Friday, July 14, 2006

Curious-er and Curious-er

Below is what I was going to post yesterday evening...interesting that I didn't. ************************************* Do you ever have one of those days? You know…those…days? Today is one of those days. I think I woke up on the wrong side of the bed today and have been, as I would say to Kiddo, a "Grumpy Puss". I went to bed around 8:30 last night and slept until 6:00 this morning, but it wasn't restful sleep. Kiddo got up twice, which in itself is unusual, and I just couldn't get comfortable. First I was freezing then I was roasting. Then I needed to pee…twice. I'm exhausted today, and have been for the last couple of weeks. What's up with me? I'm lethargic at work, my allergy medicine seems to have quit working completely even though I'm taking it the same way I always do, and I have no interest in anything except sleep. And yes, I'm already on medication to assist me with depression. What do you think, should I sit down with a big jug of cheap wine, a pack of cigarettes, and a trashy novel and spend a couple of days doing absolutely nothing but getting drunk and smoking cigarettes? Actually – I don't think that would help. Isn't that a shame? Ugh. ************************************* Yeah. So. Anyway...Kiddo's going to be a big brother sometime early next year! How's that for news! TTFN JMS

Monday, July 10, 2006

Ponderings

I work for a company that is actively hiring new personnel. Something I've noticed that rubs me the wrong way every time I see it: people showing up for interviews (you know, those scary things that help employers determine if they want to hire you?) wearing jeans, t-shirts, and flip flops. Or, tight, belly-baring (popularly called "crop top") shirts, spandex-like pants and stilettos. (Can you say "Street Walker"?) Or, wrinkled khakis, sneakers, and wrinkled, sloppy shirts (Ahem…guys have you ever heard of something called an iron? It's not a new invention, you know…) (I watched a guy get out of his car today looking all spiffy and proceed to shut the door to his car, bend down, and check his pearly-whites in his car's side-view mirror – right in front of the Director's office. At least he was dressed appropriately.) Greasy, unwashed hair – ick. Baseball caps & sunglasses (inside). One guy even showed up with a black t-shirt that had a white logo of a hand "flipping the bird" to the world at large. Does it have anything to do with where I live or is this a general trend through the U.S.? TTFN JMS P.S.: You all (those to whom I send my e-mail notifications) should have gotten an e-mail from Kodak Gallery inviting you to view my recently posted pictures. I just want to make sure you know it really is from me, not some automatically generated thing trying to get you to sign up for something. I've done all that work for you; all you have to do is log-in!

Saturday, July 08, 2006

The Big Screen

We took Kiddo to see his first in-theater movie today! I think it was fun and entertaining for him, but Hubby and I were the ones that came away with a new favorite movie. It's a definite "must-see-in-theater-then-run-right-out-and-purchase-as-soon-as-it-comes-out-on-DVD" kinda movie. They're not just for kids anymore! (I'm not really sure what that means, exactly, but I thought it sounded good!) TTFN JMS

Friday, July 07, 2006

Family Photos etc...

I've had a couple people e-mail me recently wondering why I haven't posted any pictures of myself or my family on my blog. The reason for this is because I do not want anything that personal plastered up all over the web where anyone (including random, though decidedly friendly New Zealanders) can see who and where we are. It bothers me. Yes, I realize I've put up personal information, but it's all in written, "story-ish" form and has been slightly augmented - meaning, as I'm sure you know by now - that all names have been changed to protect the innocent (and even the not-so-innocent). I'm considering a small web site to accommodate those types of pictures and personal info. Or, maybe I'll just get you all hooked up to Snapfish or Kodak Gallery or some-such system so I can start sharing password-protected pictures like mad. Either way - that's something that I am working on. If you'd like to receive notifications of recently posted pictures, please e-mail me or leave a comment, so I can make sure you're on my "interested" list when I get something figured out. TTFN JMS

Birthday Blessings

Please join me in wishing my wonderful friend whom I love very much a happy, happy birthday!
TTFN
JMS

Thursday, July 06, 2006

Feelings...

