The Most Epic Vacation Ever. EVER. (Part One)
Published on September 2nd, 2010.
This is me on the first day of vacation. Please notice how I appear alive. Chipper even. Happy I dare say!
7 days later, I wasn’t feeling happy, chipper or even very much alive. Because for 7 solid days, I had SO. MUCH. FUN. on vacation that I couldn’t hardly stand it.
We got on the ship on Sunday afternoon and roamed around for a bit to wait for the porter to bring our bags to the room. At 6pm, time for our dinner seating, our bags still weren’t in our room. We had to go to dinner wearing shorts and tee-shirts. LOL Only night that is allowed!
We were worn out and ditched the opening show and crashed pretty early. Day 2 we were at sea all day. We got up and ate breakfast and then went to lay in the sun. That is when that lovely picture of yours truly was snapped. After breakfast, on our way to hunt down chairs to lay in for the day. We found them and laid out for about 20 minutes before we got too hot and moved to a shady spot. I was determined to not repeat last years tragic mistake of getting absolutely roasted on the first day (I succeeded too! yay me!).
After dinner on day 2 we were so excited!!! The show for that night was THE OSMOND’S. OMG. THE FREAKING OSMOND’S. Helllllo, 1976! We squealed. Literally. Squealed. The show consisted of 3 of the lesser known Osmond’s, but still. OSMOND’S. We sat in the front – of course. As they were coming off stage I grabbed Cath and said, “Get a pic of me with an Osmond!” and dashed for Merrill Osmond. And basically accosted him. He was very nice about it though and was taking a pic with me – when the cruise director (who shall be referred to as “Julie” from now on (think Love Boat) in my vacation tales) walked up. I thought for sure we were busted but he just took Cath’s camera and took a picture of her and I with Merrill. Wooot.
Day 3 brought us to Curacao. We were supposed to go on an excursion to a baby ostrich farm, but once on the boat, we received a voice mail telling us that one was canceled, so we had to pick a new excursion. We chose one that was a tour of the island which included a tour through a cave. Before we left the state room Cath asked me the most unintentionally funny thing I’ve ever heard – “Do you have a jacket or a hoodie? You know caves are always cold.” Ahhhh, if only we had known! The answer to that question was no – I didn’t bring any kind of jacket because it was so warm.
We got to the cave and were informed it was a HOT sea cave. It was also called the ‘sauna cave’. It was SO HOT down there, it was hard to imagine the cave being any hotter. OH. MY. GOD. They lock us in and the tour begins. It was immediately uncomfortably hot in there. Then, the guide spoke very slow and lazily AND repeated everything in spanish for the 100% non english speaking people on our tour. I have never sweat so much in my entire life. It was beyond miserably hot in there. And there were old people on our tour! I was worried about them – but they never seemed to even break a sweat! Unfortunately, I can’t say the same for Cath and I. We broke a wee bit of a sweat….
After that hot cave, we headed to the Curacao factory, where that make the nasty blue liquor. ***shudder*** There were giving our free samples, and I chose to pass on that, thankyouverymuch. Then back to the ship to get some lunch, take a nap and get ready for dinner.
Check back tomorrow for Aruba, Dominica and St. Thomas! Ciao babies!
Filled under Summer Fun, Vacation. No Comments.
The Value of Friends
Published on August 10th, 2010.
I cannot begin to explain the value of friends. Friends help you celebrate life’s most awesome moments, friends help you pass the time when you are bored and friends lift you up and support you when times are dark.
The last several weeks have been a real test of my friends. They have sat and listened to me go through the gamut of emotions. Excited, nervous, scared, silly, worried. And, they have stuck around despite what radical emotion I am going through at that moment. The friends have been there with me and along with me they’ve been excited, nervous, scared, silly and worried for me and along with me.
