Yes We Can

Huge news: the office manager at my medical office was fired since I last posted. Bombshell email from department manager: "After considerable thought I have decided to restructure the front office. The office manager position has been eliminated and NAME (office manager) will not be returning to work." OMG!!! Huge news! Well...if you believe that budgets in publically owned hospital dictate a drastic change like that...you are nuts! I did find out the true nature of her departure. BUT YOU HAVE TO PROMISE NOT TO TELL ANYONE!
Apparently she showed a pornographic email to a co-worker who took offense, reported it, and then when the techs searched her computer, they found other pornographic emails saved on her computer. YIKES!! How stupid. She has had many other "unprofessional" issues and this was last straw. She was canned. Turned out. Dismissed.

I will still be looking for another job. Although 10 years at this place offers some perks (5 weeks of vacation per year now), the management is still completely disfunctional. I am getting out with my brains intact! Too bad I didn't become a travel agent out of high school, and had already traveled the world! Perhaps there is still some job like that for me? Still sounds like my cup of tea. Booking people on vacations always makes people happy. I may revisit that old thought.

As for my last blog: I have started my preparations.

Our son is getting really into senior year of high school. New girlfriend, senior ball, lots of costs...but that's life. I am making sure to budget for all of that.

Christmas was quiet. Mother came from Southern California to visit the good sister (not me!) and came 1 night for dinner. Tolerable at best. But done.

I injured my knee slipping in the great Pacific Northwest winter. We have had one of the worst winters so far in the years I have lived here. At my house we had 26" of snow. I twisted my knee slipping in the terrible-not cleared-car park at the building where I work. Torn MCL, patellar retinaculum, and medial meniscus tear, oh, and traumatic chondromalasia. Probable surgery. It is not covered by Dept of Labor & Industries...since I was just arriving at work, and not conducting one of my regular job duties it is not covered. So I might have to sue the owners of the building where I work. Great. Like I need that.

Oh, and I registered my birthday at Disneyland to get in free on my birthday in the year of getting in free....only to be told by my doctor that Disneyland was out, because of my knee. Oh, and she took me out of work for 6 days. She was gonna take me out of work on 12/23, but I said no need cause I was gonna be on vacation till 1/5. Then that was affected by a co-worker who was hospitalized...and still sick after hospitalization (with a highly infectious virus), so no vacation after all. When she saw me again on 12/31 and commented that my knee was still so inflammed even while being on vacation...I had to fess up: no vacation after all. She was livid, and immediately took me out of work. When I go back to work on 1/12 I can only be on my feet 2 hours max over 8 hour day. YIKES! Virtually impossible. Oh, and she has me in therapy 3 times per week and back to see her 1/22. With all these appointments I will have a tough time being at work for an 8 hour day.

What a dismal post. Ah well, the birthday is just 2 weeks away. I have made some amazing resolutions this year: some of which I can't present here!
1) new car (new to me at least) before my husband gets himself another toy
2) new job (but this one will be better for a while now that office manager got tossed).
3) 20 pounds off - no kidding. I am already 4 on my way!
4) cheer on Jan 20th when Bush no longer has power over anything except his dog.

Poor Laura, what will she do with that idiot bumbling around the house all day - every day? At least for the last 8 years he was out and about, mucking things up that she didn't have to clean up. We know he isn't going to make millions like Clinton on the speaking circuit...and he's no good at business (oil, texas rangers baseball, running the country). That woman has probably already earned her place in heaven...maybe she can be the librarian in heaven.

And what about those poor people on the cul-de-sac in Dallas where they bought a new home...and how did he get a home loan when no one else in this nation can get a home loan?

But I did just hear yesterday that Daddy Bush said that his other son Jeb would make a fine president...I can't imagine how Jeb must feel. "Oh fine Dad. Throw my name out there. Don't you know that W has screwed up any chance I ever had of another public office ever again?" Poor Jeb...

New Year. New President. Resolutions. Change.

Yes We Can.

catch up

I decided to boycott blogging for a while to see if I had anymore interesting things to come up with to put into the cosmos...apparently not.