Feel like crap, look like crap...don't care. Realized I wore a nice white (work-appropriate) t-shirt to the office today that had some big stain on it from who knows when or where that I didn't notice until supper-time tonight. Hubby & I went to meet our lawyer to take pictures of the intersection where Hubby and our friend, the matriarch of the Clinton Clan, were rear-ended back in 2002. Irritated me. Went through a 3 day trial back in February that was declared a mistrial; wouldn't you think he'd have done that already? He'd never seen the intersection before today. Yeah - gives me lots of confidence going forward. Went to Fazoli's for supper and managed to get two more red spots on my white t-shirt. All-in-all, not a great day. Still living, though, so I guess that's a good thing, huh? TTFN JMS

Wednesday, July 05, 2006

Forgiveness & Explanation

I am writing today to ask your forgiveness for the lack of content posted here over the last week. May I just say that I’ve been exhausted, mentally and physically, and couldn’t bear the thought of attempting to write anything except one very short grocery list. To begin with – and as you’ll probably remember – I’ve been planning two very large events at my office; and, as I haven’t been very forthcoming with details on these events, I’ll give them to you now. The company I work for, Brink’s Home Security, has grown to over 1,000,000 customers! That being said, the main call center that handles all incoming and outgoing Customer Care calls as well as the Monitoring of home alarms and dispatch of emergency services just plain got too small to handle the volume of calls and alarms. Enter Knoxville, TN and the new National Customer Contact Center that works seamlessly with the original National Service Center in Irving, TX. The NCCC is a brand new building whose construction was completed in late March/ early April of this year. I’ve been planning the Grand Opening/Ribbon Cutting event for all the local big-wigs, including the Knox County Mayor, some local officials, the Knoxville Area Chamber Partnership, local business owners and members of the Knoxville Chamber, AND the Chairman and CEO of The Brink’s Company, Michael T. Dan and the President of Brink’s Home Security, Bob Allen. There were also a host of other Brink’s executives here for the big day. Needless to say there was much more involved than stretching a ribbon across the front door, snapping a few pictures with people grinning for all they’re worth, cutting the ribbon and shouting, “Yay!” I’ll not go into details of what all was involved, but we sent out 100 invitations, organized give-aways (mini-flash lights and the like), put together a gift for the Mayor, received RSVPs, called people we had not received RSVPs from so we could get a head-count to the caterer, organized vendors, floral arrangements, photographer, videographer, etc… (I’m gasping for breath just reliving it all.) That’s not to mention the four times we switched the head-count on the poor caterer; they were WONDERFUL, though, and deserve the highest recommendation I can give. Oh, and organized guided tours of the building, instructed parking attendants, pressure washed the parking lot (we hired out for this…can you imagine me running around in my heels pressure washing the parking lot?), made sure the landscapers had watered the plants, cut and trimmed the grass etc... Anyway – it was a big deal indeed and went off without a hitch! Oh – and when I say we, I mean I. There were other people involved, and I certainly don’t want to give the impression that I did it ALL myself, but if it makes you feel better, I’ll definitely take the credit!!! That event was on Wednesday, June 28th. Then, on July 1st, we had our Family Day Carnival Event. I planned this one, too. We had four inflatable games including a Wacky Shack, a 29 foot slide with a vicious T-Rex and a Kong-like gorilla in fierce battle, a ball-crawl for the little ones, and something called a Tiger Belly Bouncer which was essentially an enclosed trampoline shaped like a tiger cub on its back; pretty cute. There were also hot dogs, sno-cones, cotton candy, give-aways, a raffle, a couple police cruisers, (the fire engine didn’t show up), face-painting clowns, cookie decorating, a golf challenge and more! It was great and I think everyone had a wonderful time. So I had two very large events within 3 days then had Sunday, Monday (generously offered by my boss and gladly taken by me) & Tuesday off. Kiddo’s “Gammy”, as he calls her, came for the Family Day event from Greenville, SC by bus on Friday. That was an almost 10-hour ordeal for her and I felt obligated to offer to drive her back; though I actually really wanted to go spend some more time with her so obligation was not really the issue. We drove down on Sunday right after church and got there about 6:00 PM. (Boy – did we luck out in the traffic department; there wasn’t much of it at all!) While in SC, we saw my sister, her husband, their adorable daughter, and a few other family members, met Gammy’s neighbor and her menagerie (5 cats, two of which are kittens, 3 dogs, two of which are tiny Pomeranians. She came over one morning just after bathing them and they both had on little pink satin bathrobes with pink fur trim - strange that I would think that kind of doggie abuse was cute, but I did.), did some running around in the back yard, spent some quality time with Gammy and generally had a nice visit. Then it was time to drive home. We left Tuesday morning around 10:00 and got home around 2:00. (Again, hardly any traffic!) Kiddo slept most of the way home (an almost 4 hour trip), woke up raring to go, spent some time in his kiddie-pool, got prune fingers and couldn’t figure out if they hurt or just looked weird (yeah, not a fan of wrinkly fingers), went to bed at 7:30 and got up around 8:00 this morning. I’m back at work and attempting to readjust to life post-events and sitting here scratching my head wondering which pile of neglected paperwork to attack first. I guess filing wins because it’s the bigger stack and has been calling to me longer! Anyway – hope everyone had a wonderful 4th! Happiness & fireworks to all! TTFN JMS