get the impression that most of the work that gets done is crisis management, and in the short periods of calm, real work gets done. We finally saw Chip, who apologized for not coming to pick us up.
Both Chip and Spencer were busy with the latest fire that needed to be put out. They told us to just hang out in the office while they had to take care of something. I took a nap and Mike walked around. Spencer came back and introduced us to some tall guy who’s name escapes me now (it began with a “T” and sounded French/African). Tee took us on a tour of the office building and showed us around. We finished up by getting our apartment assignments. Mike is in 006 and I’m in 015. They are both in the basement. Mike shares his with two other guys; and right now I have one, but another is coming soon. I started unpacking and getting situated.
At five fifteen I was supposed to meet Chip and Mike for dinner. There is a little eatery on the ground floor of our office building where we eat all of our meals. I won’t get into the meal. It wasn’t as good as we had it at Boston.
After dinner, we went back to the office and Chip took us on another tour of the building. I don’t really know how to describe it. Since the building is so new, they don’t have any pictures on any of the walls, so every hall looks the same. Chip was about to tell us to finish unpacking, but there was a professional development course being offered to all of the managers, and it would look nice if the two new guys showed up on their first day. I thought that was baloney. I thought that if ANY day was a good day to skip a professional development class it would be the day where we had to unpack and get settled in. Alas, we had to go. It was on money and finance. And I fell asleep. There was maybe 50 or 60 people in there, so it wasn’t obvious.
Afterwards, Mike and I were talking to some other guy who thought that we had noticed him sleeping in the class as well. I seriously don’t think I got anything out of it. Maybe I just didn’t want to get anything out of it. Mike and I left to go back to our rooms and try to finish unpacking. I’m going to find a couple of largish boxes and to pack with my winter stuff. Especially if a third guy is going to move in to where I’m staying.
I met my new roommate. His name is Shawn and we didn’t talk a whole lot, he was on his way to the gym. He seems like a nice guy. I think that he’s the kind of guy that will keep to himself like my old suitemate, Mike, did. Not jabber all the time like Dustin. Dustin was nice and I liked him, but he loved to talk sometimes.
So I’m typing this on my bed now. We don’t have internet and I don’t know when I’ll be able to send this. I’m pooped. It’s been a long, long day. 17,238 steps today. Good night.
Monday, March 23, 2009
All Packed Up
Well, almost. I’ve got four bags full of my stuff, and I hope that whatever I have left over will fit in my overnight bag. Mike and I have 10 bags together. How did I get here with all of this stuff? I’ve already mailed a couple of boxes home; and I’ve mailed some boxes to Kissimmee already also. I forgot that I mailed two big boxes of stuff to myself here before I left Dover.
This morning it was raining when I got up. And it rained off and on all day. It’s quite chilly and dreary. Gray skies and damp. I guess I need to get used to this weather if Sara and I are going to move to Washington state. Even though we had gravel spread all over, there was still water everywhere. And of course I have already mailed my waterproof boots to Kissimmee. At least I still had my rain coat.
I hung out at work for a couple of hours today. Not like there was any work for me to do, but I was tired of looking at my bags and there’s not a whole lot of anything else to do until I wake up in the morning. And with the way things go at the airport here, we don’t have a very good departure rate. Our folks always seem to get pushed back a day or two. Flights take off all the time, but our office seems to get bumped off. The plane we’re supposed to be taking is a little puddle jumper and it’s a shorter flight time than people might think.
I’m not feeling to confident with air travel though with the news showing two plane crashes today.
I have to get up early, so I’m going to wrap it up early. I don’t know when I’ll be able to post again, but I hope it’s real soon.
This morning it was raining when I got up. And it rained off and on all day. It’s quite chilly and dreary. Gray skies and damp. I guess I need to get used to this weather if Sara and I are going to move to Washington state. Even though we had gravel spread all over, there was still water everywhere. And of course I have already mailed my waterproof boots to Kissimmee. At least I still had my rain coat.
I hung out at work for a couple of hours today. Not like there was any work for me to do, but I was tired of looking at my bags and there’s not a whole lot of anything else to do until I wake up in the morning. And with the way things go at the airport here, we don’t have a very good departure rate. Our folks always seem to get pushed back a day or two. Flights take off all the time, but our office seems to get bumped off. The plane we’re supposed to be taking is a little puddle jumper and it’s a shorter flight time than people might think.
I’m not feeling to confident with air travel though with the news showing two plane crashes today.
I have to get up early, so I’m going to wrap it up early. I don’t know when I’ll be able to post again, but I hope it’s real soon.
Embarrassing
I got seven hours of sleep last night, but I was still beat all day. I fell asleep in church. I was fighting it for a while, but the Z-Monster finally got me and I was knocked out for a few minutes. I was pretty embarrassed. I think the only people that noticed were the ones sitting behind me.
We had Sandy’s going away ceremony and luncheon today. Her replacement isn’t here yet. He’s going to go straight to Kissimmee. Whenever someone leaves our office, Sandy always makes a top-10 list of things that we’re going to remember about them. So for her going away, I’ve been working on a top-10 list for her. I didn’t know it, but Diane made a top-10 list also. We compared lists and we had four identical entries. So then we had a top-16 list until Brock came up with a 17th entry. Dianne and I read the top-17 list and we presented Sandy with a coffee mug that says “Uff Da!” for her to take back to Minnesota.
I didn’t do anything really productive at work today. I just kind of took up space. I did look at houses on line. Though I didn’t see any that were anywhere near as nice as the one that Sara found online. Mike looked at the house and neighborhood and strongly approved. Now Sara and I have to hope that it stays on the market for another couple of months. And since that house has been on the market for so long, hopefully the owners will be will be willing to negotiate.
My buddy, Truth, hasn’t found out about his transfer and he’s really quite jealous that I’ve found out already.
