Creepy Crawlies

I found THESE on my roses and flowering tree.... and my head was waaay too close to the leaves when I discovered them crawling all over! (I have a phobia about bugs being in my hair.)

Meet the Japanese Beetle.... very destructive and very hard to kill or control. The devour the leaves on many different plants. And to make matters worse, their larve grow under your lawn and kill it.

I want them DEAD.

Hmm, unless we can round them all up and send them back to Japan...

When it rains it pours...

Happy Monday everyone. (she says sarcastically...) It's anything but happy for me.

First thing this morning, I find out my company is being investigated by the FCC... this time focused on my area. So I have a heavy subpoena to comply with that will basically make me kill several trees just to prove my team did nothing wrong, and complied with every rule. What a hassle and waste of time...

Then, the company announced there will be job cuts in my business unit... to the tune of 10-20%. But the good news is that those that will lose their jobs, will lose them quickly... by early August. (That's next week people.) Yippee. I'll either lose my job, have to fire some folks, or both. Yuck Yuck YUCK

There are many great things about working for a large company... decent benefits, lots of opportunity for transfers, job security (usually). But when it comes to "force reduction", or job cuts, you become a number to someone at corporate headquarters. They merely see the financial impact of how many employees "should" be cut to save enough expenses to meet Wall Street's expectations by year-end. (But on the bright side, maybe my stock will go up in price.. :)

I've survived a few downsizings in the past, but this time I'm VERY much at risk. Small declining customer base, stagnant sales results, declining number of employees, and a new boss that doesn't really know me or my capabilities yet. Cross your fingers for me!!

BTW, did I say I'm having a bad day?? Cuz I am. And I'm whining about it. I'd say I'm sorry for wasting your time, but no one is forcing you to read this... and I needed to get this off my chest.

I'm Terrific!!!

Someone sent me a card that told me so! :) I'm doing my Happy Happy Joy Joy dance. (And if you don't know what that is, you obviously didn't watch Ren and Stimpy.)

I'm just darn glad I didn't receive a fuzzy baby animal card... those suckers convey bad news.

Surprise from my I-Phone

I work for AT&T. I see the marketing ads that we publish to make folks want the I-phone. It's corporate advertising-- I understand why we need to please Wall Street.

Well, today my car was in the shop for a brake job, wheel alignment, rebalancing of the tires, and an oil change.

When I got to the shop, they were not quite finished and I had to wait another 10 minutes for the car to be done. As I waited, I checked my personal email on my I-phone. While in the waiting room, I received an email from Zimbrick (my car repair shop) reminding me that my vehicle was due for maintenance... and it had several coupons attached.

I chuckled.... And went to the service manager, whose name was on the email.
Did he know the company was sending these emails? (No...)
Did he honor all of the coupons I received that afternoon while in the waiting room? (Yes!!!)

Boo Yah!
I saved over $60 bucks because I was able to check my email while killing time at the car repair shop!!!