Monday, July 6, 2015

OK - Maybe the time has come to resurrect my blog. Since I finally graduated from college 2 years ago AND my baby has graduated from High School, I no longer have any excuse not to write in my blog from time to time.

I have given you fair warning!

Until next time...

Saturday, May 2, 2009

Well I am officially a senior in college. Never thought it would happen. My parents (read Dad) pushed me so hard to to to college when I was a kid. My goal was to be a Mommy. I never wanted any other career. My Mom had a college education (Phi Beta Kappa @ Duke) but had not been in the workforce since just before I was born. I knew college had enriched her life but I also knew I could read and could learn about whatever interested me without the hassle of passing a class. Dad had to work nights and go to school during the day to get his degree which he finished when I was 3. He was probably trying to help me avoid his mistakes but he never learned one important fact about how I tick. The harder someone pushes me, the harder I push back even if it is not "in my best interest". Now look at me. I just got my grade for my 3rd class and am absolutely thrilled with how things are going so far. The only gray cloud on this horizon is that the school keeps raising tuition but the company reimbursement stays the same.

So why do I have time right now? Baby is at ju-jitsu class doing final preparations for her belt test tomorrow and the Friday-night dojo is near a Staples with free wi-fi. My stated goal is to be working on my educational biography so I can get out of taking a couple of required classes. But since I have wi-fi I thought I'd do this first. Besides the 1 1/2 hours for tonight's class, I will also have 2-3 hours tomorrow during her test to work on my portfolios. I am rewarding myself for my good job in the class I just finished. Some of it was ok and I was somewhat familiar with the material but some of this class was a witch with a capital B. The name of the class was Introduction to Computer and Information Science and it actually filled some theoretical gaps in my OJT education.

So, does anyone here play Wii Animal Crossing? We got Baby a Wii for Christmas but I was playing with it so much that Hubby got me my own Wii for my b-day. I didn't ask for it but Hubby, in his wisdom, foresaw that 2 Wii's would keep the house more peaceful. I like the M&M Racers and Wii Play but I mostly play Animal Crossing:City Folk. Send me a PM if you play and want to us to visit each others towns.

Did I post about going camping a few months ago. It was great. One of my sisters (I have 3) has a pop-up camper that sleeps 6. So all of us (my sisters and I) plus my Mom cleared our schedules and went to Sarasota to camp for a weekend. We had a blast and wondered why it had taken us so long to take a trip like that. We had tent camped as a family when we were kids since it was the only way a family of 8 could afford to go on vacation.
Roasting Weenies Cost: 2 packs of hotdogs w/ buns, condiments and beans.

Toasting Chicks Cost: 6 packs of marshmallow peeps, graham crackers and hershey's chocolate bars

Weekend with the Girls PRICELESS

Thursday, January 8, 2009

For My Baby

May get a chance to go to Sam's Club tomorrow. If I do, I will get the replacement copy of Eclipse that Baby lost so she can return it to the person she borrowed it from. I will also get the mass paperback version of Twilight (the dorky vampire book) because Baby wants me to read it.

Until next time...

Monday, January 5, 2009

Oh No... Beees!

Current Music: Snippets of classical music from Baby's Goodnight CD
The holiday madness is ending - thank goodness... Even though I get very busy and don't get much time to lurk here, etc., I am glad that life will be getting back to normal this week. Christmas and I absolutely have a Love/Hate relationship and I'm glad I have another 350+ days before we meet again. That reminds me - I need to refill my Shuffle with non-Christmas music for this week. (OK - got that started)

When I wasn't hassling Baby to finish her homework ( she has had over 2 weeks), I spent some time reading, some time checking up on friends and family online and playing with the Wii Baby got for Christmas. Based on a recommendation, one of the games we got was Animal Crossing:City Folk. This is a game even I can play. I can't stand violent or shoot-em-up games and can't get into surreal fantasy role-playing games or pro-sport games. I am not coordinated enough to play games that require quick eye-to-hand coordination and I really can't stomach something like a Fashion Barbie game. That makes for pretty slim pickings in the e-game world. Even though AC is pretty much a no-brainer, it is fun and relaxing to play. Once we get our main TV fixed, we will try to set it up online out in the living room and "visit" others we know that also play the game. That should make it a bit more interesting. Hint: Once you have been stung by bees, you cannot be hurt any worse, so shake as many trees as you want. You will always be better by the next day so save your 400 Bells (store was closed today anyway). Sometimes you get "pity presents".

I start my new class tomorrow. This one is a 16-week course rather than the 8-week courses I have taken so far. Since it is the same 3 semester hours, I am thinking the workload will be a little more spread out thought the subject matter is a bit harder this time around. By May I will only have 7 classes left. I am going to try and finish my 2 challenge portfolios before this summer as well.