I can’t think of anything else today. I need to pack tomorrow for our flight on Tuesday.
We had Sandy’s going away ceremony and luncheon today. Her replacement isn’t here yet. He’s going to go straight to Kissimmee. Whenever someone leaves our office, Sandy always makes a top-10 list of things that we’re going to remember about them. So for her going away, I’ve been working on a top-10 list for her. I didn’t know it, but Diane made a top-10 list also. We compared lists and we had four identical entries. So then we had a top-16 list until Brock came up with a 17th entry. Dianne and I read the top-17 list and we presented Sandy with a coffee mug that says “Uff Da!” for her to take back to Minnesota.
I didn’t do anything really productive at work today. I just kind of took up space. I did look at houses on line. Though I didn’t see any that were anywhere near as nice as the one that Sara found online. Mike looked at the house and neighborhood and strongly approved. Now Sara and I have to hope that it stays on the market for another couple of months. And since that house has been on the market for so long, hopefully the owners will be will be willing to negotiate.
My buddy, Truth, hasn’t found out about his transfer and he’s really quite jealous that I’ve found out already.
I can’t think of anything else today. I need to pack tomorrow for our flight on Tuesday.
Sunday, March 22, 2009
Good news, Bad news
When you have to work seven days a week, coming into work on a Saturday is no big deal. But when it’s my every-other-Saturday-is-the sucky-Saturday, I dread it. But, I knew it was my last Saturday here in Boston, so this would most likely be my last super-bad Saturday. So I logged into my computer and got the link to the draft slides for this evening’s meeting. I sent the draft slides to all of my points of contact, even though I get the feeling that they just ignore them until the final copy of the slides are released.
So then I check my personal e-mail and I saw that I got a message from my boss. I’ve been selected to go to Washington State to run the logistics division of my company at one of their facilities near Tacoma! The strange thing is that the position wasn’t even advertized, so that location wasn’t even on my dream sheet! It took an hour or two to sink in, but now I’m really excited about it. I’ve never been to Washington before and I’m really looking into it. Because of the time difference, I didn’t call Sara and wake her up. But I did shoot her an e-mail and as soon as I saw that she responded, I called her up.
Sara is really excited also. Rebecca… not so much so. As it turns out, she was hoping that we’d move to Mexico. Mexico? Yes. Apparently, another child brought pictures of Mexico into class, and Rebecca decided it would be a nice place to live. I think that she’ll find that Washington isn’t that bad. I wonder if Du-da-da-da-da Dora had anything to do with her wanting to move to Mexico. At least in Washington, we can learn to speak Canadian. When I told Liam about Washington, he didn’t seem to care. And he didn’t seem interested in looking for a new house. He wanted to play with his cars and trucks. I want to play with cars and trucks with him also.
We also found out that Mike, Ashley, and I aren’t going to Kissimmee until Tuesday now. As soon as we heard that, we all ran to back to our suites and got our laundry. Since we all have been expecting to leave “in the next few days” we haven’t turned out laundry in. So we all had some stuff to turn in to the cleaners. That’s not really bad news, but we were all looking forward to leaving on Monday. At least we’ll have clean clothes to take with us. I can’t believe that there isn’t a Laundromat or anywhere we can do our own laundry.
I’m still pretty stokes about Washington. I’m going to look at houses on-line now.
So then I check my personal e-mail and I saw that I got a message from my boss. I’ve been selected to go to Washington State to run the logistics division of my company at one of their facilities near Tacoma! The strange thing is that the position wasn’t even advertized, so that location wasn’t even on my dream sheet! It took an hour or two to sink in, but now I’m really excited about it. I’ve never been to Washington before and I’m really looking into it. Because of the time difference, I didn’t call Sara and wake her up. But I did shoot her an e-mail and as soon as I saw that she responded, I called her up.
Sara is really excited also. Rebecca… not so much so. As it turns out, she was hoping that we’d move to Mexico. Mexico? Yes. Apparently, another child brought pictures of Mexico into class, and Rebecca decided it would be a nice place to live. I think that she’ll find that Washington isn’t that bad. I wonder if Du-da-da-da-da Dora had anything to do with her wanting to move to Mexico. At least in Washington, we can learn to speak Canadian. When I told Liam about Washington, he didn’t seem to care. And he didn’t seem interested in looking for a new house. He wanted to play with his cars and trucks. I want to play with cars and trucks with him also.
We also found out that Mike, Ashley, and I aren’t going to Kissimmee until Tuesday now. As soon as we heard that, we all ran to back to our suites and got our laundry. Since we all have been expecting to leave “in the next few days” we haven’t turned out laundry in. So we all had some stuff to turn in to the cleaners. That’s not really bad news, but we were all looking forward to leaving on Monday. At least we’ll have clean clothes to take with us. I can’t believe that there isn’t a Laundromat or anywhere we can do our own laundry.
I’m still pretty stokes about Washington. I’m going to look at houses on-line now.
Friday, March 20, 2009
Packing
I just finished packing one bag. Since we’re leaving in a few days, I decided that instead of waiting until the last minute and freaking out, I may as well get something started. I’ve been here two months and I’ve bought a few nicities for my suite and I don’t want to throw anything away that I don’t have to. Hopefully, I’ll get the rest of my bags packed tomorrow. Or enough packed so that I can mail a box to Kissimmee or maybe back to Dover.
The building next door is having problems with the fire alarm. The alarm goes off every five to ten minutes, but only for one to two minutes at a time. It’s a very shrill, trilling noise. I can understand the point of a fire alarm being annoying, but if this goes on all night long, I’m going to be quite mad. It just went off again. But this time it only went off for fifteen seconds.
Two of my coworkers were selected for promotion today! One of them definitely deserves it and I’m really glad for her. Howard, the second person is about as worthless as a fish on a bicycle. I guess he is a case of being in the company long enough and not screwing up anything that he’s just moving up. But it’s still frustrating for the rest of us who actually WORK. Howard is on the green team (I’m on the blue team), so his promotion doesn’t effect me in any way.
