The politics of work

Ah, the happy "work" family...

I don't know about your work place, but there's always something going on at mine.  Recently the issue of "turning in hours" ~ for our pay ~ has become an issue.  One of my co-workers, a dental assistant, always seems to crow about how much more she works than anyone else.  This frustrates and infuriates her counterpart (dentists usually have two assistants).  Everyone knows that she's just spouting off.  Everyone.

Last pay period she was discussing her hours with one of us ~ not me obviously ~ and mentioned how many hours she had put in.  Which I knew was untrue.  In fact, I added up her hours, including her "I worked through lunch EVERY DAY!" announcement and came up with far fewer hours than she claimed.  Although I felt rather hesitant about it, I spoke to the OM about it.  She assured me she was aware of the situation, and that due to this issue, everyone will be ~ in the near future (?) ~ required to make use of the time clocks that are already part of our software.  Easy to use.  Maybe will take a bit to get used to doing, but easy.  Apparently, I'm the only employee out of 12 that uses it.  I use it so I won't get cheated out of getting paid for when I'm actually at work.  I am already anticipating the groaning and moaning that will go on when they announce this requirement.  No one in this office likes for anything to ever change.  It's like working with a bunch of really old people who are stuck in their routines.

Today, one of our hygienists just had a major hissy fit because the "lunch and learn" we were scheduled to have with a vendor canceled.  He was supposed to bring lunch to the presentation and apparently she didn't bring lunch as she figured there was no need.  One of the docs actually bent over and gave her his credit card so that she and her hygienist coworker could go to lunch ~ on him.  I hadn't brought lunch either, but I did what I thought was a no brainer ~ went to Target and bought some Lean Cuisine entrees, plus a few extras for when this might happen again.  It never occurred to me that I should think the docs are responsible for feeding me because the presenter had to reschedule.  Not to mention we have an hour for lunch with tons of restaurants around us.

It just goes to show you how a person who is over 60, and a smart cookie to boot can act like a willful, spoiled rotten brat.  One of my other coworkers became infuriated which seemed like an over reaction to me, but sheesh.  Can't these adults just grow up?  I need a Xanax.

Love, 365

It's no wonder........

Bing images...

When I was a kid, Mom was pretty regular about taking us to church on Sunday.  Mostly we attended United Methodist churches, and for a brief period (where I think Mom had basically given up on the idea of religion, although that came back later) we went to a Baptist church that was close to our house.  Maybe Mom stayed home to watch over Dad.  He was not much of a gem ~ he was an alcoholic among other things, and had a regular tendency to disappear for a weekend, with Mom in the dark as to where he went or what he did (although it was an unspoken truth that we all knew he partied with his friends, and likely had affairs).

As a child, I never minded church, although it was mostly boring.  I enjoyed singing the hymns, and the communion once a month (why didn't they give us more bread ~ again ~ haha).  I loved the smell of the church, especially the older ones.  They smelled of old books, beeswax, and candles.  It's a very distinctive scent, similar to a library, but not.  Does that make sense?  

After becoming an adult (I use this term loosely, haha) I sometimes would attend  ~ maybe two or three times a year.  You know, Easter, Christmas, etc.  After Romeo and I moved to Albuquerque we tried to find a "church home", but were discouraged by every - single - one discussed tithing more than anything else.  It was a major turn off.  Religion is no different from the government.  You are punished if you don't give them enough of your hard earned money, and usually we were living paycheck to paycheck anyway.  At any rate, we quit going, and basically quit believing.  Romeo professes Buddism, but I just can't buy into that either.  Even Buddism has had its controversies and scandals.  Religion seems to be an ancient construct wherein someone has the upper hand which is always held out for money ~ you know, so they can "do good works" and all that.   I'm not saying that religious communities don't do a great deal of good, they do.  In fact, Catholic Charities is very highly regarded (from what I've heard) and is also a big one ~ #9 on the Forbes list.  