It is also time to begin new projects at work. This is the year I HAVE to convert the scanning operation over to the company standard software (w/ or w/o the assistance of the company). I also have to begin Tech Refresh since most of the hardware in the field is over 5 years old and no longer covered by any service plan. I am also hoping to take the Advanced course for certification purposes in the software we use. I'd like to wait a few months on that one since it involves travelling to Cleveland. Once again, I am in the position of having to hire a new scan operator. It was too bad the last one I hired couldn't stay. She fit in so well with the people I already had. HR/ Admin stuff is the least favorite part of my work day. Life won't be dull by any means.

Sunday, November 23, 2008

LTNS

Well I caught a couple of breaks in the online class I am taking so I have a chance to make a post. Whoo-Hoo. So far the class is going very well. Of course I am working my back-side off to make sure that's the case. I wouldn't want to embarrass myself by getting a mediocre grade since the company is helping to pay for it. There are only 2 weeks plus the Final left before I am finished. I have another online class lined up for January so I better start looking to get the text for it soon. I also need to put some time into completing my challenge portfolios so I can get credit for them. Once I get the challenge credits plus finish this class I will only need 8 more classes (or 24 semester hours) to finish my degree.

This past week has kind of crazy for me. I was able to implement a few successful changes at work plus submit a fully-revised Installation Report describing all the hardware and software with a complete data dictionary and a complete description of who is served plus how they are served by our document imaging implementation. You could practically reproduce our whole operation, sight unseen, with this report. The first time I did it, it took me months to gather all the required information but the update after our recent hardware and software upgrade took me about 2 weeks (working on it as time allowed). I also found out this week that my carpool ride will be ending. A co-worker who came from further away from the office had been picking me up each day on her way to work and I was paying her to cover the gas expenses. Since the price of gas has come down and the aggravation of the drive on I-95 has gone up, she has asked that we stop car-pooling. The way she had to come to get me added 30 minutes plus extreme stress to her commute each way, so I understand. We will miss the time we had each day so we have decided that we will institute a "Girl's Night Out" for us after the first of the year.

Another event threw me for a loop this past week. I found out that my Aunt (my Dad's brother's wife) passed away last Sunday. Because we live in Florida and they live in Virginia, we didn't see each other very often in my life. As a matter of fact, the last time I saw her was over 11 years ago at Dad's funeral. I do have some pleasant memories of her and she was a pretty amazing woman of her time but she was not really a part of my life. So I was surprised by how much the news of her death effected me. She was 86 when she died and she and my Uncle had been married 63 years. There has been some family tension over the years but none of that matters anymore because she is gone. I hope she can rest in peace.

Until next time...

Saturday, October 25, 2008

Another Week Flies By

Reminder to self - Remember to cross-post this on Blogger so Baby will have something to read...

I just finished me first week of my online class. So far, so good. I aced the quiz, did well on my HTML resume and completed my requisite Discussion Board posts. I have actually also read my next chapter already. One never know when the week will go totally crazy and time will run out on assignments.

Speaking of crazy days, I spent 1 afternoon this past week at a company ER (I work for a hospital company but not in a hospital.) with Sissy. She is only 22 and this her 2nd go-around with a kidney stone. Since this is now officially a recurring problem, the next step is to get her an appointment with a nephrologist. She is too young for this.

Baby has been slacking the last couple of weeks in school and it cost her the opportunity to go to the Icebreaker Dance. We also have her cell phone until she explains what is going on and how she is going to fix it. The timing on this couldn't be worse and her report card is going to suck. The good news is that next week starts a new marking period and she will have a clean slate. She is in this advanced program by choice. She is going to have to get more organized, stop lying and embrace her homework if she wants to do well. We know she CAN do it; the question is whether or not she WILL do it.

Found out that I will be losing my new hire at work (moving out of state due to personal problems) and I will probably not be able to replace her until 1st quarter 2009. Ack!! It is a real shame she has to leave because she is the best fit for the department that I have ever hired. She took to the job like a duck to water and all the others in the department had taken her under their wings.

The boys at corporate have been amusing themselves lately by contacting our tech guys every time one of my servers burps and making a major incident out of it. I'm glad they have that much time and energy - I sure don't. The funny thing is the problems aren't even on my production system but the test system that we just converted off of. I think I will continue to keep giving them more rope. It increases my case for semi-independence and from being under their thumb. I know my boss doesn't need much more convincing. So sorry but we do not fit the cookie-cutter implementation model they want to control. (I guess I should post this Private, just in case.)

Until next time...