Okay, here’s a grammar question. What is the difference between ‘effect’ and ‘affect’? I thought ‘effect’ was correct, but apparently MS Word thinks that ‘affect’ is correct. I need to look them up. I don’t think that they are interchangeable; but maybe they are. I try to use the “cause and effect” rule when I get confused. If there is a “cause” then I have to use “effect”; otherwise I use “affect”. I might be wrong on this one.
And here’s a punctuation question. When did we stop using the comma when annotating items in a list? “The flag is red, white, and blue,” is what I was taught. But every day I see, “The flag is red, white and blue”. Is it correct to leave that last comma out now? It drives me crazy. Since I deal with multiple requirements all day long, I see this comma issue.
(Anyway) Ashley, Mike, and I are all on the blue team. And we’re all leaving for Kissimmee on Monday. Sandy is also on the blue team and she’s leaving also. However, her time is up here and she’s going back to Minnesota. Joey is the last member of the blue team to stay here. He’s sad that we’re all leaving him. I think that he’ll be coming down with us in a month or so. But Sunday we’re going to have a going away party.
And it’s another Friday night here. We didn’t go to OJay’s for dinner. We went to our regular steak place and that was nice, since we won’t be going there again. We all got chocolate chip cookies for dessert. They were sooo good! I don’t know why we never got them before. I wish I could have gotten some of them to go. But since I’ve been working out, I guess I don’t really need them.
And I picked up my last load of laundry this afternoon and I made a discovery. The laundry workers matched up all of my white socks by the letter on the bottom! That just made my day. You really don’t know. I wonder how long they’ve been doing that, or if I just got the one person who figured it out.
The building next door is having problems with the fire alarm. The alarm goes off every five to ten minutes, but only for one to two minutes at a time. It’s a very shrill, trilling noise. I can understand the point of a fire alarm being annoying, but if this goes on all night long, I’m going to be quite mad. It just went off again. But this time it only went off for fifteen seconds.
Two of my coworkers were selected for promotion today! One of them definitely deserves it and I’m really glad for her. Howard, the second person is about as worthless as a fish on a bicycle. I guess he is a case of being in the company long enough and not screwing up anything that he’s just moving up. But it’s still frustrating for the rest of us who actually WORK. Howard is on the green team (I’m on the blue team), so his promotion doesn’t effect me in any way.
Okay, here’s a grammar question. What is the difference between ‘effect’ and ‘affect’? I thought ‘effect’ was correct, but apparently MS Word thinks that ‘affect’ is correct. I need to look them up. I don’t think that they are interchangeable; but maybe they are. I try to use the “cause and effect” rule when I get confused. If there is a “cause” then I have to use “effect”; otherwise I use “affect”. I might be wrong on this one.
And here’s a punctuation question. When did we stop using the comma when annotating items in a list? “The flag is red, white, and blue,” is what I was taught. But every day I see, “The flag is red, white and blue”. Is it correct to leave that last comma out now? It drives me crazy. Since I deal with multiple requirements all day long, I see this comma issue.
(Anyway) Ashley, Mike, and I are all on the blue team. And we’re all leaving for Kissimmee on Monday. Sandy is also on the blue team and she’s leaving also. However, her time is up here and she’s going back to Minnesota. Joey is the last member of the blue team to stay here. He’s sad that we’re all leaving him. I think that he’ll be coming down with us in a month or so. But Sunday we’re going to have a going away party.
And it’s another Friday night here. We didn’t go to OJay’s for dinner. We went to our regular steak place and that was nice, since we won’t be going there again. We all got chocolate chip cookies for dessert. They were sooo good! I don’t know why we never got them before. I wish I could have gotten some of them to go. But since I’ve been working out, I guess I don’t really need them.
And I picked up my last load of laundry this afternoon and I made a discovery. The laundry workers matched up all of my white socks by the letter on the bottom! That just made my day. You really don’t know. I wonder how long they’ve been doing that, or if I just got the one person who figured it out.
St Patrick’s Day
It’s Saint Patty’s Day again! At least it seemed like it. I just came from when the auditors live and they were having their bonfire and it was also a belated St Patrick’s Day party. Of course there was no beer, and instead of corn beef and cabbage, they had chili. Go figure. But it was still kind of fun. I met two other guys from other departments that will be moving to Kissimmee sometime soon. They were talking about all of the horror stories that they heard about Kissimmee, and I was telling them about what Gary and Joey saw when they went down there.
And Mike still hasn’t left for Kissimmee. He’s trying to take it well. He’s so tired of being jerked around. He’s still living out of his backpack because they keep telling him that he’s leaving and then he’s not. So now the latest word is that Mike, Ashley, and I will all go down to Kissimmee together on Monday. We even got our flight itinerary and everything. So we’ll have to see how that pans out for everything. Mike is trying to have a “everything happens for a reason” attitude with this trip.
I mailed two boxes of stuff down to Kissimmee today. Just so I don’t have to take so much stuff on the plane. Ashley mailed four boxes and Mike mailed one huge box. There’s a 5K run tomorrow, mike and Ashley asked if I wanted to run also. I would have, but the run kicks off at 5:30. Forget that! I’m sleeping in and I’ll just go the gym later.
We walked to the Sugar Shack for lunch today. Between that walk, the gym, and everything else – I racked up 17,594 steps. A new record for me. The place we’re going to in Kissimmee is very small. From what Joey said, if you walked around the entire place, it’s less than one mile. Very small indeed.
Mike and I have decided to be work out partners once we get to Kissimmee. We’ll have to see how motivated I am once I get there. Since I’ve been going to the gym by myself for the past two weeks, I’ve felt better and I’ve felt more energetic. My old job at Dover just drained the life out of me and I didn’t feel like working out at all, so I just totally fell out of the habit.