I am still dealing with the disappointment of not getting that job in Baltimore. Now, mind you, I still actually have a job – in fact, I am no longer in danger of losing mine since congress basically told Obama to go fuck himself (as they should – yay congress!) and that our program will in fact continue in some fashion. Also because of the threat of losing our jobs, 3/4 of my group found other work and left our program, so those of us left pretty much have job security. But this job in Baltimore was just SO appealing. The area, the job, the money – all of it. I wanted it so badly and I thought that I had it in the bag. And I did. Until someone local that wasn’t going through the recruiter’s agency – and was as qualified as me – showed up. They loved me. They wanted to hire me. But, they wanted to hire someone else as qualified that wouldn’t cost them as much money (relocation fees and recruiter fees).
So, I lost out on a job that was really a dream for me. The job was perfect. But, apparently, it was not to be. I was unbelievably devastated to find out yesterday that they weren’t going to select me. My current boss told me that she was very sorry to hear the news with a big smile on her face. I understand her position. She wanted me to be happy, but she didn’t want me to leave. I do love my boss, but in the moment, her happiness at me losing this job prospect just really ground my ass, ya know?
I got messages and phone calls last night. If I didn’t respond to you if you sent one, please understand. I was a in a really shitty depressed place. Also please understand that I appreciate each and every one of you.
Last night I spoke to Mary and had the SWEETEST voice mail from Catherine, text messages from Laci and Tracy. I love you women. So much.
So, right now, I am going to remain here, as long as they’ll let me. And count my blessings each and every damn day for the friends I have.
Filled under Bitchin, Friends. 3 Comments.
The Sadness
Published on August 9th, 2010.
I did not get the job in Baltimore. They loved me, but opted for someone local that did not come through the recruiter to save costs.
I am very upset. And no, I don’t want to talk about it.
Things I’ve Learned Owning A Sports Car
Published on August 8th, 2010.
Now that I’ve had the Camaro for 6 months, I’ve learned a few things. I thought I would be good enough to share them with you.
1. I get a ton of attention when I drive the car. I get stopped and asked about it, and asked if I love it. Duh.
2. Sports cars should ALWAYS be manual transmission. ALWAYS. If you can’t drive a stick, buy a 4 door sedan. It just doesn’t make sense to have a sports car with an automatic transmission. It’s like putting a cubic zirconia in a crown full of genuine rubies, emeralds and sapphires.
3. The car must be allowed to stretch its legs. I can’t tell you how often I have looked down and see I am going 80 or 90 miles an hour. I haven’t gotten stopped by the police. Yet.
4. Music should always be rock n roll while driving. Loud. Abusive. Rock n roll.
5. People will go out of their way to park as close to your car so as to bang into it and ding the paint job when opening their doors. Ass holes.
So, there you have it. A few observations about owning a sports car. A genuine American badass. =)
Filled under Awesomesauce, Bitchin. 3 Comments.
It’s Been A While…Bullet Style
Published on August 3rd, 2010.
- I’m pretty sure I’ve lost my blogging mojo.
- I’m STILL waiting to hear about the Baltimore job. And I’m dying about it. They had to interview one more person, and that took place last Friday. By 7am Monday morning I had already emailed the recruiter asking if he had any news yet. Anxious much?
- My sweet dog is making me insane. She’s recently gotten a wild streak in her, running everywhere, barking at nothing and everything and at the most inopportune times (like when I’m on the phone – or sleeping).
- Friday night I managed to cut my pinkie finger very badly. I managed to scrape about 7 layers of skin off the first knuckle of my left pinkie. It is still killing me.
- Saturday morning I stubbed my little toe on my ottoman. It didn’t break it, but it is still killing me.
- I’m still working on crocheting a blanket for someone. I need to get back in the groove of it.
- I am about halfway through season 5 of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Which only makes me wonder why I didn’t watch it when it was on. I <3 Joss Whedon.
- I made a date with Crazypants on Saturday night. Carrabba’s receipe for blackberry sangria and a Ghost Hunt. Woot!
- Less than three weeks until I leave to go to Puerto Rico to get on a big shiny boat with Miss Catharine! I’m so excited I may have just peed a little.
- It is literally hotter than hell here. I’m sure even hell isn’t this damn hot. Seriously.
Okay – that’s it for the brief catch up on my silly life.
Filled under Uncategorized. 2 Comments.