I did start reading a book. "Julie & Julia - My Year of Cooking Dangerously" by Julie Powell. Julie decided to cook all of Julia Child's recipes from her cookbook "Mastering the Art of French Cooking Vol 1" in one calendar year. She was in a job she didn't like, in a marriage that was a bit ho-hum, and facing that horrid biological ticking with hormonal issues to boot, all at the age of 29. In the book, her husband says she should cook and then blog about it. Turns out, it turned into a book deal and a NY Times Bestseller! How wonderful for her. Now she writes in her flat in Long Island City, NY and can stay in her pajamas all day if desired. I am feeling a bit green with envy just now.

Lots has happened since I last blogged. Let's recap, shall we?
1) the Eagle scout thing for the son...success. Although....all the work on the outside of the house was for not. I mean no one got to see the outside of the house for long...we had some weird weather...it rained, snowed (no kidding...on Sunday morning it snowed 4" and by 6pm for the ceremony it was sunny & clear!), it was cold, it was humid, it was a mess! Oh well, it just meant that all those people were smushed into my little house! Horrid sometimes, ok others.

2) We coached baseball again. Horrid. Just plain awful. Our kid did great, and was selected as an All-Star, but rest of it was absolutely horrific...and we are still paying off the bills from the umpires, uniforms. Many players never paid their fees, and we were stuck paying over $1200 out of pocket ourselves. Never, ever again. Never. Ever. Ever.

3) Kid is now a senior in high school. Costs are going through the roof. Senior pictures turned out great. Now we have to pay for cap/gown, yearbooks, senior night (which is a record price this year: $170.00 for the night per student - to go to the big city and eat and play video games until 6am - woo-hoo), and all the other costs I have yet to encounter....*sigh*.

4) summer was ok....weather was ok this year, but no trip cause all of my money went to pay for baseball crap. Did I mention never again?

There, that's it in a nut shell.

Today I texted with my pilot friend. He was suppossed to fly to Dallas for 2 months of flight school today to learn systems on a new jet that he will begin flying in January. He is not there. His dad is in his final stages of cancer. He and his 2 sisters are at the family home in a vigil as dad is making his way from this world to the next place. I have been through this with my mom's 2nd husband - he got ALS, and died almost 2 years to the day from diagnosis. Pilot's dad, Bob is a great man. He was always so nice to me. A really great dad, and granddad. And he was an engineer - working on the Lunar Rover for NASA! I remember looking at the poster size picture of an astronaut zipping around the lunar surface while working on projects in the garage! He is a good man, and not deserving of this terrible disease, and will be missed terribly. I am putting in this blog how sad I am that my friend & the family has to go through this.

Cancer should stop being a source of unlimited income for the drug companies, and they should really just come up with the cure and stop with the maintenance plans that make them millions and millions of dollars per year. It's disgusting and immoral.

Now - the election is just 2 weeks away. Unlike most Americans I am really interested in the political machine. This year we have stooped to a new low in tolerance of bad behavior by rich white politicians. I am so tired of the promises, although I know that's how it's done. But the mud slinging this year gets to include racial slurs, and religious slurs, and other slurs as well.
A woman, now fairly famous, at a McCain rally said that Obama was an Arab. McCain took the microphone from her, and said, "no, no, he's a decent man." So my question is, why did McCain even say that? Being an Arab isn't a bad thing. But saying that he was a decent man, didn't refute the inference that Obama was an Arab. You can certainly be an Arab and be a decent man (or woman). In his attempt to sound like he was educating the woman as to Mr. Obama's heritage, he did nothing of the sort. There will no doubt be more and more hatred spewed out of the mouths of the undereducated as these 2 weeks trundle along.