I can’t wait for the weekend and call and talk to Sara and the kids. Liam is really starting to talk on the phone and tell me about stuff. All he used to do is answer simple questions. Now he’s talking. Rebecca is a real chatterbox. And like Sara, sometimes she talks really fast and I can only understand about half of what she says. Sara is quite exited that there’s only two and a half months left of school. I’d be exited as well. I bet most teachers have a rough first-year. And she’s had her fair share. I think that this summer will be a well deserved break. She’s not exactly feeling like doing a session of teaching summer school. I don’t blame her.
I’m tired now. I’m going to read (which is code for ‘fall asleep’).
And Mike still hasn’t left for Kissimmee. He’s trying to take it well. He’s so tired of being jerked around. He’s still living out of his backpack because they keep telling him that he’s leaving and then he’s not. So now the latest word is that Mike, Ashley, and I will all go down to Kissimmee together on Monday. We even got our flight itinerary and everything. So we’ll have to see how that pans out for everything. Mike is trying to have a “everything happens for a reason” attitude with this trip.
I mailed two boxes of stuff down to Kissimmee today. Just so I don’t have to take so much stuff on the plane. Ashley mailed four boxes and Mike mailed one huge box. There’s a 5K run tomorrow, mike and Ashley asked if I wanted to run also. I would have, but the run kicks off at 5:30. Forget that! I’m sleeping in and I’ll just go the gym later.
We walked to the Sugar Shack for lunch today. Between that walk, the gym, and everything else – I racked up 17,594 steps. A new record for me. The place we’re going to in Kissimmee is very small. From what Joey said, if you walked around the entire place, it’s less than one mile. Very small indeed.
Mike and I have decided to be work out partners once we get to Kissimmee. We’ll have to see how motivated I am once I get there. Since I’ve been going to the gym by myself for the past two weeks, I’ve felt better and I’ve felt more energetic. My old job at Dover just drained the life out of me and I didn’t feel like working out at all, so I just totally fell out of the habit.
I can’t wait for the weekend and call and talk to Sara and the kids. Liam is really starting to talk on the phone and tell me about stuff. All he used to do is answer simple questions. Now he’s talking. Rebecca is a real chatterbox. And like Sara, sometimes she talks really fast and I can only understand about half of what she says. Sara is quite exited that there’s only two and a half months left of school. I’d be exited as well. I bet most teachers have a rough first-year. And she’s had her fair share. I think that this summer will be a well deserved break. She’s not exactly feeling like doing a session of teaching summer school. I don’t blame her.
I’m tired now. I’m going to read (which is code for ‘fall asleep’).
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
Quiet
It is so nice in the office with Chuck and the director gone. There is plenty of talking and good natured teasing going on, but things have lightened up a bit with the director out of our business. Chuck, on the other hand, hasn’t worked a day since I got here. I’m not sure what his purpose in life was besides surfing the internet and watching videos. Chuck also had a tendency to get Joey all riled up about something and causing disturbances. Today at dinner people sat around and told their horror stories about the director. I guess he was a real pain a few months ago. As much as he got on my nerves, apparently he used to be worse.
The weather today was a little bit cooler. We have lots of clouds and the sky looks ominous. I’ve been waiting for rain all day; but so far it has only been overcast. Maybe we’ll get rain tonight or tomorrow.
This morning I was getting ready when the maintenance man came by our suite to service our air conditioner. The compressor is outside, but the main unit is mounted on the wall with the filter and the blower. They took the filters out and cleaned them off. Afterwards, they taped a very large plastic bag under the unit and sprayed water in the blower and the guts of the unit. The water that came out was so nasty – dark gray and totally disgusting. I imagine that all of the units in each of the suites are just as disgusting. And if that was what we have been breathing for the past few months, then it’s no wonder that everyone here has the hack.
No one at work can remember when the AC units at work have been cleaned like that. I hope that when I get to Kissimmee either we’ll start feeling better.
Today was Italian day at OJays. The lasagna was fantastic. But I ate too much and now I wished I had a smaller portion. I’m going to find my Tums and go to bed.
The weather today was a little bit cooler. We have lots of clouds and the sky looks ominous. I’ve been waiting for rain all day; but so far it has only been overcast. Maybe we’ll get rain tonight or tomorrow.
This morning I was getting ready when the maintenance man came by our suite to service our air conditioner. The compressor is outside, but the main unit is mounted on the wall with the filter and the blower. They took the filters out and cleaned them off. Afterwards, they taped a very large plastic bag under the unit and sprayed water in the blower and the guts of the unit. The water that came out was so nasty – dark gray and totally disgusting. I imagine that all of the units in each of the suites are just as disgusting. And if that was what we have been breathing for the past few months, then it’s no wonder that everyone here has the hack.
No one at work can remember when the AC units at work have been cleaned like that. I hope that when I get to Kissimmee either we’ll start feeling better.
Today was Italian day at OJays. The lasagna was fantastic. But I ate too much and now I wished I had a smaller portion. I’m going to find my Tums and go to bed.
Computer Problems
My computer is slooooow. I’ve run adaware, anti-virus (both up to date), and de-fragged the ahrd drive. I hope this computer isn’t about to poop-out on me. This is a nice little computer. And the places it’s been. I’ve tried to keep it clean and as dust (sand) free as possible. I might look on line at buying one of those external hard drives that can back up everything. I can replace the music that I have on here, but not all of my pictures.
Today was a pretty good day. The late night VTC with our buddies in Malaysia went well enough. Not too much chit chat. When I get to Kissimmee I don’t know if I have to keep doing this. On one hand, the VTC is a pain in the butt. On the other hand, I get to sleep in a little bit on Wednesday morning.
