44 posts tagged “work”

Today I Like:

     Charter will soon be gone from my life!

     Caribou Coffee

     Cool-looking, long painted fingernails of uniform length, despite the fact that they interfere with almost everything I do.

     Cherries….dark red, sweet, & juicy.  And on special at the grocery store.  Yum!

     Cottage cheese & red peppers

     Copious amounts of Diet Pepsi

     Cleaning supplies – from my Norwex party I got a free mop, cleaning cloth, body cloth, laundry detergent, and most of a jar of cleaning paste (as in I only had to pay for a bit of it…I am getting a full jar J).  I also bought some dryer balls so I don’t have to use fabric softener on my towels yet hopefully they won’t be scratchy.

     Cake…as in my birthday is tomorrow!  Not like I’ll do anything but it’s fun just the same.  I might buy myself this for a present.

     “C”-ing (OK, that was a stretch) a new number on the scale this week.  I’ve now officially hit the twenty-pounds-lost mark.

Today I Don’t Like:

     Logging on to my school email this morning and realizing that I have to take a final tomorrow!  It was on the schedule I got at the beginning of the semester but still it sneaked up on me.

     Lake cabin party for work that I’ll be missing tonight due to the aforementioned lack of planning on my part.  L

     Losing my Charter email address after tomorrow.  It’s hard to try to notify everyone when I get a new one.

     Labor – as in work, as in sitting at my desk today when I’d rather be at home studying or sitting out in the sun (or both)!

I haven't done this in a while.

Today, I really don't loathe anything!  For real!  Today was a great day.

Today, I love:

• Pistachios
• My Yahoo Music playlist with hard rock songs from my high school/college days.  Think Kiss, G'n'R, Def Leppard, 80's/90s Aerosmith, Bryan Adams, Bon Jovi, Van Halen, Poison, Loverboy, Mr. Big, & Journey, as well as some various one-or-two-hit wonders like Warrant, Great White, Nelson, Extreme, etc.  And a few oldies thrown in for good measure, like BTO, Boston, and 70s Aerosmith.  I'm not kidding when I say it rocks!
• I'm getting a sense of direction as to where I want my career to go.  I'm not ready to make a move yet, but at least I know - or at least I think I know - which way I'm facing.
• As of this morning's weigh-in, I've lost 18 pounds!  Most of my clothes are too big for me!  This is kind of a double-edged sword.  Anyone want to donate to Mello's Hot New Wardrobe Fund?  I take checks.  I even take credit cards if you use PayPal.  I promise I'll post pictures.  No?  Oh well, at least my shoes still fit.
• Oh yeah, new shoes make me happy too.  I found a couple pair while out shopping last week.
• That people are actually starting to notice that I'm losing weight.
• Coffee
• Watching my husband have a grand old time with his new logsplitter.  Not your traditional Father's Day gift, but it sure makes him happy.  (I have to admit, it is rather mesmerizing to watch it split those logs.  I don't know why; it just is.)
• Feeling happy.  Those days off work really did wonders for my disposition.  :)  I feel like myself again.  I think I need to do this every few months.

1) What do you do when your MBTI and Kiersey tests don't agree?

I've always known that I'm a little on the odd & scattered side when it comes to personality type.  I know who I am, yet I've never been able to classify myself.  Sometimes I'm an introvert - sometimes I'm an extrovert.  Sometimes I like data - sometimes I work on impulse.  Sometimes I think things through - sometimes I go with my gut.  Sometimes I'm compulsive - sometimes I just don't care.  Sometimes I'm creative - sometimes I'm logical.  People don't generally "get" me, with the exception of two: my husband, because he's lived with me for so long; and my mom, because she's a lot like me.  I'm a little bit unpredictable, even to myself sometimes.  It's kind of weird to be me.

As mentioned previously, I'm trying to figure out what to do with my life.  Do I stay in education, do I try the supervisory track, do I look for another section of lab to work in, or do I go for something completely different?  I just don't know - and lately it's really bugging me.  I think it's because the "next step" has always been in the back of my mind, and for the first time, I don't know what the next step is.  I can't work in a job for any more than 5-6 years without it having to change at least a little bit.  I'm somewhere around the 2-year mark at my current job, and wherever I go next might require extra schooling, which is maybe why I'm stressed - because I would need to get a move-on on that.  I guess I'm easily bored - things become a lot less interesting for me once the novelty wears off.  Which is probably a personality deficit but it is what it is.