One more political observation: when did the Republicans claim God? Jesus, especially, would hate republicans. Jesus hated the rich. And if I remember all those years of CCD, Jesus wanted us to all help each other. Not amass a fortune, and keep it for yourself. You were supposssed to give some to charity, and help your neighbors, and stay away from glutony, excesses of all sorts (even financial) and not once in the bible do I remember Jesus telling us to send our money to men on tv with bad hair and dimples who say they have a hotline to God. When our forefathers thought up this great country they did a good job to remind us over & over to separate our politics from our religion, leaving ample room for you to apply your time to both if you want, but not to mix and serve them on the same platter. So when did the republicans claim God as their champion? And how on earth do they get to keep bringing him up at conventions, rallies, and every single opportunity they speak. Oh, yeah, and the wacko uberchristian running mate...she's a gem...*sarcasm*... if you haven't see it, you tube her having her demons exercised by some other wacko voodoo doctor looking religious man at her little wasilla church...Oh.My.Republican...I mean, God! I honestly think she would poison McCain within 1 year of taking her oath, if he doesn't croak by then, just so she can put her religious seal on anything liberal.

I wonder if she will try to sell Air Force One on ebay?

ergo

The calendar I made to keep track of things to do...well, it's up there, and seems to be mocking me! Many items for this past week did not get done, and ergo are not crossed off the calendar, and ergo not completed in the house.

But on a much happier note: the hospital where I work is trying desperately to save lots of money. So, March 31 starts a week off for the schools for Spring Break. My department manager gave too many people the week off, ergo, not many patient spots are available, ergo not many office and support people are needed. So, the office manager sent out an email to all of the aforementioned office/support staff saying they were taking "volunteers" for people wanting days off that week. If we take the "low census" time off, we can opt to use vacation time to still get paid, or not. Either way, we still accrue vacation and benefits as if we were at work!

Now, there is 1 woman at my work in the office/support category, who has no vacation time available because she takes most Mondays off and oh, has this to do and needs 2 hours (which is always 3) to get it done...or that to do...always something! This means she will not "volunteer" for the days off.
If we don't "volunteer" to take time off, we will be assigned days off. Meaning, they make a list, by seniority, and low man gets 1st day, then 2nd and so on. Now, I have big party to get ready for, and although a day off in the middle of the week sounds great, I really had to think this through. I am the most senior person in office/support staff.

So...to force the slacker to show up for work, I did indeed "volunteer." C is taking Monday off and she doesn't work Fridays ever. L doesn't have any vacation time since she's been out sick alot just 1 day at a time (so she didn't get to use "sick time". You have to use 16 hours of vacation to get into "sick" bank, and she is 1 day here and 1 day there...). CH is the complete slacker! She has nothing! So to make sure she has to come to work, I took the entire week off!

Now, 2 weeks before the big party, I will have 9 consecutive days off!! Ergo carpet cleaning, window washing (inside & out!) and thorough dusting will get done. This is a great deal!
AND...I had already taken off the Th/Fri before and the Mon/Tue around the Big Party weekend! Ergo this next month I will have almost 2 weeks off work!! I will get paid for all of it.

In my last post the napkin bands were "ordered"....well, not exactly. I would have to buy 10,000 for $13.00, and no matter how I think that is a deal, I can't imagine what I would do with the other 9,875 bands! Might have to rethink it. I did find a website where I can buy 2500 for $25, and I can justify that...kinda. Still not sure how I might tackle this...ergo, more thought required!

managing costs

I am planning a huge party...and it's consuming me. A huge party for 120 people is a large endeavour. Besides cooking for all of those people, there are the little items that make it a special occasion. This can be a serious drain on an already tight budget.

Luckily we have a theme, and although "Americana" isn't my forte, I am able to plan for anything. Our son has earned the rank of Eagle Scout! Only 1 in 100 boys who enter scouting make the rank of Eagle, so this is a huge deal! We told spouse's mother that the more the merrier for this party and so she called family and invited them - told them it would mean the world to her son (spouse) if they came to celebrate the Eagle Scout. They all listen to Mom. And apparently they all need a spring time trip!

Family that we haven't seen in almost 20 years are coming, and friends who we see regularly are coming too. We have people coming from Florida, North Carolina, Virginia, New York, Idaho, Illinois, California and Washington. It's gonna be a great weekend, for as well as the Eagle Scout Court of Honor with dinner, it's also our son's birthday the day before the ceremony! So this is one really lucky kid to get to have all this family here for his birthday party too!