I’ve been really good at wearing my pedometer all day now. I haven’t forgotten it except for that one day. And now it’s like a conscious on my hip. I was busy this afternoon and was going to skip going to the gym… then I realized that at the end of the day I’d have proof that I slacked off. So I went to the gym just so I’d have a nice, high number at the end of the day - 13,400 steps. And I needed those extra steps. Because today I had a chicken cheese steak sandwich and, while it tasted yummy, it sat like a rock in my stomach.
Happy Saint Patrick’s day to everyone. I didn’t wear any green today. I would have worn my green socks, but I got dressed without thinking about it and wore my black socks instead. I did wear a big, green leprechaun hat at work for about 15 minutes. So maybe that counts.
It looks like the move to Kissimmee it becoming a reality. A bunch of dates have been tossed around, but the 22nd of March has been the consistent date for the past few days. I’m not sure when Mike’s moving, but Ashley and I are slated to transfer on the 22nd. And I meant to bring this up before, but Ashley’s husband is named John Quincy. How cool is that?
I’m going to sign off now. Someone have a Guinness for me!
Today was a pretty good day. The late night VTC with our buddies in Malaysia went well enough. Not too much chit chat. When I get to Kissimmee I don’t know if I have to keep doing this. On one hand, the VTC is a pain in the butt. On the other hand, I get to sleep in a little bit on Wednesday morning.
I’ve been really good at wearing my pedometer all day now. I haven’t forgotten it except for that one day. And now it’s like a conscious on my hip. I was busy this afternoon and was going to skip going to the gym… then I realized that at the end of the day I’d have proof that I slacked off. So I went to the gym just so I’d have a nice, high number at the end of the day - 13,400 steps. And I needed those extra steps. Because today I had a chicken cheese steak sandwich and, while it tasted yummy, it sat like a rock in my stomach.
Happy Saint Patrick’s day to everyone. I didn’t wear any green today. I would have worn my green socks, but I got dressed without thinking about it and wore my black socks instead. I did wear a big, green leprechaun hat at work for about 15 minutes. So maybe that counts.
It looks like the move to Kissimmee it becoming a reality. A bunch of dates have been tossed around, but the 22nd of March has been the consistent date for the past few days. I’m not sure when Mike’s moving, but Ashley and I are slated to transfer on the 22nd. And I meant to bring this up before, but Ashley’s husband is named John Quincy. How cool is that?
I’m going to sign off now. Someone have a Guinness for me!
Tuesday, March 17, 2009
They’re Gone… Almost
Today was actually a really good day. I can’t really remember anything great happen, but I got a lot done. I got two packages sent up for signature and I have two more that are staffing now that should be wrapped up by week’s end. I need to get everything wrapped up before I can leave for Kissimmee. I’m looking forward to going someplace new.
It was another beautiful spring day. The sun was shining and it was probably in the low sixties. If it was anywhere but here, we would have daffodils growing
I do remember something great happening today. The director left today. Chuck left also. Well, they almost left. They showed back up a few hours after they left because their plane was delayed for 24 hours. But for all intents and purposes they are gone.
I met the new president and vice president this evening. It was quite a surprise. Mike and I were at the coffee shop just shooting the breeze and there was no one else around. Two other guys showed up and were just looking around and we yelled to them to come over and join us, so they did. And it wasn’t until they sat down that we realized who they were. They were both really nice and they were kind of surprised that we called to them. We probably wouldn’t have yelled to they had we really known who they were. But they seemed genuinely interested to hear what two junior managers had to say.
I got a box in the mail today from dad. Cookies and a shirt and some coffee and some candy. The candy and coffee were a hit. Dunkin’ Donuts coffee is a big hit at the office. I’m taking the big bag of coffee to Kissimmee with me. I hope they have a coffee bean grinder at the new office.
My computer is acting funny. Hopefully, I’ll be able to write more later.
*EDIT* Tuesday now. I couldn’t post last night.
Sunday, March 15, 2009
Sunday
It’s been a better day then yesterday for me. If you read the paper you can see that there has been some unwanted excitement near here. I shouldn’t complain about my day because there are some guys having a lot worse days.
The weather today was perfect. Before work I spent some time outdoors and the sun was shining and the annoying birds were singing. It would have been totally awesome if it was back home and not here.
I called home this evening. Liam and Rebecca were really excited about Tia Trina and Uncle Chris coming over last night. I heard about the video games and eating chicken. I guess someone made the kids little Wii avatars (called a Mii) and Rebecca hid her hair to look like her Mii when she woke up this morning. Sara sent me a picture and it was pretty cute.
Speaking of pictures, here’s a picture of a sleeping dog that someone sent me a while ago. The funny thing (not so funny, really) about it is the item that’s on the ground about three feet from the dog’s feet. Can anyone guess what it is?
I cut my hair tonight. It had been a few weeks and I guess I hadn’t noticed how long it had gotten. By no means was it LONG or shaggy, but it was starting to stick out on the sides. So now it’s back to feeling like Velcro again.
I passed the 30% mark on my time-tracker today! I hadn’t looked at it in a while, so I was kind of surprised to see how far it had gotten. We were talking at work today about how we were all going to get home if the Memphis office was closing. No one knows what’s going to happen, but I hope someone decides soon. Not like I’ll be HERE any longer, but it would be nice to know how we’re all getting out of here.
Well, I’m going to sign off now. Talk to you all later.
The weather today was perfect. Before work I spent some time outdoors and the sun was shining and the annoying birds were singing. It would have been totally awesome if it was back home and not here.
I called home this evening. Liam and Rebecca were really excited about Tia Trina and Uncle Chris coming over last night. I heard about the video games and eating chicken. I guess someone made the kids little Wii avatars (called a Mii) and Rebecca hid her hair to look like her Mii when she woke up this morning. Sara sent me a picture and it was pretty cute.
Speaking of pictures, here’s a picture of a sleeping dog that someone sent me a while ago. The funny thing (not so funny, really) about it is the item that’s on the ground about three feet from the dog’s feet. Can anyone guess what it is?
