Measuring time & distance....

What the hell is that thing?  (Google maps)

I pulled this photo from Google map photos....very odd.  I suppose it could be the top of a building, but considering how small the rest of the buildings are, it could be a parking lot.  Although I've never seen a triangular parking lot.  I think it might be aliens.

This morning when I left my house to go to work, I decided to see if I could really make it to work in the 13 minutes Google maps predicted.  Before I began working at this new office, I searched the well known site so that I could get to work on time, but not arrive too early.  The estimated time was 13 minutes.  I hadn't ever tested it out, so figured I would do it this morning.  Now, I have a "highway" that I live right next to.  I put quotation marks around it, because for years we just thought of it as a road in Albuquerque like all the others.  But since assholes have illegal contests of speed (racing) on it like clockwork on Friday and Saturday nights, and we used to call the police to complain, we were told that city cops don't patrol that particular street because "it's highway #(whatever)" and under the jurisdiction of the state highway patrol.  How typical to pass the buck.

I left my house at 7:27am, and arrived at work at 7:40.  13 minutes, right?  However, in order to get there that quickly, I realized I was speeding.  Even so, I was riding along with the traffic.  Everyone was going 5 to 10 mph over the posted speed limit.  I was a bit freaked out at first, but then I remembered the city cops telling me they don't patrol that particular stretch of road.  So, I guess it is a 13 minute ride.  

Love, 365

Is it just me, or did the summer zing by?........

I can't believe that summer is nearly over, and soon kids and teachers will be back at school.  Guess I'll have to leave a little earlier for work, to make way for all the extra traffic in the mornings.  Boo.

I have been at my new work place for about 5 months now.  My previous experience is that you discover the not so great parts beginning in the first week or so.  To their credit, it has taken me this long to discover that it's not perfect by any means.....although it seems that this place is as perfect as it gets in many respects.  Everyone gets along pretty well.  Which means that all of us are fairly logical and reasonable, with no real desire to dominate, manipulate, control or create chaos just for the fun of it.  At the same time, it is not perfect, because there is no such thing as a perfect workplace.  There are some resentments of others because they always seem to get what they want.  Here, I am talking about vacation time at Christmas.  Funny.  But, I detest taking time off at Christmas, because for 14 years I worked for a dentist that took one week at Christmas and 2 weeks the first part of June, and that was that.  If you wanted a week off at some other time, tough.  So, as a result of that (which was 20 years ago, lol) I really prefer not to take vacation time at Christmas.  Which means that I don't care, and sometimes find it strange that others find it such a great time to take off.  Unless you have young kids.  Besides, Christmas isn't my favorite time of the year.  It's tedious to put up decorations and a tree and move around furniture for a few weeks of the year.  I'd just as soon forget it.  I cam very close to skipping it last year, but Romeo wanted it, so I acquiesed.

~ Another issue I recently discovered was that we don't do yearly reviews.  Now, in my experience, an employer that doesn't review your performance, at least with you present during the review, is avoiding the expectation that a good review will result in an increase in pay.  In fact, one of my co-workers admitted that it is not unusual to go 2 to 3 years without a raise.  I admitted that at my one year anniversary of employment, I'm marching my ass (ok, I didn't say ass) right into the practice manager's office with a list of accomplishments/suggestions (that worked, of course) and so on that I feel I've contributed that increased the bottom line.  Then, I will ask for a small bit of it.  She looked up with an interested expression and told me good luck with that.  And then she told me a story (which I'm not convinced is completely accurate).  Basically she said she turned down a substantial raise and suggested that everyone should get one at Christmas (yeah, this is the part I find difficult, but maybe I'm to cynical) similar to the one they did a few years ago, but it didn't happen.  I'm really not too bothered about it.  Enjoying your work place is worth a lot more than earning more money.  But I won't sit by and let years go by.  Been there, done that, have the tee shirt.

So, I am still quite happy with working there.  I feel like I'm making a difference, and everyone is reasonable and easy to get along with.

Ouch......but notice my pedicure still looks fab!

Romeo and I have a history of DIY projects.  We've totally redone the landscape, which still gets a tweak here and there.  We replaced the carpeting downstairs to laminate flooring.  We remodeled the kitchen (although we had the cabinets and countertop contracted out), and did all of the tear-out, moving the gas line for the new oven, etc.  Recently I saw a DIY project on pintrest showing a remodel of the stair case from carpeted to wood.  Which we decided to tackle.  So, yesterday while we were measuring and cutting the stair treads (which required more than 30 trips up and down) I stubbed my toe....OUCH!  I am now calling it my little eggplant.  

Well, I need to get busy with the cake I'm making for work tomorrow.  Have a great week every one!

Love, 365

The real trouble with reality is that there's no background music.

Sun Dagger, Chaco Canyon ~ New Mexico

Courtesy Bing Images

Hello!  It's been awhile....and my excuses are the usual....busy, enjoying the summer, not much desire to write.  My summer class is going along, and sadly I've not really put forth as much effort as I should be.  I'm torn between taking another single credit class with my current professor mostly because I think the university might ask him to retire soon.  He mentioned that he feels that his ideas have become outdated and other newer theories overshadow those that he has held so dear, and worked so hard to promote.  I like him, and find his theories plausible.  We will never know all the details of the Chaco phenomena.  Not only is there no written language, the native Americans are very tight lipped about their history and origin stories.  

Otherwise, life keeps moving along.  I have procrastinated again about what to do for fall semester.  I need to go to the Univ. of Texas at Austin to check out their history classes, and go on to the Univ. of NM, and cancel the class I was thinking of taking.  I'm not going to take it because I would have to ask to leave work early one to two days a week, and although I don't think it would be a problem, I really don't want to ask until I've been there a bit longer.  

My Mom has not been doing well.  She has, over the years, lost much of her muscle mass ~ because she doesn't exersize, not even walking.  She has a wheel chair and a walker.  It's not because she has an underlying medical condition, it's just that she doesn't want to do stuff that hurts or is uncomfortable.  Which I get, but is unrealistic.  My sister and I have been encouraging, but as my sis says, it's really up to her.  And she just doesn't want to.  The depression is probably a direct result of her isolation, which is self imposed....mostly because she won't work on getting her strength back.  It's not a fun circle to be in.

A few days ago, I finally broke down and realized that there is no financial way for me to go and visit my Mom (& sis, son, nephew, etc).  I had been fooling myself figuring I could work it out, but with no vacation time until February, and having taken a pay cut (although I really enjoy my new workplace), I just can't swing it.  Sometimes being terminally optimistic is not a good thing, eh?

Before I go, I wanted to share this recipe (I apologize for the stupid pop up ads & other crap, which really drives me crazy).  Very refreshing during the hot summer months!

Well, gotta go and run a bunch of errands, finish laundry, and figure out what we're having for dinner.  

Love, 365