I didn't even know there was a Forbes list, I just found it on the internet.  :)

So, now I'm taking a history class on Catholicism in America.  I've already mentioned my sleepless night after some of the readings for the class.  They aren't alone with their not very christian actions of the past and the current.  All you have to do is pay attention.  I suppose I shouldn't take every negative news story to heart ~ after all, the news is (and hasn't been) interested in reporting the facts.  They have to put their own political and personal beliefs into the story, which leaves one not sure what is true and what isn't.  

Oh crap.  I forgot what the point of this disjointed and rambling rant is.  I suppose that I believe that we should:

~be kind 

~help those who need it

~refrain from lying or cheating or stealing 

~remain faithful and loyal (but not to the point of detriment to self, like staying with a spouse that cheats on you or beats you)

~raise your children to be decent human beings

~be humble

~have love in your heart, which kind of includes all the above

I don't need a church for that.  I already know it.

Love, 365

Monday, monday.....

Saved from a post on parents and kids on FB..

It's my every-other Monday off, and I have been making good use of my time.  I've read everything and made notes on the readings for class, so if there is a quiz, I should do OK.  Last night I was reading The Spanish Frontier in North America by David Weber...she asked us to read three different sections of the book, and I truly hope it is all we will have to read.  I couldn't sleep much at all last night due to how angry I felt knowing just how horribly our Native American's were treated by the Spanish colonialists, in Florida, New Mexico, and California.  *It could have also been the coffee I had mid-afternoon.  I really shouldn't drink coffee after 2 pm.  It sure was good though, Romeo bought me a container of Starbucks cold brew.  It's just plain coffee and I add what I want to it.  It's just too good.

I also did a trial run on a new (to me) route to take to class, now that I discovered there is more than one multi-storied parking garage on UNM campus.  If last week is any indicator, I will always be running to class since the prof. starts class at the moment her watch hits 9:30.  I might need to leave work about 10 min earlier than last week.  

An hour ago our electricity went out ~ probably for about 15-20 minutes.  Our stupid alarm system back up battery has been dead for a year, and we're going to have to replace it.  The noise was deafening.  I very nearly ripped off the plastic box off the wall that held the speaker.  

I'm planning on making another peach pie to take to work tomorrow this afternoon.  I won't make any changes to the recipe except to add just a tad bit more corn starch since these peaches are just so juicy!  Maybe I'll make a few cookies too since Romeo was searching the house for something sweet that wasn't pie.  He had already eaten 3 peaches along with the pie and wanted something different.  

Well, I still have a lot to do, so will leave you with best wishes for a great week!

Love, 365

Peaches, baby!

Palisade peaches from Colorado....

Remember the trip to Santa Fe a few weeks ago?  My friend *Brenda and I took the Railrunner train for a day in Santa Fe to visit the farmer's market there.  While on the trip she mentioned that she will be getting her peaches soon.....and with my inquiry of what that meant, she said that the peaches from Colorado are the best ever and asked if I wanted some, to which I answered YES!  The truck arrived yesterday near the old Octopus Carwash ~ of Breaking Bad fame ~ I managed to buy one box of peaches and placed my name on the list for next year so that I can order however many I want.  But the photo above shows just how many peaches are in one box......I made a pie out of 9, and barely dented the surface.....

Yeah, the aesthetics weren't as good as I envisioned, but the flavor is out of this world...

Who cares how it looks anyway????

After I posted the above photos on FB, one of my co-workers asked: "did you buy any for the office?".  No.  I did not.  It didn't even occur to me.  Why would it?  I told her I would take her a few, and that next year they can order however many boxes they want.  It annoyed me because it made me feel like a self-centered buffoon.  But still, the simple truth is that if you hadn't pre-ordered you could only buy one box.  

Gotta go....I need to look up some recipes using fresh peaches....

Love, 365

Gorilla or Guerilla.....things are just becoming ridiculous

This is Doug Adler.........