I cut my hair tonight. It had been a few weeks and I guess I hadn’t noticed how long it had gotten. By no means was it LONG or shaggy, but it was starting to stick out on the sides. So now it’s back to feeling like Velcro again.
I passed the 30% mark on my time-tracker today! I hadn’t looked at it in a while, so I was kind of surprised to see how far it had gotten. We were talking at work today about how we were all going to get home if the Memphis office was closing. No one knows what’s going to happen, but I hope someone decides soon. Not like I’ll be HERE any longer, but it would be nice to know how we’re all getting out of here.
Well, I’m going to sign off now. Talk to you all later.
S-A-T-U-R-D-A-Y Night!
I don't even want to get into my day. I was really busy and it was bad. I was frustrated with my job and my boss and the general inability of my customer's writing skills. And when I had to change the wording in one paragraph for the fifth time (after the ORIGINAL PARAGRAPH passed the first time), I just about lost it.
However, I did hold my tongue. I was afraid that if I said anything I would get fired. My boss realized my frustration and she wanted to talk about it. I did not.
So let's see. We went to eat at Koehle's today for lunch. It was incredibly good. I had tacos and a burrito. For some reason, they serve their salsa warm, almost hot. I'd never had it that way before and it's really good. It's also a little bit soupy. And since it's served warm, it's more fragrant. And they have really good salsa. And I like to judge Mexican food by how good the salsa is. If a place has good salsa, then you know all the food is good.
I made it to the gym and I spent fifty minutes on an elliptical trainer. That helped me with racking up 13,600 steps today. I looked up 'average steps taken' and there's no site that agrees with any other site. But the one that I liked best said that over 12,500 per day is classified as "highly active". I'm going to stick to that as long as I can keep going to the gym.
I keep hearing that Ashley and I are going to Kissimmee on the 22nd. Mike is going down there on the 19th. I think we are all looking forward to going to the new office. It'll be one step closer to getting out of here.
Friday, March 13, 2009
Friday
Busy today. So busy. We have some visitors, really important visitors, from another company and their big guy is hanging out with our big guy for a week (I think) so all of the directors are acting like it’s the end of the world. There are some high-level briefings and meetings going on, and luckily I have nothing to do with them. But my new director is involved, so I was busy all day making him as smart as I could with all of the projects that I’m working on. I didn’t even get to go to the gym this afternoon. That disappointed me, but I guess I’ll take today off from the gym.
And it was such a nice day. I had to run back to my room to get some stuff and it made me upset that I had to be cooped inside all day. I took all of the duct tape off of my windows so I could open it up and get some fresh air in my room. It really worked to get the stuffy air out of the room.
I was so busy today that I forgot that I was wearing the pedometer. And I was stuck at my desk so much that I only racked up 5,477 steps. Holy cow! That’s quite a drop from the past few days.
Today being Friday, meant that it was surf and turf for dinner. Hold the surf. I wish I could remember more stuff from today, but it was all work work work. And I’m going to bed.
And it was such a nice day. I had to run back to my room to get some stuff and it made me upset that I had to be cooped inside all day. I took all of the duct tape off of my windows so I could open it up and get some fresh air in my room. It really worked to get the stuffy air out of the room.
I was so busy today that I forgot that I was wearing the pedometer. And I was stuck at my desk so much that I only racked up 5,477 steps. Holy cow! That’s quite a drop from the past few days.
Today being Friday, meant that it was surf and turf for dinner. Hold the surf. I wish I could remember more stuff from today, but it was all work work work. And I’m going to bed.
Thursday night
Our internet is down AGAIN! I’m so mad. We only have one choice, which I guess is better than no choice at all, but I’m paying good money!
I remembered to wear my pedometer all day. And I racked up over fifteen thousand steps today. I wonder what is considered normal for most Americans. I think I’m going to do a Google search whenever my internet comes back on. Throughout the day I keep looking at it (well, maybe 5 or 6 times) just to see how I’m progressing. This Sunday I’m not going to the gym. I think I’ll be six or seven thousand steps short.
We said goodbye to Chris again this evening. While he was waiting to go to the airport, we watched Grand Torino again. Earlier in the evening, I went to the auditor’s bonfire/hangout. Even though the weather is getting warmer, the nights are kind of chilly. While I was there Leland tracked me down and had a very urgent request from one of our customers. One of the packages that I’m working on had ‘something’ wrong with the initial statement of work. Beats me whatever it was. If they ask for 16 horses, I try to get them 16 horses. It doesn’t matter to me what it is they need or how many they ask for. So I had to go back in to work and do some research on the initial statement of work. I spent about an hour on it and don’t think I found the root cause of the problem, but I was able to give him a head start on where to look.
And my boss made me mad today. She was accusing me of using the “copy and paste” method of producing my documents. I have to create five different documents, all asking for the same thing, but using different words. Of COURSE I copy and paste. And then I mess with the format and fix the verb tenses and that kind of stuff. So what was up with the accusatory tone in her voice? I was ticked. There’s only so many ways I can say “sixteen horses”. My stomach started hurting again today. I don’t know if it was stress or what. I also haven’t been very disciplined to remember to take my Prevacid (or whatever it is now) every day.
Dang. The internet is still not working. I don’t know why. The little monitors down in the icon tray show that I’m connected to “Network 36”. I should be on. I’m going to turn the computer off and try again. And while that’s happening, I’m going to grab some Prevacid.
** 5 minutes later **
Poo. Still nothing.
And nothing now either. I’ll try again in the morning.
And it didn’t work in the morning, but it’s working now (Friday night).
I remembered to wear my pedometer all day. And I racked up over fifteen thousand steps today. I wonder what is considered normal for most Americans. I think I’m going to do a Google search whenever my internet comes back on. Throughout the day I keep looking at it (well, maybe 5 or 6 times) just to see how I’m progressing. This Sunday I’m not going to the gym. I think I’ll be six or seven thousand steps short.