Back to the details. Flowers: I have a hook up at one of the flower fields locally, who will get the white tulips I need, so I can check that off the list. Centerpieces: dollar store clear vases with previously mentioned tulips...check. (And in them, a thin wooded dowel with an emblem attached). Cake: ordered, check. Napkins/forks/knives/spoons: these are from Costco cause the cost is so low. But to find those little paper bands that go around the assembly of napkin/fork/knife/spoon has proven to be much more challenging. But a good tip from the very pregnant woman at Michael's was the restaurant supply store in town! They are now on order - check! Table cloths: red plastic runner from Party City with 1/2 width strip of blue running down center...then blue placemats (that my sister bought so I have to use them) and we are good for tables. The runner is $20 for 33 tables...not too bad! Sis also sent plates for cake and napkins with the emblem and a paper table cover so we will use that for the cake & table...check!

The food is challenging too. I am making lasagna...starting today. So there will be much cooking over the next month. Once I assemble a pan, they are going straight into the freezer in the garage. On the day of the party, they will go into the ovens at 1pm, so dinner will be ready at 6pm. Lasasgna on 200 degrees F will thaw and melt it all together after 5 hours, and they don't need to be babysat. Salad and dressings and bread will be bought the day before, so I am set.
BUT, I need to make at least 1 pan of lassagna vegetarian for my friends that don't consume meat. No problem, except finding a colored aluminum pan to make sure there isn't any confusion when serving...perhaps Target...

With just 5 weekends until people arrive, I have made a huge calendar on newsprint and hung it in the kitchen. All the cleaning details, the cooking, shopping items and arrivals and departures that I need to coordinate are marked on the calendar. The newspaper came in a shipped box - as filler paper. There were 8 sheets in the box, not crumpled, or even smooshed around the mailed item...just laid atop the item. What a stupid attempt to protect the item. But...it worked out for me since I love to recycle. I used all 8 sheets (four for March and four for April) so the backer sheets will protect the kitchen wall from bleed throught when we use a Sharpie marker to line through a completed item, or enter a new item!

So after lunch, and Costco, and many stops, I am beat. I think it's nap time, then off to grocery store to get 2 lassagna pans. Spouse & I are going to make 2 pans tonight together, since child is gone for weekend. Right now, spouse is enthralled in a 12 hour car race...sebring, florida. He is in heaven. After running errands with me, and keeping me grounded on costs, he is blissful listening to the hum and whine of the porsche, audi and ford gt. Everyone's heaven is vastly different!

trying out

my girlfriend's daughter is terribly shy. but yesterday, she mustered her courage and decided to try out for the children's theater. each year this particular troop goes to local elementary schools, has a plan, and lets kids try out for the play, then they put the play on for the whole school.
my friend's daughter wasn't chosen. she was heartbroken, to say the least. and no matter how you frost it, rejection sucks. you can say how proud you are that they tried out, and that you are sure they did their best, but not being chosen is tough.

when i was a girl, rejection was common place. it was long before the days of everyone making the team because "we don't want to scar anyone's self esteem." you tried out, and if you made the team, you celebrated. if you didn't, you went home, cried for a bit, or took it out on your little sister calling her a brat or something! but you still had to go to school the next day. you did not get " a day to recover."

trying out and not making it is all a part of life. we try out for everything. my son is preparing to apply to colleges. spouse is thinking about trying to find a new job. actually he's been thinking about it for the past 19 years...the same number of years he's worked at the hell hole (his words, not mine). i am trying out as well. today i decided to really try to find another job. i read the want ads in the online newspaper (online because i don't believe in newspapers for obvious environmental reasons). it is my hope to leave my own version of unhappiness.