Partial Decision
Published on July 16th, 2010.
I told the Utah people no. They asked for 3 days to make my decision. I asked for a few more days and without hesitation they said no. So, within 3 minutes of them telling me no, I told them no.
Fuck them. For real. I wanted a few extra days to put my thought into a life changing decision. They said no, when I know full well if they had really wanted me, they’d have offered me a job MUCH sooner. They clearly had issues that” d take more than 3 days to resolve (example: taking more than 6 weeks to make a decision to offer me means they had fucking issues).
So, sorry Utah. But no.
I have a flight out of here on Sunday to go to Baltimore for an interview. For a job that’s mine if I want it. Sorry Boeing. YOU LOSE.
Fuckers.
Filled under Uncategorized, Work. 1 Comment.
What The F**k Do I Do NOW?
Published on July 13th, 2010.
If you’ve been here for a little while, you know my situation. I work for a very large aerospace company, living in Huntsville, Alabama, supporting the new human space flight program, Constellation (our portion is called ARES I). This country’s horrible current president decided to cancel our program. To remove the US from the space industry, effectively giving it to the Russians. But that is not what THIS post is about.
A few months ago, I began the job hunt to get out of here before I get laid off. It is not a matter of IF I get laid off. It is a matter of WHEN I get laid off. I have applied for 57 jobs within my company. I’ve been here for 13 1/2 years and if at all possible, I would love to stay here. The longer I stay, the better my pension is when I retire. Out of 57 jobs, I had one small nibble. For a job in Ogden, Utah. I interviewed for the job over a month ago and then nothing. Crickets. Silence from the great Salt Lake. So, okay, I figured that they had decided to hire someone else. No big deal.
With a giant ticking time bomb over my head, 2 weeks ago I finally got worried enough to put my resume out on Monster.com. I put it out there and made it public and searchable. Within a week, I got several contacts wanting to talk to me further. Some were just not even possible (2 of them were for very entry level positions, where I would end up taking a cut in pay of about $30k per year – NOT acceptable) and two were very interesting. I shot an updated resume off to both and waited. The one in Florida? Not a peep. Crickets. But, the one in Baltimore? They called me the next day.
It was a recruiting company that is tasked to help this company find talent and get them hired. I spoke with the recruiter a bit and he reviewed my resume and decided that I would be a good fit and I gave him the green light to send them my resume. The job description reads like it was tailored for my resume. I mean, I am LITERALLY every thing they are searching for. That was last Wednesday. On Friday the recruiter called me back and said that they were indeed very interested in me and wanted to do a prescreen interview with me on Monday (yesterday). I had that call at 9am. By 10:15 the recruiter had called me and said the pre-screener loved me and they wanted to set up a formal interview with the purchasing manager (would be my boss) for later in the week. Thumbs up dude.
On my way home last night, another call from the recruiter. Did I want to do the interview today? Sure, why not. So, at 1pm today, I had a telephone interview with the hiring manager. It went SO WELL. He’s a nice guy, we got along, and he said (and I absolutely shit you NOT) he said “Having your resume drop in my lap was like an angel from heaven.” I am truly a perfect fit for the company. By the time we were done talking, he had given me some ideas on place to look at living and had said that the HR manager would want to phone interview me next week when he gets back in the office, and then they’d want to fly me up for a face to face interview. ALL of this is extraordinarily good news. This company won’t offer a relocation package to help me pay for the move, but in lieu of that, they are willing to give me a sizable signing bonus.
I finished the interviewed (said all my “please” and “thank you’s”) and felt really REALLY good about it. About 3pm this afternoon, I missed a call from the recruiter. His message said that the hiring manager had called him and was VERY impressed with me and wanted to see my availability for the face to face interview. Holy wow. Things are going well here. And I had finally come to terms with the very real possibility of leaving the company that I have worked for for 13 1/2 years and that I love. And had made peace with it.
At 4:30, with my boss and 4 coworkers standing around just talking and kind of goofing off at the end of the day my phone rang with an outside call. I *almost* didn’t answer it. I kind of wish I hadn’t. My brain is reeling unbelievably from the call. It doesn’t help at all that I am exhausted from 3 days of not having any sleep.
