My desk has this

Merry Christmas to me!

(Click to enjoy a much larger view.)

Finally! It only took 4 months to convince someone that I was worth the $7.84. Thanks, Dad and Mom! I love it. So do people at work, even those who think I'm a little weird for putting office supplies on my Christmas list.

In other news, the job is going well. Training procedures, zero tolerance of unprofessionalism (i.e. yelling at other employees), excellent pay and benefits. So far, so good.

With a support staff of 12, 1 attorney, and 3 associates, I apparently made friends quickly (or so I'm told by other fairly new employees who say it took months before some of the girls talked to them). Of course, my husband helped out a bit.

Gorgeous, I know. And everyone in the office stopped by to inquire if it was my birthday or anniversary. I simply smiled and responded "Neither." then listened politely as they told me about the last time they had received flowers for no reason, if they had at all, and realized, again, just how lucky I am. I did not get a picture of them right away, so forgive the starting-to-droop look, but look at the amazing colors:


And for all of you Cheyenne-atics, he is doing well. Taking over the house and making himself comfortable wherever he wants.
He likes my pajama drawer.

Merry Christmas to everyone!

Search Engine Sillyness

Not only can I track who has been to my site, I can track the keywords used on search engines that lead people to my site.

Recent Keyword Activity:
"Directv Refund Request" - I feel for ya, buddy. Good luck getting your money back.

"I Like Felines" - You can like your felines, just don't LIKE your felines.

"Fuzzy Toilet Seat Covers Talking" - I don't even know how to respond to that one.

"My Sister Hates a Clean House" - Mine does not, she actually does pretty well considering the two kids, dog, cat, turtle, and husband. But I feel your pain.

"Shut Up Baby, I Know It" - I know it, too. So do a lot of other people. This is apparently a common search.

The Short Version:

Happy Birthday, Michelle! Enjoy the numerous flowers, even if they weren't all for you.

The picture of my anniversary present would be posted here (I finally got a picture of it, blurry as it may be) but for some reason, if you unplug the card from the computer once you have to restart before the computer will read it again. And yes, I did use the Safely Remove Hardware. It does this with a lot of things. We are annoyed.

Speaking of restarting computers, allow me to strap on my superiority complex and tell a story. A story about a lady who has been "doing this for 30 years". A lady who does not want your advice. Even if you overhear her tell a client "He's here, but not excepting calls" and you know that the attorney does not want his clients told that. Simply advising her that perhaps she should say something like "I'm sorry, he's not available at the moment, but I can leave him a message." will only instigate a tirade (in the reception area) about how you are not her boss and she has been doing this for 30 years and she was not hired to answer phones anyway.
My story takes place about a month after the aforementioned outburst.
I was making copies when I overheard the lady-who-has-been-doing-this-for-30-years on the phone leaving a voice mail. It went something like this:
"Hi, so-and-so, this is "secretary" at "attorney"'s office. I restarted my computer, so you can resend that email. That should help with the "Recipient Error" you said you received."
I ran upstairs laughing. Ask the receptionist, I really did. I tried to hold it in; kept making my copies, but by the time the secretary hung up, I was laughing and had to leave area.

If you don't get that, reread it.

I am baffled as to how restarting your computer is going to help someone else on another computer in another city send you an email.
(If you do not like me and live in Byron, which is where the recent activity on my site from my "friends" is from, or Davis Junction, you probably should not read this next part.)
If I received that voice mail, I would have to listen to it at least 4 times.
The first time, I would be confused and simply figure I need to listen again as I did not hear everything.
The second time, I would stare blankly at the phone and think to myself "I need to listen to that again. I heard that wrong. Right?"
The third time to confirm that yes, she said what I thought she said
And the fourth time to play for my friends.
Mean? Yes. It is. But when you act like you know it all, I expect you to know it all.

On another note, my last day is Monday. I start my new job on Thursday. Which means I have 2 days off! 2 days in which I plan clean and organize every inch of my house. My husband and I are both excited about this. I am actually looking forward to this.

Grandma, I hope you feel better. If you need anything, let me know.
Julie, I hope you feel better. If you need anything, let me know. - also, how interested are you in that A Nickel for Alice book, because I think I can get ahold of a copy.
Dena, Hi.
Family, What do you guys want for Christmas? I am obviously not going to be able to work in a cookie party this year. If everyone really enjoys them and wants to do it, maybe we could try in January, after all the holiday stuff is over and everything settles back down. Let me know what you think.