today i finally realized that things will never change at my clinic. the office manager will be there forever, no matter how unskilled and unprofessional she is. the previously mentioned pink elephant (aka director) will continue to drink to excess, and her much older "sugar daddy" (also an alcoholic) will be returning from the southwest this week. he winters in the warmth because he can't take the rainy winters here. but the pink elephant cannot change because she doesn't think she has a problem. as far as managing a staff of 20, she is one of the least effective managers i have every worked for. office person number 1 is a drunk (and best friend of the pink elephant), #2 pretends to be an ultra-christian, yet still holds onto her previous life as a resident of either soddom or gomorrah. she spends the days when she actually shows up, on the internet or eating. two people i work with are capable and great employees, but we 3 are constantly having to cover or fix or troubleshoot. the clinical staff is understaffed, grumpy and under appreciated. they have sent a letter of no confidence to the ceo - their form of mutiny. but they are collectively arrogant, spoiled and much to full of themselves.

so without talking to spouse (he is still sick) i came to the decision to put myself out there once more. looking for a new job is tough. i have been at the company now for 9 years. i find myself almost grieving about the loss of this relationship...wondering if this is how i will feel if spouse ever leaves me or divorces me or dies. there is sadness. there is relief. there is fear. i plan to stay put until i am completely sure i have made the new team. but quite soon i will try out again. ugh.

1 hour and 10 minutes lost

What a Monday. Yes, a statement, not a question. Although, as I digest the day's events, perhaps I should question Monday!

Remember this past weekend turned the clocks ahead 1 hour...so time lost. Gone. Poof! My day today started 10 minutes later than it should have. Apparently 10 minutes shouldn't be a big deal, but since I missed them this morning, I think the cosmic ribbon of energy was upset...read on...

Snorin, the spouse, didn't go to work today. The headache he was complaining about yesterday was still lurking this morning at 0445, so he just turned off his alarm and rolled over back into the folds of warmth and security under the down comforter. Now, I set my alarm for 0555. Usually, Snorin gets up, does his back stretching program, showers, dresses and complains about having to go to work at that "Hell Hole" and off he goes at 0540. I actually get out of bed at 0520, grab his clothes for work and lay them on the bed. Then I make his lunch, and put it in the lunch box. Now, if it's really cold or frosted outside, I bundle up and go outside and start his truck to ease the transition from warm house to cold truck. It also saves him a couple of minutes scraping the windows. (Here is the part of the blog when I accept the award Outstanding Performance by a Wife In A Drama or Comedy and thank the academy!) Once Snorin is out the door, I lock the door and dash back to the lingering warmth under the comforter...only to have my radio/alarm click into action. The DJs banter nudges me out of bed at 0600, sometimes 0605 or 0606...

Today, I woke up to the sound of Cool and the Gang shrieking "Celebrate." Now, this song is not a favorite, but it cannot be confused with DJ banter. And the music on this station starts after the news is complete at 0610...uh oh!

I am amazingly well tuned to shower, shampoo & shine, and left just 5 minutes after the usual schedule. Now, the son used my car and the gas light was on when I fired up the car...hmmm (note to self: charge kid double what I put in tank!). I put a mere $10 into the tank (not even 3 gallons, but enough to get to work!) and off I went. I made it to work ontime (no thanks to the idiot driver in front of me) and clocked in ontime! There was a message on machine at work...1 of 2 front office gals sounds as if she is underwater with head cold...she won't be in. I reset the message machine, and the phone rings. The 2nd of the 2 front office gals...who is out 3 of 4 Mondays every month..."has caught a virus" and won't be in. Miraculously she has survived these mysterious plagues every Monday and returned to work the next day every time. She has had "pink eye" 8 times in less than 1 year. The last time she had it, she came in the next day with new hair color, and full makeup...including mascara. Now, the office manager doesn't wear makeup, so doesn't know that you aren't to wear mascara less than 24 hours after being diagnoses with congunctivitus. Oh well.