It was the people in Utah. Offering me the damn job I wrote off weeks ago. WTF. I had finally become so settled with leaving the company and now there is this. I have done nothing but go through the pros and cons of both situations.
- I’d like to stay with the company if at all possible of course. Utah allows me to do that. Baltimore does not.
- I NEED some kind of relocation assistance to haul my crap wherever I do go. Baltimore gives me that. Utah does not.
- I already know what the salary is going to be in Utah (and it is a decent bump from what I’m making now). I don’t have a good read on the potential salary in Baltimore yet, other than I know it will be more than I am making now.
- Utah is, well, Utah. Baltimore is east coast, 3 hours by train to NYC and sounds infinitely more exciting than Utah.
- Utah allows me to change my profession. Do a different job (but very similar to what I do now – which most people know I dislike quite a bit). Baltimore will have me doing the same thing I am now, which I know inside and out. Additionally, I would take the position at the top level within the job class, which is a 2 level jump from what I’m classed now.
So, my brain is just spinning a thousand miles an hour. Which one do I take? Clearly, my heart and gut want me to go to Baltimore. But that little bit of me that wants to stay with the company I’m with now is kind of screaming behind the duct tape I slapped on her mouth. I have 5 business days from tomorrow to make my decision. And I haven’t got the first fucking clue what I’m going to do. Not one clue.
Filled under Work. 6 Comments.
My Coche
Published on July 7th, 2010.
I bought a new car in March.
I didn’t buy it because I thought it would make me cool.
I didn’t buy it because I thought it would take me back to my childhood.
I bought the car because I liked it.
The key there – I BOUGHT it. I bought the car. I paid cash for it. I BOUGHT THAT BITCH.
I suppose people think I would wish that someone GAVE me that car for a trial run. No, I do not.
I understand that some people are willing to take crap because the company that is sponsoring them is offering it. And I guess that is okay with them.
Me, personally? I would rather EARN what I own. I would rather earn the money to buy the thing I am shamelessly whoring around the internet for. But, that’s just me.
Below? The Camaro. That I OWN, outright. Paid cash for.
Filled under Bitchin. 9 Comments.
Emma
Published on June 24th, 2010.
I thought I was going to lose my dog on Tuesday night. And by lose, I don’t mean misplace her; I thought she was going to die.
I went to Florida to visit Mary last weekend. So, on Thursday morning I dropped Emma off at the vet’s office to be boarded until Monday. She had been having a little bit of diarrhea a day or so before I left, but she was eating normally and was drinking plenty of water. I left on Thursday and stayed until Sunday afternoon – and had a BLAST. The vet’s office has a small window in the afternoon on Sundays when you can come and pick up a boarded pet, but my plane got in too late, so she stayed until Monday night when I got off work.
I went to pick her up on Monday and she seemed totally normal. And by totally normal, I mean she was a wild banshee when I picked her up, like she always is. We made the short ride home, she came in the house and drank a whole bowl of water and collapsed from exhaustion. She is always exhausted when I pick her up because she can’t get her required 23 ½ hours of sleep while she’s there (fat, lazy little thing).
We went up to bed and she tried a couple times to jump on the bed, missing each time. I chalked it up to her being so tired, and I have a tall bed. So, I hoisted her back end up there and we went to sleep.
4am Tuesday morning, I woke up because she was licking my face, shaking and whining. She NEVER does that. It’s very uncharacteristic of her. I usually have to MAKE her get up in the morning to take her out (lazy…..). On weekends it is not unusual for me to get up and be downstairs doing something or another for an hour before she wanders downstairs to be taken out. She jumped off the bed and out we went. She nearly fell 3 times coming down the stairs. Odd.
After we came back in, she got up on the couch with me (I had to help her again) and laid down. I reached over to play with her ears – they are long and velvety soft and she doesn’t mind when I play with them – and I noticed they were hot. Like, REALLY hot. Her nose was also hot. I literally sat and argued with myself for half an hour, trying to decide if I should just take her back to the vet as soon as they opened. In the end I decided to go ahead and crate her and go in to work. I really wish I hadn’t done it.