Moderation

I cannot imagine having so little to do that I monitor a blog that belongs to someone I dislike. Since I track the traffic on my blog, I know who it is. This particular person is a Mediacom customer in the Davis Junction area, who has visited my site at least 109 times since I began tracking. I know a few people in that area. But I don't care, too much. I managed to get beyond the everyone-must-like-me stage a long time ago. Besides, I usually take insults well. It's easy to put someone down, call them names and point out shortcomings, and if that's all you can do, I don't take them too seriously. My point is that it's all about perception. There are so many points-of-view and I am all for hearing another side, but this is my blog. If you want to say something, do it nicely or get your own blog. If you are mature and intelligent enough to voice your opinion without the childish name-calling, I will not delete it. I do, however, appreciate the post. Not only because of the humor current and previous coworkers and I found in it, but because, even though I deleted it, I do not want to be a jerk; and posts like that make me think about who I have become and whether or not I am happy with myself. (The answer, by the way, is yes. I am very happy with myself.)

If you think it is bad of me to switch jobs because of the pipe smoke, consider that there are worse things I could do. I could report him, since it is now illegal to smoke in buildings in Wisconsin, unless more than half of your business is a bar. But I won't, because aside from this, I like this guy. He's very knowledgeable, down-to-earth, funny, and we get along.

And seriously, folks, nobody is forcing you to read this blog. In fact, it's mostly meant for my family. And after years of being so shy that I would blush when anybody said "Hi" to me, I am proud of how far I have gotten in life. I may not be intelligent, but I'm not an idiot, and I will be proud of that.

What I know

I know that it has been a long time since I have posted.

I know that I still have to post a picture of the wonderful anniversary present my wonderful husband gave me (9 years!!! WOOHOO!!), which will be coming shortly. It seems that every time I remember to take the picture (I take those pictures on my cell phone since we don't actually have a digital camera yet--shocked? me too.) the battery on my phone dies.

I know that I am a picky employee and am looking for a new job. Again. With good reason. One of the partners walks around smoking a pipe ALL DAY LONG. He comes in at 9:00, so I have an hour every morning before my door closes and the window opens. And then about 15 minutes before he walks into my office with the pipe and starts talking to me. And with the 50-some-degree weather we are having, and my tendency to be cold unless it's over 80 degrees, I am very uncomfortable. My office is currently at 64. The 55 degree weather is blowing in the window at my head, and my space heater is blowing heat on my feet.

I know that I am cold.

I know that I did testing at one of those temp places and I apparently rock. I type 87 words-per-minute (for those who have no sense of judgment on this-most places require at least 60 wpm...), I am still at the expert/master user level on MS Word and Excel, which is the highest level possible, and I completely aced the proofreading/grammar test, which is a pass/fail test but the lady was impressed with just how well I did on it.

I know that my husband is very, very tired from all the work that he is doing for his mom. I wish I could help more. I wish his guy at work would return from vacation so he could sleep in a little later and not go in to work insanely early.

I know that I have to get back to work.

I know that I don't want to get back to work.

I know that I love my grandma's new place, and I hope she does, too.

Sassy-ness

It definitely runs in my family. We are a sassy group. It should be no surprise that when a certain member of my family called to inform of the need to set up service in her new abode, she showed every bit of sarcasm and sassiness that was shown to her. Apparently the oh-so-friendly customer service rep was taking some information about service starting dates then asked for the "code". When my family member replied "Pardon" the customer service rep said "Code. You know, as in Zip Code. Z-I-P." My family member replied with "Do you want the new N-E-W or old O-L-D code." The customer service rep paused before continuing; with less sarcasm.