We said goodbye to Chris again this evening. While he was waiting to go to the airport, we watched Grand Torino again. Earlier in the evening, I went to the auditor’s bonfire/hangout. Even though the weather is getting warmer, the nights are kind of chilly. While I was there Leland tracked me down and had a very urgent request from one of our customers. One of the packages that I’m working on had ‘something’ wrong with the initial statement of work. Beats me whatever it was. If they ask for 16 horses, I try to get them 16 horses. It doesn’t matter to me what it is they need or how many they ask for. So I had to go back in to work and do some research on the initial statement of work. I spent about an hour on it and don’t think I found the root cause of the problem, but I was able to give him a head start on where to look.
And my boss made me mad today. She was accusing me of using the “copy and paste” method of producing my documents. I have to create five different documents, all asking for the same thing, but using different words. Of COURSE I copy and paste. And then I mess with the format and fix the verb tenses and that kind of stuff. So what was up with the accusatory tone in her voice? I was ticked. There’s only so many ways I can say “sixteen horses”. My stomach started hurting again today. I don’t know if it was stress or what. I also haven’t been very disciplined to remember to take my Prevacid (or whatever it is now) every day.
Dang. The internet is still not working. I don’t know why. The little monitors down in the icon tray show that I’m connected to “Network 36”. I should be on. I’m going to turn the computer off and try again. And while that’s happening, I’m going to grab some Prevacid.
** 5 minutes later **
Poo. Still nothing.
And nothing now either. I’ll try again in the morning.
And it didn’t work in the morning, but it’s working now (Friday night).
Thursday, March 12, 2009
My Thumb
Today at work I sliced my darn thumb open. I was just sitting at my desk and I looked and noticed that the knuckle on my left thumb was cut open. I have no idea how it happened. Maybe there was a sharp edge somewhere? And of course as soon as I looked at it the pain started. Luckily, we have no shortage of band-aids and I had a tube of Neosporin in one of my drawers. But for the rest of the day, whenever I bend my thumb, it starts to hurt.
I also didn’t practice good pedometer discipline today. It wasn’t until after I had been at work for a while that I realized that I didn’t have it on me. Darn it! Now I have one day of skewed date for my little experiment. So maybe doing this early in my project will be enough to help me remember it from now on. But I did put it on before I went to the gym; and between 3:30 and midnight, I was able to rack up 9,926 footsteps.
I called my career guy (kind of like an agent that looks after my career that the company pays for) this afternoon. As you all know, there’s no chance for me getting that teaching job this summer. So we talked and they haven’t gotten to my name yet. We talked about places I could go, but (1) there are not many places west of Illinois and (2) there are no promises. So I’ll just have to wait another three or four weeks before I get notified of where Sara and I are moving next.
Chris was supposed to leave today. But he didn’t. His plane was overbooked and he has to wait another couple of days. We seem to have that problem a lot. He’s glad that he’s stuck here a few more days and not stuck in Memphis. Mike, his replacement is just waiting to go to Kissimmee. There’s not a lot for them to do here, but train and train.
It was another beautiful day here. I forgot to check the weather forecast, but it definitely feels like spring. The trees aren’t budding, but green grass is starting to show in the few places where there isn’t gravel.
And good guesses for the soapdish reference. Trina, you got it right! It was from The H2G2G. It was Arthur Dent who was obsessed with what happened to all of his ballpoint pens that he misplaced. He thought all of the misplaced pans populated a world in another galaxy. And did you know that May 25th is officially Towel Day? Even though I’ll be in Kissimmee, I’ll carry a towel all day. That’s the kind of hoopy frood I am.
I also didn’t practice good pedometer discipline today. It wasn’t until after I had been at work for a while that I realized that I didn’t have it on me. Darn it! Now I have one day of skewed date for my little experiment. So maybe doing this early in my project will be enough to help me remember it from now on. But I did put it on before I went to the gym; and between 3:30 and midnight, I was able to rack up 9,926 footsteps.
I called my career guy (kind of like an agent that looks after my career that the company pays for) this afternoon. As you all know, there’s no chance for me getting that teaching job this summer. So we talked and they haven’t gotten to my name yet. We talked about places I could go, but (1) there are not many places west of Illinois and (2) there are no promises. So I’ll just have to wait another three or four weeks before I get notified of where Sara and I are moving next.
Chris was supposed to leave today. But he didn’t. His plane was overbooked and he has to wait another couple of days. We seem to have that problem a lot. He’s glad that he’s stuck here a few more days and not stuck in Memphis. Mike, his replacement is just waiting to go to Kissimmee. There’s not a lot for them to do here, but train and train.
It was another beautiful day here. I forgot to check the weather forecast, but it definitely feels like spring. The trees aren’t budding, but green grass is starting to show in the few places where there isn’t gravel.
And good guesses for the soapdish reference. Trina, you got it right! It was from The H2G2G. It was Arthur Dent who was obsessed with what happened to all of his ballpoint pens that he misplaced. He thought all of the misplaced pans populated a world in another galaxy. And did you know that May 25th is officially Towel Day? Even though I’ll be in Kissimmee, I’ll carry a towel all day. That’s the kind of hoopy frood I am.
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
Daylight Savings Time…
We don’t recognize it here. Go figure. That kind of messed me up back on Sunday. But there is a good thing that comes out of our not having to change our clocks… My eleven thirty p.m. VTC every Tuesday night is now at ten thirty p.m. Yay! But the blabber mouths kept at it until midnight. Better midnight than one in the morning I guess.