So anyway, yesterday while reading a management book for school, I was reading the chapter on Leadership & Management, and I thought how perfect, maybe this will help me to see if this is indeed for me.  The author recommended taking the Kiersey Temperament Sorter, so I did.  I came out as a Guardian - which shocked the heck out of me because I do not see myself as a caretaker.  As a matter of fact, if there's one thing I've always felt I need to work on, it's compassion toward people who (in my opinion) really should know better than to do the things they do and act the way they act.  (Which is why I'm not sure whether I'd be a horrible supervisor or a great one.)  A couple of years ago I took the Meyers-Briggs Type Indicator and came out as an INTP.  Now, if you compare a Guardian with an INTP, they're nothing alike.  So then what do you do with that information?  Apparently, even shrinks can't figure out who I am. 

2) How do you look like a 35-year-old and not look like a soccer mom?

Ooh, another burning question.  I can't deny the fact that I'm getting older.  I want to look my age, maybe just a little younger.  In my mind one of the most undignified things a woman can do is dress & act like she's 25 when she's 45.  I don't want to be that person.  My twenties weren't so great anyway - why try to relive them?  I just got my hair cut yesterday and it's a length that I think is appropriate for my age and place in life, shoulder length.  Some women can pull off long hair well into their forties; not me.  Anyway, today as I was working with it, I wondered whether or not I looked like a soccer mom.  And if so, how can I not?  I think I need help on this one.

This was going to be a "Me and My Monday" post but then I realized that I'm not in the picture I took.  Duh.  And I have no other ideas.  So instead I'll just show the picture:

Not Me and My Four Days of Vacation

If you can't tell, this is my Outlook calendar.  And look!  It's telling you that I have four days of vacation starting tomorrow!  There will be plenty of homework being done, but there will be fun stuff too - like a designated shopping morning (I'm not sure which day yet but it will be just me, maybe a friend of mine...but more importantly, no husband or kids that I'll have to listen to whine.  Can we go home?  I'm tired!  I'm hungry!  Aren't you done yet?  Just pick something!  Why do you have to try it on?  Try it on at home!  Whine, whine, whine.

We're also going to a baseball game on Wednesday.  Minor league - very minor league - but still fun.  It's Blood Donor night so I got us some free tickets.  Can't beat that!

Right now, though, I think I need to get a good night's sleep.  Can't have a great week off if I'm tired!  Later.

Pinned up on one of my partition walls is the following quote:

Those proud of keeping an orderly desk never know the thrill of finding something that they thought irretreivably lost.

   --Helen Exley

Ah, so true.  But yesterday I finally couldn't take the clutter anymore so I cleaned off my desk.  I think it's actually a reaction to the clutter at home that's starting to give me that sick feeling in the pit of my stomach, to the point where I'm avoiding the entire first floor of my home.  I can't stand it.  And since I'm either at work or doing homework these days, the house is being neglected.  And since I spend the better part of my life at this job, I thought I could at least get rid of the clutter at my desk and try to recapture little peace of mind that way.

I threw away (recycled, rather) a lot of stuff.  I organized some stuff and relocated some stuff.  I moved a cord from atop my desk to underneath my desk.  I dusted.

But I didn't find anything that I thought was irretrievebly lost.

Maybe I'm more organized than I thought.

Nah.

Lesseee....pretty calm day today.....

I'm not liking:

• The fact that I need to listen to the second half of a 2-hour-45-minute lecture on things I already know for school.  I'm so tempted to skip it but I'm sure there will be one or two things in there that I'll need for the test. 
• Knowing I'm a procrastinator - I'm blogging instead of listening to lectures on things I already know.
• Running.  But I told Brian I might try to train for a 5K in August.  In the same event, he would run a half marathon.  He'd do the half with Erik and I'd run the 5K with Erik's wife Erin.  What on earth was I thinking, saying that?  (I'm tempted to back out so I'm writing about it here, which will require me to follow through.)
• Going back to work after a three day weekend.
• When the kids whine & argue with everything I say.  Grrr.