That's why I didn't hesitate to contact anyone and everyone I could when DirecTV wouldn't give us our money back. On July 17 we called to cancel service and request a refund (as we had paid for the year of service), which we were told would take 4 to 6 weeks. On July 18 or service was shut off. On September 9, I called to inquire about the refund and was informed that it is actually 6 to 8 weeks, and the request wasn't entered until July 24th. I told Latoya that it was not my fault that the request was not entered until a week after it was requested. Service was terminated, they obviously got that part right, and we were 7 weeks and 3 days from the date it was terminated, so even if it is 6 to 8 weeks we should have the check within the next 4 days. She "escalated" the order. On September 11th (the day before the 8 weeks was up) I spoke with Angel and told her that I was calling to confirm the check would be in my mailbox by tomorrow... she transferred me to a supervisor. Joyce told me she would again "escalate" my request and follow-up with me in 8 days (apparently it was going to take her that long to hear back from whatever department she was contacting). On September 19th I spoke with Michelle who told me the check was released, but she couldn't give me a check number. Instead, she gave me the number of the billing department, which I happily dialed. I spoke with Ruth, who tried and tried to pull up my account to get me a check number but just couldn't get in to the system. She did assure me that the check had been written on the 14th and it would take 7 to 10 business days for it to reach me. But she couldn't give me a check number. I politely informed her that if I didn't have a check number I was assuming that a check had not been written and if a check had not been written at this time (9 weeks from the date of request) I was contacting the Better Business Bureau. Eventually (about 45 minutes later) I spoke with her supervisor Jason who told me that the check had been done on the 14th and I had to wait 3 to 7 business days from the 14th. I told him that I had just been told 7 to 10 and inquired as to why nobody could give me a check number if one has been written. He told me I had to wait. I told him I had already waited 9 weeks and if I did not have a check number when I got off the phone, I would be filing complaints and contacting an attorney (my boss told me to write a letter stating I had retained his services and he would sign it... I love working for attorneys) The conversation ended with "You will just have to wait." So I went home and filed a complaint with the Better Business Bureau. And the next day I filed a complaint with the FCC. Then I received a voice mail on the 24th indicating that the amount was credited to my account on the 20th. I was pretty upset. After all, we had already received 2 statements showing the credit balance and I was supposed to be getting a check. So that evening I contacted them again and explained everything I had gone through, and that I had retained an attorney and filed a complaint with the FCC and the BBB. To my surprise she gave me a check number. And told me the check had been written on the 20th. So I filed a complaint with the company about Jason (I had his ID#) and indicated that he had outright lied to me and told me the check was written on the 14th. Then I received my check. 10 weeks to the day.

DirecTV's customer service is very polite, but that does not make up for keeping my $500.00 for 10 weeks. If I hadn't paid my bill for that long they would have sent me to collections. I am following through with these complaints and hopefully, maybe, someone else won't have to wait an unrealistic amount of time to get their refund.

And if you experience problems File a Complaint. We should not be punished because they can't manage their money. That is exactly what is happening here. And if you feel up for some interesting reading simply google the phrase "Directv refund" and you will find hundreds of similar stories. If everyone of these people would file a complaint, something might change.

That's disgusting

Very disgusting. What is so disgusting that I had to post about it?

This:


I am, of course, referring to Elvis Presley as much as the Peanut Butter and Banana Cream flavor.

My family apparently finds my disdain of the guy amusing, and a certain member of my family decided to leave this hanging from my door one afternoon.

I was not even going to eat it, considering the overwhelming feeling I have to bang my head against a wall (which burns 150 calories an hour, by the way. Glad I wasn't the one who had to figure that out.) anytime I hear one of his songs or even his name.

But my husband really wanted to try it. So then I had to try it. Stupid.

Speaking of stupid. Here's a story...

Once upon a time there were two employees. One was intelligent and had common sense, the other was unintelligent and had no common sense. One day intelligent employee told unintelligent employee that she had listed the name of the Attorney General incorrectly on a document. Unintelligent employee got upset and immediately snapped back "How do you know." After explaining that she watched the news and read and that you could find the information on the internet, unintelligent employee got on the internet and typed in "Attorney General". She clicked on the first link that appeared. When intelligent employee said "You have to type in Illinois Attorney General" unintelligent employee replied "Oh, I thought there was only one."

Unintelligent employee then went on to state "You know, the one that puts the warnings on the cigarettes."

Intelligent employee laughed and said "Do you mean the Surgeon General?"

The End.

Again?

I woke up this morning to the sound of geese flying south for the winter. Already! I'm not ready for that, yet.
Though I am not complaining about the geese leaving town. Evil birds who make any child sorry that they asked to go down the slide one more time and then have to do a Dukes of Hazard impression and jump through the window of the car because they are chasing said kid.

I had horrible luck with birds when I was a kid.

Labor Day

I love Labor Day. I don't love labor. Don't get the two confused.

I have fond memories of this holiday. The MDA telethon, fondue, and family.
Every year, mom would prepare all this stuff for a fondue and we would turn on the telethon (back when it was on all night long) and we would settle into the living room and watch, occasionally heating up our food/snacks throughout the night. It is a tradition that I miss. While I still turn it on every year to see how good ol' Jerry is doing, and to see if I can understand a word Charo is saying yet, it will never be the same (except that I still can't understand a word Charo is saying).