Doug is a tennis commentator.  While we are watching a match, he's one (of usually two) people that make comments on and critique plays of the two players in the match.  Apparently he made a comment about the style of play of Venus Williams during a match of the Australian Open earlier this year.  I don't recall the exact sentence, but the word guerilla was used, which social media and other misinterpreted as "gorilla".  Everyone went nuts.  Doug was fired.  Even though the company that fired him was well aware that guerilla (as in warfare, tactics) was a common word used to describe a particularly aggressive form of play on the court.  

I think we've all gone a little nuts.  I sense a lack of backbone from his previous employer and hope that Doug wins his lawsuit.  I looked for any response from Venus but found nothing.  

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I might have to go to Whole Foods ~ formerly known as "whole paycheck" ~ beginning this coming Monday when Amazon takes over the company.  I never shop at Whole Foods unless there's an ingredient I can't find anywhere else.  Even my former boss (whom I call "asshole") complained when his wife would grocery shop there.  

Good news for those of us that have Amazon Prime ~ a staggering 50% of American's subscribe ~ will be able to take advantage of additional discounts when shopping there.  Another incentive to give Whole Foods another try, especially since it is on my way home from work.  

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Did I go to a bakery?  Nope....

I took a vacation day yesterday, and my friend *Francis and I made rolls.  She is currently enrolled in culinary school and is poised to take a class on baking next semester.  In the meantime, she has launched a bread business ~ trust me that her bread is incredibly delicious ~ and works on a food truck, where her boss asked her to make kaiser rolls.  We also made three other types of rolls with the same dough.  It was a lot of fun, and the rolls turned out great.  I can't wait to do more baking with her in the future!  It's not easy to find a friend who is interested in baking, and we are both thrilled to find that we compliment each other in skills and ideas.  

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School started this week.....on Tuesday, I was about 10 min late to class partly because I couldn't find a place to park (more on that in a minute) and I had written down the wrong room number.  I spoke to the professor after class to let her know of my circumstances, which she dismissed by telling me that if I am late and miss the quiz, it's a zero.  So much for consideration, huh?  I get it, she wants students to be on time, and my petty concerns are just that ~  but I can't control the traffic from work to class, so I guess I'll have to do my best and hope I'm not late on a quiz day, which are completely random and never announced in advance.  :(

Parking and driving near UNM on Tuesday at that time of day is totally out of control.  I was shocked at the chaos.....but then, I've never taken a class that starts this early (9:30).  My usual paid parking lot was completely full, and the traffic around UNM was so congested I ended up parking in lot C, which is reserved for employees.  I didn't care, I just needed to get to class on time, but next week I'll have to take that option off the table, as I don't want my car booted or towed.  I did find a parking garage close to class, I just need to find an efficient way to get there.  

All of my previous classes were no earlier than 11~11:30.  Lesson learned as I will have to leave even earlier than I had planned to get to class on time.....I plan on taking an online class next semester, so this won't be an issue.  I had hoped I could purchase a pass for lot C until I discovered that it is reserved for employees.  Drat.

Otherwise the class is interesting.  I'm not impressed by the lecturing style of the prof.  She starts a sentence and then goes on a tangent of a related topic.  There's a graduate student from Germany in the class who raises his hand for every single question.  It's funny to watch the professor try to ignore him....sometimes she states emphatically "let's hear from someone who hasn't commented yet".  He doesn't seem to get it though...I suppose he believes he has a real gem of a thought and we should hear it.  I swear, he really does keep his hand up nearly the entire 1 1/4 hour.  

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Well, I have chores to do, and this is long enough, eh?

Love, 365

The trouble with husbands.....Part 2

Me, before the hair was pulled out.......

Our house, just like any house, sometimes needs repair.  Romeo is great at "handyman" repairs.  We've never ever ever paid anyone to do anything to our house with the exception of a plumber friend of mine that replaced a toilet in the master bath ~ which turned out to be one hell of a job.  He does maintenance on everything, including the roof.  Has replaced at least 2 hot water heaters.  Shuts down the evap cooler himself, when most folks pay someone to do what Romeo would call "a shitty job".  He is meticulous and likes to do it right.  Keep this in mind.

