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!!!

Fighting in my sleep

I'm so glad my husband was traveling and I slept alone last night. I dreamt about being chased and attacked. At one point, my "attacker" was holding my head with his arm outstretched. I flailed my arms trying to hit him, but couldn't reach him. (You know - kinda like a big kid taunting a little one. :) I ended up kicking him HARD. And woke up kicking and hitting the air. Twice last night, I woke up punching or kicking as hard as I can. I can't tell you why I had these dreams. Weird stuff.... I'm just glad my husband wasn't here to accidently become my punching bag!

Big Sister

I’m very impressed with Natalie’s attentiveness to her siblings. She is a WONDERFUL sister. I probably don’t tell her this enough. Last week, I was listening to stories of things that Natalie has done recently for her siblings. It made me think. She is always there for any of her younger sisters or brother when they need her, or when she thinks they will appreciate her involvement in their lives. (Natalie – You are amazing.) It made me think about my life and realize that MY big sister always played a similar role in my family. Although, I’m sure my big Sis, Sue, never got the appreciation she deserved.

So here’s to MY "Big Sis", Sue:

You were a pain to live with at times, but so was I. That's because we were so different as teenagers, but we’re really not that different at the core of who we are now.

I watched you lead the way in family matters and gaining independence. I learned from your mistakes and thank you for the path you paved for us younger sibs when we still lived with our parents. (Heck, you even helped me when I got my first period because we were visiting our father!!)

I looked up to you as you left the house, got married, and started your family. You taught me a lot – from cooking, coping with life issues, the joys of simple things, and how to fix a good Bloody Mary. You even taught me that toddlers can “gum their chicken to death” before they have grown teeth!

When I decided to quit college and get married, you were the ONE person in the family to support me. You agreed to be in the wedding and let me stay with you before the big day. (BTW, I’m SO SORRY that you weren’t the Matron of Honor. I was stupid.)

You were also the one that kept the family connected. You called everyone weekly. You organized cookouts and family get togethers. You were always interested in your siblings’ lives and took an interest in your nieces and nephews. There were times when you just “kidnapped” my kids for a couple of days to play and bake cookies. Ash and Adam still talk about these trips.

You were our dad’s caretaker. No question about it. When the inevitable occurred and our dad entered long-term care, you picked the best facility and checked on him DAILY. Because my kids were very young at the time, your caretaking was SUCH A HUGE help and brought me and our brother peace of mind.

Then you went away to CA, and I miss you. I’ve done a poor job of maintaining regular conversations with you, and I’m just realizing how much I’ve lost. You are always kind, giving, caring and selfless. Additionally, you have a great sense of humor, cooking skills, intelligence, and optimism. I’m sorry I missed out on enjoying more of your life in the past few years, but I want to change all of that.

My Big Sis is coming to WI this week. I can’t wait to see you! I realize that you want to see many family members and old friends, but I hope to make it a “vacation” for you, Dre and Christina. I miss you Sis!!! Can’t wait to see ya!

Boredom...

I have SO MUCH to do at work, and I am SO FAR behind!

To get access to some of the tools that I need to do my job, I need to take "mandatory training" that should last a mere 30 minutes.

Ok... I can multi-task and half-listen while I do REAL work.

But this training has droned on and on and on and ON for 75 minutes! And it's still going strong!!!

YIKES!!!

Will I ever just get my user ID and password to use the darn web conferencing / collaberation toolset??????????