I'm liking:

• DVR.  HD-DVR to boot.
• Free tickets to a baseball game in June.
• Good hair days.
• Having my picture FINALLY get updated on the intranet directory at work.  My old picture was from 2003, and I looked forty.....which would be fine if I had been forty at the time.  I was twenty-nine.  The new picture is much better and less embarrassing.  I shudder to think that people would look at that old picture to see what I look like!
• Little-guy baseball starts this week.  I love watching Joey play.  He's not a bad hitter and also has a pretty good arm.  (Yeah, and I'm not biased or anything.)

I think that's it.  Happy Tuesday!

What I’m annoyed by today:

·      Cranky coworkers

·      Anemia – the exhaustion, headache, and coldness.  I’m going to take iron for a few days; eventually I should feel better.

·      My messy desk

·      Computer trouble that keeps me from doing my job and drives me to blog instead.

·      That the only color printer on this floor is under my desk and everyone and their brother knows about it and uses it, then expects me to drop what I’m doing and get their crap off of it.

What I like today:

Today I took public transportation to work. I've done this once before, about a year ago when my car died and Brian had already left for work.  That day I didn't really have a choice and I was just lucky that I was able to scrounge $1.25 or whatever it costs.  (I rarely have cash, and usually when I do it goes quickly into a pop machine.)

But here's the thing.  On Monday evening I had a meeting to go to and Brian asked me if I'd fill up the van on my way home.  Now usually the van is his commuter car (he carts the kids) and he takes care of filling it up when necessary.  My commuter car is a 1997 5-speed Geo Metro Sedan. Kind of dorky and definitely uncool, but it's paid for and cheap to own & operate.  It's also easy to park in our packed, perpendicular-parking lot.

Looks like this except mine is green - very 90's!

When I fill up my car, I go to a gas station that gives me 15 cents off per gallon if I buy a car wash.  I get the cheapest one for $6 and still come out having paid more for the car wash than what I save on gas with an 8-gallon tank, but I like the convenience of the fill & wash all at one time.

So back to Monday night.  I'm used to about a $25 bill when filling up my car, and even that was starting to feel pretty steep.  When I filled up the van, I found myself staring straight into a $51.59 total. 

~~Sticker shock!!~~

I know that probably pales compared to what some of you are used to, but it was pretty scary for me!  I decided then & there to look into my employer's city bus pass program.

Because parking for both patients/visitors and employees is at a premium in downtown Rochester, one of the things that my employer has done is to allow employees who live in town to get free bus passes.  They also sell passes to people who live out of town at a reduced rate.  The goal is to help alleviate parking congestion downtown.  I know a lot of people who take the bus because they don't even have parking privileges downtown, because those are given out by seniority.  After 11 years, I do have parking, so I've never considered taking the bus.  Now I'm going to do it, at least some days, in order to alleviate our gasoline bill.  On days I take the bus, Brian will take my little car.  Hopefully this will make a difference.  We'll see; I told Brian that I'll only take the bus on days that aren't too cold, too windy, or raining.  So the rest of this week may be out already.

This morning went pretty well.  I was worried that I wouldn't make it to the bus stop in time, and as it turned out I had plenty of time.  Eventually I'll have it down to the exact minute that I need to leave the house.  This afternoon will present a different challenge.  Not only do I have to make sure I'm ready to leave work at the appropriate time (I can be a dawdler), but I have to take a different route home.  My neighbor/friend Matt, who rides the same bus, told me this morning where I need to be in order to take Route 2 home, which was nice.  The good/bad thing about Route 2 is that it's going to drop me off about 4 blocks from my house.  Today that will be awesome as it's supposed to be sunny and 75, and I don't anticipate having to carry anything heavy or bulky home.  I'm such a baby.  :)

So yes, now I feel more like an official member of the rat race.

I wasn't going to do this today (because if I do it every week I'll become predictable), but what the hey.  Here goes:

Today I loathe:

• Spending all day at work reading about FDA inspections.  I'm writing a mock inspection for our students to do as a learning tool.  Important stuff, but reading about the FDA all day sure makes me tired.
• That I slept horribly last night and as a result am quite tired today.
• That it's only Tuesday (see above bullet item).
• Being unmotivated to study for my coag final.
• Bad hair days.

Today I love:

• Red wine.
• The killer lasagna I have in the oven.  I can't wait to eat it!!
• That I fixed a door at work today.
• Long, painted fingernails, makeup, great shoes, jewelry, and other things that make me feel like a girl.
• The color scheme we've decided on for our bathroom.
• My kids.
• Spring - finally!  I'm even ok with those fabled April showers, as long as they're not snow showers.

