Morning Salute

While driving to work this morning, and dealing with all the absolutely crazy traffic and kids going back for their first day of school, I saw something amazing.

Sitting on a hill beside a house, on one of the busiest corners in this development, where kids cross the main drag to go to one of two elementary schools (one schooling K-3, and the other 4-6) was a red fox. Parked close to a small tree, sitting just like a dog, watching moms and dads walk their children to the street crossing and on to their school. And I had plenty of time to observe him, as this crossing is manned by a policewoman, and traffic was moving slowly through her intersection.

And, rather than be disturbed by the fact that he was out, among all the humans, possibly rabid, I'm going to think that he was just being social, and giving those who observed him, a little special morning salute on the first day of school.

That's my story, and I'm sticking to it!

Yo-Yo Momma

My boss is out of the office all this week (see previous post), so I'll be the first person to arrive in the office every morning. What is it with senior citizens and being early birds? He gets to work most days by 7:30 or so - one day last week he woke up extra early and decided to drive on in to work. He lives 25 miles away, and he was at work by 6 am! Yes, you read that right.

At 6 am, I'm still in my pjs and robe, doing the morning routine in my kitchen, packing lunch for the Mister and filling a go cup and travel thermos so he can stay caffeinated all day. He wants to get up at 5 and be gone by 6, but that would be in a perfect world, and I've yet to meet someone who lives there. (Especially when he chugs Cokes late at night, boredeom eats whatever he can find that's quick and easy (and probably fat-filled and high-calorie, too) and doesn't come to bed until close to midnight.)

So, back to this week. The Boy is starting middle school after Labor Day, and this week is a "summer academy" where the kids can go in and walk around the school, meet teachers, counselors and advisors and become more comfortable with the whole middle school environment. Starts at 8:30 and goes til 12 every day this week. (I have NO idea what they'll specifically be doing every day - it was very organized when I left him there this morning.) My days will consist of dropping him off, driving to work, keeping busy til I leave at 11:30 to go get him and drop him at his next location for the rest of the day, and rushing back to the office, so I can eat lunch at my desk, work some more, and leave to go pick him up. Fortunate for me the boss is gone this week, wouldn't you say? I wouldn't know how to explain all this yo-yoing otherwise. Once home, it's prepare dinner, clean up, run some laundry through the machine, take the dog out 2-3 times, possibly go to the store, possibly get online and noodle around, or maybe read some on my KindleDX. I need to check into the TV schedule to see when my few favorite shows are starting back up, so I can work them into my evening schedule, such as it is.

And if you're asking where the Mister is during all this household mayhem? He's been downstairs playing Skylanders with The Boy, or watching TV, or over at his parents' house studying for a certification test he's due to take (they're gone, so their house is quiet). Help me out? Nope, that's what The Girl is for! Females unite, or maybe go on strike.

Hooky

Today, my boss is traveling - headed out west - and I decided to play hooky for the day and stay home and do some things I haven't gotten to in a looong time.

I have a clothes tree in my room (a tension rod that goes between the floor and ceiling, with 3 bars off of it and one smaller hook), and a 6-hook over-the-door rack on my closet that have been groaning and occasionally throwing my clothes off due to the heavy load I have asked them to bear. After fortifying myself with several cups of coffee (go, caffeine!!) and a half a bagel (just to keep the acid from totally wrecking my stomach), I started in on my clothes.

I found:

5 pajamas / nightgowns
4 pair shorts
2 pair dress pants
1 pair palazzo pants (used for church choir and handbell performances)
1 pair embroidered capris
4 skirts
11 dresses
1 corduroy jumper
2 blue jean shirts
9 dressy tops
15 casual tops / turtlenecks
11 sweaters / cardigans
6 tank tops
2 exercise tanks
8 "slimmer" camisoles (I think some of these need to go - pilled and torn)

My bed currently looks like my closet was unloaded on it (nope, haven't touched the closet yet!), or I'm packing for a long extended trip. But the physical and visual clutter that had taken over one end of my bedroom is well on its way to being put in its proper home, and hopefully this will mean that I can be a better organized person in the morning, who can actually find what she's looking for in her wardrobe and have more wardrobe options to boot!

Next step: working on the shoe heap.

Update

Well, apparently my CPU was so old that it couldn't be saved. So I'm functioning with a 3-year old CPU that the IT guy found in our computer graveyard. He managed to import "almost" everything that I need to function at the office from the old CPU to the new one, but I've lost my barn owl tile that I had on my desktop. Funny how it's the little things you miss more than the truly functional ones.

I had to send an email to him earlier today to ask about two situations that still needed to be resolved. He "phoned it in" and asked me to provide him remote access to my desktop computer so that he could fix them. (I tell you, he's a real piece of work!) And watching my screen go black as he worked his alleged magic from wherever he was was a bit creepy - I felt like my desktop was possessed - it was doing stuff, and I wasn't the one doing it!

After he fixed (yes, he did - he's good, even if I don't personally like the guy) the two situations, I made sure to take off the remote access permission, and changed passwords on the packages he'd been helping me with. I feel like that was the smart thing to do. Especially since one of them was my personal email, that I'm having to use as both my boss's and my business email, since our email server has died, never to come back again.

Work Issues

There's one gentleman in my office who is currently driving me to distraction. Every time he comes into the office, it's like we're only here to serve him. He sits at his desk and calls out, telling us what we need to do for him. I've got news for you, Buster, you're a consultant, just like the other lady and myself. We work at the discretion of the Board of Directors of the company that we're trying to wind down and close.