For a couple of years now we knew that some of the boards on our small second story deck were experiencing dry rot.  Not surprising in our climate.  90+% of our fences are made from cinder block or brick, which was quite the novelty to me when I first noticed them in El Paso.  This summer was Romeo's first ever "teacher summer" ~ he was off from June 25 until August 3.  He intended to tackle the deck this summer, but because of a snafu with his contract, he wasn't paid.  So, he didn't make much headway with the deck, other than to remove boards a bit at a time.  I wasn't really happy with this development because the backyard looks like a war zone.  Plus, the old rotted out deck did provide some shade from the setting sun.  Sadly, our backyard is on the west side of the house, something I will keep in mind if we ever sell this one and move.  

This weekend, he announced he would be removing the rest of the boards.  It was pretty noisy.  I was trying my best to ignore it while watching the semi-finals of the tennis tournament in Cincinnati.  After an hour or so, he comes in and tells me that the column that holds up the southwestern side of the deck is wobbly.  "It might have to come down," he says.  I told him I wish he wouldn't, and for about 15 minutes we have a rather loud argument where he accuses me of not believing him and I counteract that with that's not the point.  At any rate, I told him to do what he thinks needs to be done.   Some short time after that, there's a loud noise, and he comes in to tell me that he dented the grill when a board came down.  It's not too bad, he says, it's just the lid.  No problem, I say ~ it's still usable if not a little battle weary.  

Another short period of time later, there's an even louder noise, rather like the house is falling down.  Where he comes in to tell me that the column wasn't at all supported, and when he removed the last board the entire thing (probably 8 ft tall) crashed on to the grill.  This is where I started pulling out the hair.  Of course, I'm thankful it didn't fall toward the house (oh so thankful!!).  I suppose my first thought was why didn't you move the grill somewhere else, but our backyard is very small, so there were limited options.  I mentioned that I didn't think we were going to have fajitas for dinner, but he assured me the grill still works, it just took off the side panel.  "Once we get a new grill cover (the original was destroyed in the crash), it won't even be noticeable!".   Sigh.......

So, now not only do we have a huge stack of boards from the deck, there's a sad column laying on the ground as well.  I wonder how long it will take before we actually have a deck again.

Love, 365

Wherever my thoughts take me.......

Bing.....haha

Recently we had an older lady come into the office for her teeth cleaning appointment.....all very routine.  Moments after she checked in with us I was completely over powered by her perfume.  I have a feeling it was "Youth Dew" which is ~ funny enough ~ very popular among the over 70 age group although this is based solely on my own observations.  What ever it was, I felt sorry for the temporary hygienist who was working for one of ours that was on vacation.  I am sitting 20 feet away and could barely tolerate it.....I can't imagine leaning over that person for an hour.  So, please consider that when you go to your dental appointments.  Not just perfume, but if you're a smoker, please don't smoke one right before you go in.  I know you pop in some gum or a mint before you step into the office, but the smell clings and can make non-smokers feel nauseated.  Just go to the gym for an epic work-out?  Please.....take a shower first.  Oh, you think I'm kidding?  Nope.  But trust me that a shower of perfume doesn't remove that smell.....just think of how it smells in the bathroom when you spray that air freshener.  *Now it smells like poop and flowers.  Nice.  

**************Brought to you by everyone who works in close proximity to humans, like hairdressers, nurses and doctors, masseuses, and the person who does your nails.  ************

Yep, Bing again....

It's either YAY!  or BOO! depending.  Believe it or not, lots of kids enjoy school ~ I enjoyed school but was still sad when we went back as it signaled the end of summer.  Who doesn't enjoy the freedom of summer break?  My sister and I loved it.  We never had camps or sitters after I turned 13. I suppose my Mom figured we had enough common sense to stay out of trouble.  :-)  

 Romeo started back on 8/2 where teachers perform various enchantments get their classrooms ready, discuss challenges, have meetings, sign their contracts and choose insurance options ~ all pretty boring stuff. Romeo was telling me that they have a new special education teacher, which was a relief to everyone.  Last years special ed teacher was fired because he didn't do anything.  Seriously, he probably played with his phone and tried to keep things quiet.  I don't really know the whole story, but after he was let go, the kids in that program were placed in regular class rooms, which made teaching the other kids rather difficult.  The new special ed teacher is apparently very accomplished and had to take a major pay-cut, making me wonder how long he will stay.  I suppose that it depends on how necessary money is.  Romeo took a major cut in pay when he started teaching, but is happy enough that he recently mentioned he had no interest in going corporate ever again.   