I came home at about 4:00pm and as soon as I was in the front door, I knew something was wrong. Like, really wrong. The minute she hears my key in the door, she starts whining and yipping because she wants out of the crate. I can hear her toenails clicking on the bottom of the crate and hear her collar jingling. When I came in Tuesday, it was completely silent. I called out to her and nothing. For a panicked moment I thought she was dead. I ran into the dining room where her crate is and she was just laying there. She kind of picked her head up and looked at me and laid it right back down. I said to her “Oh no, we are going right back to the vet!” I opened her crate and stood there for several minutes watching this poor dog try to get up on her feet. She never was successful. I reached in to help her stand up and she yelped at me every time I touched her. She was shaking violently and panting heavily.
I finally got her on her feet and out of the crate, put her collar and leash on, grabbed my purse and headed out to the car. We got to the curb, she stepped down and fell flat on her face. I’m surprised her nose and snout weren’t all scraped up. She didn’t even try and get up – just laid there and looked at me. By now I was crying and trying to soothe her. I picked her up, which she normally hates, and she was just limp in my arms. I got her to the car, jumped in and headed down the street. I called the vet on my way in. The front desk girl answered.
By now I am sobbing. As soon as Christie, the front desk girl, answered the phone, I said “Emma’s really sick Christie, I’m bringing her in. Be there in 5 minutes.” She asked some questions as I drove as to what her symptoms were and said she’d call the vet, who had just stepped out for the afternoon.
We got there and the girls in the office were immediately concerned. They know my dog because I board her there all the time. They knew there was something very, very wrong with her because of the way she was. The vet was still 45 minutes away from being able to be back at the office, but had given some preliminary treatment instructions based on the description of her symptoms. They took Em away to start an IV and begin treatments and I sat and waited. I was trying to wait for the vet to get back, but at 5:30, it was time to close the office up. They made me leave, telling me the vet would call me in a bit when she got back and examined the dog.
I left, still sobbing. I decided to call my ex, which was tough because just hearing his voice now makes me want to hurt somebody, but she was his dog too. He was really good about it, very concerned and made me promise to give him the details after the vet called. I grabbed something for dinner and went home. I checked my cell phone for missed calls every 5 seconds. I just about wore the damn battery down to a nub just sliding the iPhone to open it and check.
The vet finally called. She said Em was severely dehydrated and was having seizures. She wanted to know if she had ever had them before? Uh, NO!!! She thinks that Em had probably had a seizure right before I got home, which was why she was shaking, panting, listless, lethargic and uncoordinated. She had a seizure at the office after I left. They gave her anti-seizure medicine and rehydrated her with an IV. The vet said she had Em on her lap – I immediately interrupted her. Em doesn’t do that. She is NOT a lap dog, at all. She wants to be near me, even touching me, but never ON me. If she was allowing that to happen, she was very ill. The vet told me that she wasn’t exactly “letting” her hold her in her lap. She was fighting like mad. Oh, that is GREAT news! She was slowly getting better and getting back to herself.
At 7:30am on Wednesday, Christie called me to let me know that Emma was already so much better and nearly back to her old normal, crack head self. In fact, she had chewed up her collar! They left it on the outside of the crate they had her in, but close enough she could get to it, and she did. It’s in 3 pieces now. LOL They gave me a new collar to replace the one they allowed Em to destroy.
I left work at 2pm yesterday, burned a couple sick time hours, and went to pick her up. They brought her out and she was totally back to normal. Jumping on me, barking, generally being herself. I paid the bill ($300!!!!!!), got the prescriptions (3 of them….ugh) and we boogied on home.
Her and I laid on my couch and watched Buffy the Vampire Slayer all evening. It was great. I was relieved. It may seem silly to some, but since I came to Alabama in December, she has become SO important to me. She is my companion and my company. I would have been so devastated to have lost her.