(p.s. today was a three-post day, so if you're really bored, don't forget to read the rest of them below)

Name that Ferret

Knowing that I have always wanted one, my sister-in-law bought me a ferret.


It's cute, and soft, and needs a name.
I am currently taking suggestions on names.
Names that I will not accept are:
Elvis, or anything relating to (i.e. The King, etc.)
A certain plant from the bible
and other names to be added at a later date as I am sure I will receive some bad names I haven't thought of yet.

De-cis-what?

We all know that I can't make a decision unless it has to do with work and I am being paid to do so. So it should come as no surprise to you all to hear that I needed help purchasing my new purse. As I walked helplessly around Kohl's the other weekend carrying two of the exact same purse in two different colors around the store I tried to reach a couple members of my family, thinking they would help. I was, however, informed that my sister was much to busy buying a door and couldn't help with my crisis right away and would have to call me back, and then I was hung up on when I tried to reach my parents house. (Ok, not their fault that they live in the middle of nowhere and have to suffer through dial-up and the modem picked up the phone when I called) I did eventually talk to mom, who told me to go with the grey and black as Dena was FINALLY calling me back on the other line. I spoke with her just as she was leaving a conveniently close location and she kindly ran over to see my two choices, much to Aaron's shock and dismay. She, too, chose the grey and black.
Here it is:



Isn't it cute. Thank you.

Next...

This part of my post has been edited. After reading my aunts board, I realize I may have spoiled something...?? This will be reposted at a later date. However, I would just like to say that not all of my family reads this blog so it may not be spoiled yet

I have a cold

I have things to post, like my new purse that I needed help picking out and the amusing story about that, but I have a cold and it is kicking my butt. I feel weird.

Very weird.

Just wanted to let you all know that.

My desk wants this

If you are ever out and about and feel like buying me something (because I am just that great) but don't know what to buy me, try this:


(my precious)

It's pretty. It's mesh. And I wants it.

I found it at the store-that-must-not-be-named. The store that is disliked by many members of my family and in-laws. And I agree (the whole major corporation getting away with immoral things thing). But it is so close and it has pretty mesh desk organizers. I hate that it is so close (with all the traffic and lights and whatnot), but it is SO CLOSE.

My desk is incomplete without it. I promise to take care of it and keep it pretty and organized. Look at all of its organizational purposes. Look at the drawer in front. Pretty.




It is only $7.84. Don't you love me $7.84 worth? (I had a picture of this beautiful caddy centered perfectly over the price, but when I got home it was not on my phone. I think it's jealous.)

I need my own show.

A show where I can tell people not to cut holes in their roof if it's raining.

Story #1
If you are going to say something stupid, I am going to laugh at you.
The setting: the local Farm & Fleet (this is important)

I was walking down an isle, headed straight for some guy and his Beverly Hills girlfriend/wife, half-ignoring the announcement on the speaker about visiting a certain department "for all your ag needs" and, (seriously, guys, I cannot make this stuff up) Beverly Hills turns to her boyfriend/husband and says "I didn't know they had eggs here. I need to get some, and some milk, too."

I laugh. Her boyfriend/husband turns away without saying a word. She glares at me, though she doesn't know why I am laughing. I continue on my way.

Story #2
Stupid-R-Us
I received a change-of-name card in the mail from a business at work today from a company I will refer to as Stupid Enterprises. It read something like this:

Stupid Enterprises
123 Fake Street
Dumbsville, USA, 12345

Please note your records that our official name is now

Stupid Enterprises

All other contact information will remain the same.

That's great, geniuses, but would you mind telling me who you were before?

Story #3
At least she wasn't still sitting at her desk.
(I didn't get to witness this one, I have taken this story from a friend, but I couldn't resist.)

While punching out at 5:00 on Friday afternoon, two employees (whom I will call Peggy (hehehe) and Ditzy) said goodbye to the third employee (whom I will call... Oh, what's that bird ladies name in Mary Poppins???) okay, let's just call her Bird Lady, who-for informational purposes I will point out has been employed with this company for 1 year and 4 months-ish). Peggy also reminds Bird Lady to lock up when she leaves (since she was goofing off on the internet and not ready to go when everyone else was).