My class starts on Tuesday ~ a history class ~ "Catholicism in America".  No, I'm not Catholic but it's a history class, and I need those to finish my minor requirements.  I just need to clean out my back pack and reorganize and I'll be all set.

I hope you all have a great weekend!

Love, 365

The trouble with husbands

Last night we had a thunderstorm, which the dog hates (what dog doesn't?), so Romeo decides to shut  the only open window, thinking the dog would calm down.  So, I had to open the window in the bathroom for air circulation.  We have an evaporative cooler, so it's common to crack open a window that creates cool air circulation in our bedroom ~ or any other room for that matter.  Evaporative cooling is an old technology (snort) that drags air over a mesh of some kind that water drips over, and cools the air as it does so.  I realize I'm probably not explaining it very well.  All I wanted to point out was that closing the window reduces the cool air coming into the bedroom.  Sheesh.

Anyway, then Romeo asks if we need to put towels on the window sills downstairs.  Sadly this requires another explanation, but a quick one.  If the rain is hard enough and blows in a certain direction, we sometimes have a leak.  We've done everything (except replace the roofing) we can to stop the leak, but sometimes it still happens.  I said I didn't know, and a moment later he went downstairs to put the towels on the window sill.  Then comes back upstairs to announce that I can re-open the window if I want, he's going to sleep in the spare room.

Just this little tiny thing and he huffs himself into the spare bedroom.  Likely I'm just ridiculous.  Ha ha.

Just so you know, ladies ~ you younger ones that haven't reached your 50's and 60's ~ he's gonna change.  And you just have to roll with it.  Romeo is much more sensitive these days.  And it's not always easy to deal with.

Do I love him still?  Of course!!  He's a wonderful husband, a great dad.  Doesn't mean he can't drive me crazy.

Love, 365

Catching up ....

Street musicians at the Santa Fe farmer's market

I called a friend for a train trip to Santa Fe for the farmer's market on Saturday ~ it was a lot of fun, although I was a little unsure about basically spending a whole day on the trip.  The train is nice and relaxing  ~ although you have to get to the station early at 8:45 ~ but the return train doesn't leave Santa Fe until 3:15.  So, I spent the entire day on this one activity....I tried to keep myself from thinking of all the other things I needed to do and just enjoy.  The weather was perfect, probably around 80 with a slight breeze.  We had a wonderful lunch at The Cowgirl cafe....

Shrimp tacos and ice tea.....

The Unbroken Horse band...

I still have a week before classes begin, and my boss left for a two-week vacation on Thursday, so I decided to take a few days while he is gone.  I have a few projects planned for when I go back so that it won't be so incredibly boring.  If I don't find something to do, I'll lose my mind....ha ha.

Usually I write something every weekend here, but the last few weeks I just couldn't find anything I wanted to say.  I suppose everyone who blogs hits a snag now and again.  I've been working on figuring myself out....sounds weird, doesn't it?  I just need a bit of introspection.  That's one of the reasons I texted my friend about the trip to Santa Fe.  I find myself in a rut, not really getting out and doing things, and I don't want to spend my life sitting in the house.......sure, I'm doing things, but it seems rather like going through the motions instead of experiencing something new, or doing something I've done with a friend I haven't done much with.....but the next time I plan on going to the farmer's market I'm driving.  It was a constant struggle to keep my newly purchased fruits and vegetables from getting squished.....I probably should have brought bubble wrap!  

Hope all of you have a great week..

Love, 365