So, all of the office people are out. And we are just to 0703! The Office Manager never stays late to cover any shifts, never comes in early and never, ever offers to work on her day off, even if we are down to 1 person out of 6 person office. And today was no different. Immediately upon learning about the missing employees, she asked the other staff who would be staying to cover and how their schedule needed to be adjusted to cover the closing. I usually get off work at 1445, but she thought that I should stay until after I check in the last new patient at 1715-ish. (that's 5:15pm), Now, the OM's regular leaving time is 1630, so her staying would mean maybe 45 minutes later, not the 2 1/2 hours for me. When I mentioned that since her child wasn't in school today (yep, the 4th grader was suspended from school again for fighting, but that is a complete blog in itself!) and she didn't need to rush home, she replied, "Well, I never know what could be going on, so I can't commit to staying late!" Her husband (5 time drunk driver, coke head, unemployed all around bum) was watching the little "angel" (her words, not mine) while he was on school suspension...which means the dad stayed in bed, and the kid played video games (my words). He's learning a good lesson there, huh? The lady who wound up covering, wound up going home for 2 hours in middle of the day, so stay 2 hours after her shift and close the clinic.

Coupled with unbearable phones, busy office and the fact that my own job tasks still need to be completed every day, the fact that I don't work in the front office very often, and on & on & on...this was a horrible day. I left 1 hour late anyway. The office manager went to some obscure meeting on another campus of the hospital for 2 hours, for something that could have been handeled over the phone, then came back and immediately went to 1 hour lunch. That left 2 employees to run the entire medical clinic - with one (me) who has not worked up front in years! I know what to do, but since I don't do it often enough, it's a bit rusty! No mistakes though...I am proud!

Oh, yeah! The one who always calls in sick on Mondays...we found patient paperwork not completed and no patient charts made up for patients coming in for appointments today, tomorrow and next week. The OM said, "I will go over this with her tomorrow."as she perused the chunk of paperwork. The Director was less than pleased. Since this worker has a history of "hoarding" and incomplete work, the Director was pretty upset that it was still an issue. There were many accounts not set up and a big clump of paperwork all mixed up with other documents and other patient documents...rats nest! So when she recovers and returns by tomorrow, I hope to see serious sparks!

So tonight I bid a hasty farewell to Monday. But don't get me wrong...I blame those lost 10 minutes for messing up my karma today. I want my 1 hour and 10 minutes back please.

designed by the devil?

I had a completely different topic picked out to blog about tonight, but this issue is currently more urgent...my thong is being completely inappropriate!

Why is it that I have purchased 12 pair of exactly the same thong. I started with one and it fit great, it looked great, and was an extrordinary amazing low price that I thought, "Oh, what the heck!"

When a woman finds something that fits, looks great and is affordable, you can bet she will buy at least one of every color available! I know I do! And in this case, I know I did!

So, 12 thongs later, I have to complain about this one pair. Now, every pair I bought was exactly the same size, same exact style, cut, fabric, and although different colors, they are identical. They are all made by the same very reputable retailer, and believe it or not, they are made in the USA. This one, thought, seems to have another agenda!

I could say it rubs me the wrong way, but that isn't the half of it! This one, and it has so little material that "pair" doesn't warrant use, as when speaking of traditional underwear, this one offends. For some inexplicable reason, this pair searches my body for crevices and chasms that are never approached by the others of its ilk. What is it about the melon colored one?

I have thought about this long and hard. I love the color. Melon goes well with my coloring. The cut is exactly the same as every other of the clan of thongs. Believe me when I say that I have matched them up to each other and they are all exactly the same. Secretly I keep hoping that more fabric softener will beat it into submission, so this next wash 5 dryer sheets!

Here's the worst part. Every time I put them on, I know I am going to be accosted by this particular undergarment, and yet I still put it on. Now, I am sure Freud would have some amazing thoughts on this having to do with my lack of nurturing or issues with my grade 6 teacher. I would have to interrupt the good doctor and assure him it had nothing to do with any of those reasons.

Here's why I do not turn it into a cleaning rag: 1) there isn't enough material to actually do any real cleaning; and 2) I feel that if I stop using them for their intended purpose, they will have won! (Again Freud is shaking his head!).

How can one inanimate object have such power? Perhaps the saleslady put the sales tag though just the right part of the elastic to alter the physics that make this item work it's magic. Perhaps it was vexed by a Voodoo priestess.

Perhaps the devil designed this particular one. That's it. That's got to be the reason.