That'll do it.  :)  Gotta go get my lasagna out of the oven.

I don't have a heck of a lot to say about my trip.  The flights were good, despite having to be at the airport at 4:30 am on Wednesday morning.  Three flights later, we were in Savannah and it was only 2 pm.  We got a little bit of time to walk around the riverfront.  I bought a pair of sunglasses because I'd forgotten mine, which turned out to be a good thing because it rained all day Thursday and Friday.  Despite the yucky weather, two of the girls I was traveling with took a bus tour of Savannah on Thursday morning.  The other girl and I couldn't go because we were at a NAACLS workshop (that would be the National Association for the Accreditation of Clinical Laboratory Science).  Sounds like a bore, I know, but it was actually helpful since our new CLS program will be going for accreditation in the fall.  So we learned some things that we can use - both for accreditation and just for the sake of having good documents.

Because of the rain, not only did we not end up going out much (we actually went to most of the conference sessions), but when we did I didn't bring my camera out much since it's an older model and not very purse- or pocket-friendly.  Here are a couple of the shots I got on Wednesday:

Savannah Riverfront

Marriott Savannah Riverfront, where we stayed

Savannah Riverfront (barge & tugboat)

Savannah Riverfront

On Thursday night, on the advice of Carrie & Becky's bus tour guide, we ate supper at Belford's.  It was SOO good!  I highly recommend it if you're ever in Savannah.  (I also highly recommend the Savannah Candy Kitchen.)  I had she-crab soup - which was nothing short of incredible - and cajun lobster ravioli, with a glass of Biltmore Estate Reisling.  The atmosphere was great too - exposed brick walls, huge windows, wood floors - very rustic and historic-feeling, but chic at the same time.  We had tried to get a table at the Lady and Sons but they were booked.  When we walked by, thinking that maybe we could get a table without a reservation, there was a line extending outside the door.  I hate crowds so I didn't mind not going in.

Friday night there was a dinner cruise on a riverboat.  That was fun too.  The food wasn't as good, but I don't think much would have measured up to Belford's.  There was a guy playing lounge-y music and singing, which I kind of enjoyed listening to, but the fun really started when he put in CDs of the Macarena, the Electric Slide, and all of those goodies.  I don't know any of those dances (didn't do the bar thing) but there were plenty of middle-aged women doing it, and that was pretty funny.  They were really cutting loose!  Carrie, Becky, and I did get out there for "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun" and "I Will Survive," though.  Some pictures were taken, but not with my camera.  I may or may not share them if/when I get them.  :)

Really not much else happened.  The conference was pretty good but not as good as it was when I went to it in San Antonio a couple of years ago.  I think the weather contributed, but overall I think I just liked San Antonio better - it's just such a cool city.  I would have liked to see more of Savannah though, and in the sunshine, so I'm not sure I'm giving it a fair shake.  Hopefully I'll find myself back there someday because I'd love to see more of the architecture and hear more of its history.

I found myself really missing my kids.  I always do when I travel, but for some reason it was worse this time.

Oh yeah, I read The Kite Runner on the way down there.  I'll agree with everyone that has said that it was extremely well-written.  But I found myself extremely upset by it.  The scene where Hassan is assaulted by those boys while that coward Amir stood by and watched left me almost physically ill.  And then to know that Assef probably did the same thing to Hassan's son.  I just cannot take those kinds of stories, whether real or fiction.  I got through half of the book on the flights and had to stay up Wednesday night to finish it, just so that I could resolve the story in my head.  I have no desire to reread it.  It was just too upsetting.  I'm still thinking about it and wish I could forget it.  I think it's the mom in me...how can I know that something like that will never happen to my kids?  It just makes me want to never let them leave the house and/or plead desperately to God to protect them.

Back to the trip....the flights home were also fine, with minimal delay.  (I'd never flown Delta before this trip; I was pretty impressed.  I hope that they won't be ruined by the merger with Northwest.)  I got home about 9 on Saturday night and spent Sunday doing literally nothing except for a few loads of laundry.  I didn't even get dressed.  I slept in instead of going to church (I could've made it but I was so tired I wanted to rest up for the week).  Today was back to the grind, and sorting through the various things that had accumulated on my desk and in my email.  Not a bad day overall.