Bird Lady yells to Peggy and Ditzy "Wait, I don't know how to lock up. Don't leave me." (Again, employed 1 year 4 months).
"Shut off the lights and lock the door." Peggy replies.
"I don't know how to shut off the lights." says the Bird Lady (without laughing... wait, she can't be serious, can she?)
"Use the lightswitch. There's only two switches." replies Ditzy. (who is not looking so ditzy right now)
So Ditzy and Peggy proceed to leave stupi... I mean Bird Lady behind because, seriously, she is in her 50's and surely she knows how to work a light switch and lock a door.

That is what Peggy thought; until she returned to work on Monday morning and found the lights still on, and the door unlocked.

Well, Peg, at least she wasn't still sitting at her desk.

There and Back Again

We returned from Charleston after a 17 hour drive. That's right. We left around 2:00ish here time (3:00ish there time) and arrived home at 7:15ish here time. Only stopping for gas and a brief food break. It was nice. Accomodations were great, food was good, plantations were beautiful, ships (U.S.S. Yorktown and a Submarine and a Destroyer) were neat, I was tired. After walking so long that I had blisters covering the majority of my feet and I never thought I would regain feeling in them, the car ride wasn't so bad. It got uncomfortable, and there was the hour where we only traveled 7 miles or so due to road construction, but road trips are nice.

I have pictures and maybe I will post some sometime, but right now I'm feeling lazy. And a bit depressed.
I got an unexpected call Friday from an attorney in Rockford who wanted me to come in for an interview. I went. The job description was pretty much exactly what I wanted. Actual paralegal work (going into trial with the attorney, meeting with clients and prepare documents, research, etc. and also office manager with a staff of 5 or 6 full timers) but, (yeah, there's a big but here...) she works in family law. Lot's of divorce cases. (sigh) If I don't stand against it, I am condoning it.
When the attorney called and spoke with my husband this morning, she made it abundantly clear that I had to call her back today. So I did. And when she asked me if I was interested, I cringed as I told her that yes, I was interested in the job description, but unfortunately I was not interested in the area of law that she practiced.
That was not easy.
But, hopefully Michelle got a job out of it. She also interviewed there. And I said good things about her. Good luck, Michelle.

Update

For those keeping track, we are now leaving on Saturday. Not Sunday. My original idea, but then again, I'm just a girl. :)

Yeah, I started it.

What babe?

1 week

Woohoo! We have a plan! Thank you all for your great ideas, but as of 12:50-ish this afternoon, we have decided to head to Charleston, South Carolina, for our vacation. We will be leaving next Sunday (check in begins at 4:00p.m.) and will be headed back that Friday (check out by 12:00p.m.)

Thank you all for your great ideas. For those who might be planning a vacation of their own, we received suggestions for:
Mackinac Island,
Door County (not really our scene, but it's obviously someones)
and this post on the previous vacation post:
My other post didn't post but I'll try again. Not sure when your vacation is but I can come up with a few interesting tours.
1) go to the Hershey's dairy where, in 1917 Harry Burnett Reese took a job, later to open his own company which was sold to Hershey in 1963. To find out which company this was… take the tour. 2)The Tufts University to see Jumbo's remain in a Peanut Butter Jar. Find out what they are doing in the jar by taking the tour. 3)Laguna Nigel in Orange County, California on the second Sat. in July to the Moon Amtrak event. 4) The rocport County store in Washington State or the Tom Haywood Store in Croatan North Carolina to see what user-operated amusement apparatus holds the U.S. Patent number 6,293,874 (hint you'll get a kick out of it). 5)If at all possible go to the Museum in San Antonio, Texas to see what Barney Smith is famous for. Gee I should be one of those tourer settup people.
Posted by "anonymous"

Anyway, we have decided to go to Charleston. We will be staying at Wentworth Mansion.
(Click here for the Virtual Tour) (We got the room, not the suite)

We are looking forward to this and actually got a discount because we waited so long to book the room! Yes! Unplanniness works!

People Make Me Angry

Remember this rant about the wife who took her husband's picture off of her desk because she didn't want to give her employees something to talk to her about even though her office was full of numerous conversation-eliciting items? I have to add to it. I am just upset and what's the point of having a blog if I can't vent in it. So, here goes:

Not only did the wife come up with some bull reason the picture was taken down when no reason was necessary, but as it turns out the wife spends a lot of time talking to the other employees. So much so, that several of the employees knows an awful lot about this woman and some of her personal belongings (i.e. appliances, and other such items--not "personal" personal items), favorite drinks, etc.

Nice. Real nice.

Anniversarys

Happy Anniversary, Dena & Zach!