My most recent, and biggest, complaint about him is that the last time he came to work (he only works ONE day a week), he couldn't access his Verizon email account. So he came out to my desk to use my computer. And proceeded to complain about how slow my computer was. So when our IT guy came in (and he's another piece of work, himself), he asked him to do "something" to my computer to clean it up or speed it up. Since there's no space around my desk for people to hover, I walked away and didn't see what he did - not like I'd understand it anyway! But, and here's why I'm still blowing steam from my ears, the next time I got on my computer, something popped up on my screen about running a security scan. Not having seen what was done, I clicked on it. Yes, you read that right. (I'm bowing my head in shame here, people.)

I should've realized it was a security SCAM. My computer is now frozen in a state of WAIT, because when I clicked on the "Scan now" button, I apparently got some kind of Trojan virus. I called our IT guy and told him what had happened, did the few things he could tell me to do that "might" fix the situation, and am STILL WAITING for him to get in to the office and look at my desk computer and bring it back to a functional life. This happened on Friday, I might add.

Do you see my frustration here? Today is Wednesday! I've left the mess up on the monitor of my computer, waiting for him to come riding in and save my day, but he's absent. He said he'd try to get by before the end of the day Friday, but he might have to take my computer and work on it over the weekend to restore it. I WISH!

Thank goodness I, for some unknown reason, thought to bring my laptop from home into the office on Friday. I was able to connect to the internet via a cable, and am still trucking my laptop back and forth all this week. I'm placing a call to our IT guy, yet again, reminding him of the situation with my computer, and telling him to get in here and fix it. I'm having to go through so many mental and computer-jumping contortions just to function semi-normally here in the office that it's ridiculous.

Anybody want to place bets on how long it takes me to get my desktop computer back?

Working

My "get-up-and-go" has apparently "got-up-and-went". I've been having difficulty recently caring about doing much of anything. Even the very basic things. I still get up and go to work, although I'm working for a company that's not in business any longer, and is in the winding-down process, which has seemingly been going on for the last two years. And I seriously don't know when it will all actually end. I just know that there are days when I can't stand to come to work - because there's literally NO work to do.

And I know, I KNOW, some of you are thinking "Holy Cow! That's an ideal situation! Getting paid for doing nothing!" I'm here to tell you - it stinks. Sure, it's nice sometimes. But day after day? In reality, not so much. I think of how my skills are diminishing. How I don't have anything to look forward to to make me want to come to work. How I have to pay sooo much in taxes, since I don't have anything taken out of my paycheck any longer. (When you're working and have those taxes taken out of your paycheck that you complain about - just stop it now. When you just get a straight check paid to you with nothing taken out - it means YOU are solely responsible for paying ALL the taxes. And any company you work for pays a portion of those taxes - be grateful for that fact!) And even how I feel guilty for wanting to leave before it's all over because of my personal feelings of stagnating.

It's that old rock and a hard place situation. You're durned if you do and danged if you don't. All I know is that something has got to give, before I decide to take myself to the doctor, and politely demand to be put back on antidepressants again. At least then I might be able to drop some of the poundage I've put on over the last several years. I do remember that the Wellbutrin I took helped me drop 35 pounds - that's one side effect I can go for!

And here I thought I'd be doing better due to the longer days and more sunshine out there!

Ch-ch-ch-changes

Changes are in the air, along with Spring - FINALLY! We're seeing warmer weather, so I can pull out my cute, summery shoes for work. Which reminds me, I need to schedule my first-ever pedicure. Gotta get some smoother feets and painted tootsies.

Anyway, changes.... We're looking at lots of things being different in the future at the Snark household. SB is leaving elementary school and going on to middle school. Concerns have been expressed about his ability to cope there and lots of meetings have ensued with psychologists, counselors, teachers, principals and parents. We're trying to come up with a game plan to get him started on the right foot, and we'll adjust it as needs be after that. I'm just hoping that the staff at the middle school is as wonderful as the elementary school staff we're working with now, because, just.... WOW. These are some caring individuals, who want the best for SB, and are working with us to see that that happens for him.

SG is finishing up her first year at a local community college. She had a wake-up call with her first semester, and thankfully learned and turned it around for the better with her second semester. She's taken a staff position with a church-based summer project and will be leaving us for two months this summer. It will be strange in our household, especially for me, as she's often my cohort in running around accomplishing my varied and sundry trips, shopping and such. Before she leaves, however, she's going to be watching my oldest's two children as she starts a new job herself! Of course, there'll be lots of shopping to gather the things she'll need for her summer job. And maybe she can get her fall semester of college planned and scheduled before she leaves. It'll be here before we all know it!

I mentioned my oldest above. She's amazing, as are all my kids (yes, I'm kinda prejudiced that way - aren't all moms??). She went straight from high school to motherhood and marriage, with 2 children almost back to back. And her husband has been deployed twice, already. So she's done a LOT of it on her own, too. Now, she's looking forward to doing something for her - getting out into the big, bad world of working - and trying it in a field that not a lot of women get into - the automotive world. It's a toe-hold, but it's a start, and I'm excited for her.

And me, I'm looking at the end of my career at my current job (after close to 25 years!), and trying to find something similar, possibly closer to home. I don't think I handle interviews well, unfortunately, which will make the searching for a new job even more troublesome for me. Even though I believe know I have skills, I have a hard time being a braggart about them, which is what interviewing and creating your resume feels like to me. That's an attitude I have to get over, though, as I need to "sell" myself in order to get hired! I've submitted my resume for a slot close to home, and now I'm playing the waiting game.

And the mister? He's been really busy taking lots of courses for certification, and tending to his parents as they deal with their own set of changes - which I may talk about later, or I may not.

Suffice it to say - there's a lot going on around here!