I was in a really good mood today. Things went really well. We found out that Mike is going to Kissimmee on the 15th of March, I’m leaving on the 22nd, and Ashley is leaving a week later. Did I tell you that Joey came back from Kissimmee with great pictures of where we will be working and staying? The work spaces are Spartan (to say the least), but our accommodations look pretty nice. I might be leaving earlier, but it all hinges on me getting my packages that are in staffing now signed by our company president. We don’t know when Joey will be able to come down.
We have our going away luncheon for Chris tomorrow. He looks so tired of all this, I hope he takes a nice, long vacation once he gets home.
There is a guy here named Ray that a few people have confused me with. So I tracked him down today. The only resemblance is that we both are white and we shave our heads. Neither of us thought that we really looked alike.
I got a DVD from Sara today of Rebecca reading her first book. It is so cute! The book is called Go, Dog, Go and it is a typical Dr Seuss book. She does really well for a combination of sight words, sounding words out, and probably just knowing the story.
I’ve completed my first full day of wearing my pedometer. I racked up 14,365 steps today with all of my walking and that includes over 6,400 steps while working out on an elliptical trainer. I think I’ll make a spreadsheet to track my steps per day.
Our internet service is messed up tonight. I’ve been messing with it for a while now and I have to mess with it again to get this posted. Good night!
I was in a really good mood today. Things went really well. We found out that Mike is going to Kissimmee on the 15th of March, I’m leaving on the 22nd, and Ashley is leaving a week later. Did I tell you that Joey came back from Kissimmee with great pictures of where we will be working and staying? The work spaces are Spartan (to say the least), but our accommodations look pretty nice. I might be leaving earlier, but it all hinges on me getting my packages that are in staffing now signed by our company president. We don’t know when Joey will be able to come down.
We have our going away luncheon for Chris tomorrow. He looks so tired of all this, I hope he takes a nice, long vacation once he gets home.
There is a guy here named Ray that a few people have confused me with. So I tracked him down today. The only resemblance is that we both are white and we shave our heads. Neither of us thought that we really looked alike.
I got a DVD from Sara today of Rebecca reading her first book. It is so cute! The book is called Go, Dog, Go and it is a typical Dr Seuss book. She does really well for a combination of sight words, sounding words out, and probably just knowing the story.
I’ve completed my first full day of wearing my pedometer. I racked up 14,365 steps today with all of my walking and that includes over 6,400 steps while working out on an elliptical trainer. I think I’ll make a spreadsheet to track my steps per day.
Our internet service is messed up tonight. I’ve been messing with it for a while now and I have to mess with it again to get this posted. Good night!
Monday, March 9, 2009
Pedometer
Thank you, Katrina! I got a package in the mail today and it was from one of my sisters. It was a pedometer and one of the books on my Amazon wish list. I had just come back from the gym and my mail was sitting on my desk. I was so excited for the pedometer. I was wishing I had somewhere to walk to just so I could watch the numbers move. I read the directions and set the clock and clipped it to my belt. I was busy all afternoon and it didn’t require that much walking around. But we did walk to dinner and back, so I was able to monitor my peds. The book I received was Part two of the Wild Cards series. I haven’t read that book in a number of years so I’m pretty stoked to read it.
I also received a package yesterday from Sara. It had (among other things) two soap dishes in it. As you may or may not know, I have a tendency to lose soap dishes while I am away from home. I’m not sure why. ON my last trip I lost more than a few. I think that I leave them in bathrooms and they fall through a wormhole into another dimension. Somewhere in another galaxy there is a planet that is populated by all of the soapdishes that I have lost throughout the years. (anyone catch the obscure reference?)
I also got some more pictures from the kids and season one of MADMEN that I accidentally sent home too early. Speaking of sent home, I have another box of stuff that I need to send back to Dover of stuff that I’m not going to use while I’m here. I was also able to find a cheap camouflage blanket to Liam. Since he’s a big fan of camouflage now, I hope he likes it. I also need to find a mink blanket to take home with me. For tow of my trips I’ve been able to bring home mink blankets for the house. Rebecca has the rose blanket, and I think the black blanket is on the couch for when ‘someone’ is too tired to make it upstairs… hee hee! My suite mate has bought a horribly ugly blanket. I haven’t asked him about it. I hope it was on sale and he bought it for its qualities as a blanket and not for style.
Mike, the new guy, is catching on pretty quick at work. Especially for never doing this job before. Chris leaves on Thursday and shortly after that, Mike is going to Kissimmee. Ashley caught the crud and left halfway through the day. My allergies aren’t as bad as they were yesterday. The Musinex is working.
Well, I’m going to read my new book!
I also received a package yesterday from Sara. It had (among other things) two soap dishes in it. As you may or may not know, I have a tendency to lose soap dishes while I am away from home. I’m not sure why. ON my last trip I lost more than a few. I think that I leave them in bathrooms and they fall through a wormhole into another dimension. Somewhere in another galaxy there is a planet that is populated by all of the soapdishes that I have lost throughout the years. (anyone catch the obscure reference?)
I also got some more pictures from the kids and season one of MADMEN that I accidentally sent home too early. Speaking of sent home, I have another box of stuff that I need to send back to Dover of stuff that I’m not going to use while I’m here. I was also able to find a cheap camouflage blanket to Liam. Since he’s a big fan of camouflage now, I hope he likes it. I also need to find a mink blanket to take home with me. For tow of my trips I’ve been able to bring home mink blankets for the house. Rebecca has the rose blanket, and I think the black blanket is on the couch for when ‘someone’ is too tired to make it upstairs… hee hee! My suite mate has bought a horribly ugly blanket. I haven’t asked him about it. I hope it was on sale and he bought it for its qualities as a blanket and not for style.
Mike, the new guy, is catching on pretty quick at work. Especially for never doing this job before. Chris leaves on Thursday and shortly after that, Mike is going to Kissimmee. Ashley caught the crud and left halfway through the day. My allergies aren’t as bad as they were yesterday. The Musinex is working.
Well, I’m going to read my new book!
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)
.jpg)