She nearly died because she dehydrated in a matter of a FEW HOURS, which caused her seizures. If you have pets, please, please, please make sure they have PLENTY of water available and that they are drinking it. It has been so hot here lately, and even though she is an indoor only dog, and was boarded in an indoor kennel at the vet’s office, she still dehydrated. This was a very scary and very expensive lesson for us.
Filled under Emma, Medical troubles. 7 Comments.
Mountains, Mormons, Snow, A Giant Salty Lake, Dooce…..and Me?
Published on June 15th, 2010.
So, things at work have gone from bad to just out and out desperate. Program management will always be upbeat if they think there is ANY chance that things will go forward. However, last week, NASA did a really shitty thing to us. See, NASA cannot legally cancel this program until October 1, 2010. Congress has appropriated funding to NASA for work all the way to the end of this fiscal year (which ends September 30). So, congress told NASA that they can’t terminate or cancel our program right now. Faced with not being able to pick up their toys and leave the sandbox without repercussions, they did the only other logical thing they could think of. Congress said they couldn’t cancel, but congress never said that they have to continue to fund us. So, June 1st, NASA notified us that we were not going to get any additional funding for the remainder of the year.
Fuck.
That meant we had enough money to work until June 15th. By June 3rd, we had stopped everyone of our suppliers. In this case, the suppliers get cut so we don’t have to lay off as many people. That’s the theory. By the next day everyone from the very top of the program down began chanting “get out – get out – get out”. Up to this point they had been trying to keep us all around. Now they are hollering for us to leave.
So, appreciating the heads up from management, I began hunting for jobs. Again. Fortunately, it is a bit easier for me since I work for a very large and diverse corporation. We are everywhere, and we support so many different programs and products that there is always work to be found, if you look for it. So, I dumped my resume into the system looking for anything I was remotely qualified for.
Last week a very sweet woman from an office in Ogden, Utah, left me a voice mail asking me to call her to set up an interview. My heart soared! Then she identified her location and it sunk. I didn’t call her back until this morning. I really had to think about even taking the interview. In the period of just those few days, things got worse at work – again – and I picked the phone up at 8:30am and called her back to schedule the interview. She called me at 9:00 and I interviewed at 11:30.
Wow. {{{{{head spinning}}}}}
It’s not for the exact same thing I am doing now, which is FANTASTIC. Its actually the opposite of what I do, but totally the same. Does that make ANY sense at all??? Okay. I am a buyer. I buy shit with other people’s money. I buy that shit from other large and small (and some foreign) companies. The person I deal with at that company is a contracts person. He/she handles the contract that I give them. Okay? With me? (lol)
This job is for a contracts position. Which means I will not be buying ANYTHING any more. Oh, thank you sweeeeet baby J. I will be on the selling side. Still dealing with contracts/purchase orders (like I am now), handling legal terms issues (like I am now), analyzing cost and schedules (like I am now)….just doing it for the other side.
Most interviews last 30 mins, but mine lasted a little over an hour. It’s a set of 6 or 7 canned questions. They can ask more questions at the end if they would like. I got a few extra questions out of them – always a good sign. But God, I hate the canned questions. It is done that way to ensure equality in the interviewing process so that no one is given preferential treatment so I understand why they do it, but they are the worst questions. “Please describe a time that this-or-that happened and how did you deal with it” kind of questions. Blech. Fortunately for me, the questions, while directed at the potential new position, were enough like my existing position that I was able to answer them all completely and smartly. Plus I made them laugh a time or two, that can’t be bad. And it wasn’t even potty humor or blue humor, obviously since I was on an interview. SO….here’s a short list of what I know about Utah.
- COLD
- SNOW
- Beautiful mountains
- Giant, freak of nature, land locked, but really cool salt lake.
- Lots of Mormons
- Dooce lives there
- COLD
- SNOW
So, now I wait. But, judging by the fact that they interviewed me within 3 hours of me calling to even schedule it, I think they are hurting for some help out there. I may know something one way or the other very soon.
Jesus, I hate this roller coaster. I want off.
Filled under Uncategorized, Work. 4 Comments.