Lose the Flops!

Sometimes when I am on break at work I will see these two guys walking out of the building together. Nothing unusual about that except these two guys are always wearing flip-flops. And big baggie shorts.

They stroll out the door and disappear in the parking lot. I never see them get into a car as they just disappear. I never see them come back either. This is usually early in the day so it makes me wonder what they are doing in the building.

When they walk, they sort of do like a sashay, swinging their hips as they move. I find all this very strange. The walk, the disappearing but the most disturbing is the flip-flops.

Now it is not the actual flip-flops that bother me it is more that these guys are wearing them to a place of business. Sure where them to the beach or the park, but not to work guys. Especially when they need a good pedi.

Kind of reminds me of when some girls were wearing daisy duke shorts to work with their butt cheeks sticking out. But that is a story for another day. I cannot speak about butt cheeks and gnarly toes in the same post.

I Got Da Crate!!!

Well, the crate saga continues, except I won in the end! As I wrote earlier, I asked for and received a shipping crate that I wanted to turn into a planter, just to have it ripped away from me to be auctioned off by my company.

So, said crate went up on the auction block yesterday! I refused to participate because hey, it was given to me in the first place, and I knew the auction would probably get ugly and it was a matter of principal.

Fast forward to auction. I hear laughter and comments. They are also auctioning a few other items such as an old Emac and computer memory cards and, BTW the money from all this will go to buy us cake on the first of the month to celebrate birthdays in that month which BTW again, we all hate because they sing Happy Birthday to us and completely embarrass us!

So, I hear later that the crate was sold for $55 bucks. I think, what fool would pay that amount for a stupid wood crate? Well, I will tell you who. My homie girls! My friends, who have my back L, D, and G, they banded together and chipped in and did not give up until they won the crate!

After awhile these girls come to me and they all shout out, “Happy Birthday”. (It is not my birthday, just so you know.) Then they tell me I am the proud owner if the crate and what they did.

Honestly, I am humbled and dumbfounded that they would do this for me. In the end, it pays to be nice! Good vs Bad. I guess.

On Monday, I will be fetching the crate. This weekend I will be visiting our local home improvement store and buying some mulch and corn seeds. Next fall I will be sharing my harvest with my girls at work, L, D and G!

Thanks ladies for making my day! It meant the world to me!

Give Me Back My Crate!

The company that I work for just bought a professional scanner because, well we scan big documents. It is quite nifty and very fast. It arrived in a huge crate that is about 4′ long and about 3′ wide and probably 2′ tall.

As soon as I saw it, I knew I wanted it. Why? Because it would be perfect for a corn planter. That is me always thinking of ways to plant knew things?

Anyway, I went and asked the supervisor of the department if I could have it. He asked a couple of people and then came back and said I could have it. I was ecstatic to say the least. I went home and told Corvette and he was just as pleased. We were probably farmers in another life.

Everything was great and I was to bring it home on Thursday until I went on break and saw a sign on the door.

Buy Tickets For

Crate Raffle

WTF!!!!!!!! That baby is mine! I go and tell the receptionist that it was given to me yesterday. She says to talk to the office manager. He says people are fighting over it and this is the best way and get this no one else asked for it. Only me. Me. Me. Me.

So by now the whole office is starting to talk about The Crate. Some go and ask how many raffle tickets you can buy.(Just so you know, my friends did this in hopes of giving me The Crate.) Management decides that it would not be fair if someone bought fifty tickets and someone else could only buy one ticket. So on my last break I see this sign on the door.

Crate will be auctioned

Friday 11:oo

There was even talk of having everyone write an essay on what they plan to do with The Crate. Hmm, I think I would have an edge on that one. Don’t you think.

Anyway, I am still steaming. I will get over it, but it was mine dammit! Also, I do not know if I will participate in the auction. I can not see paying some crazy amount of money for something Corvette can build easily and rather inexpensively.

Plus, I can not bear to watch losing it to some one else.

Career or Family?

Without a doubt, family is and should always be more important. While a career can certainly be a rewarding experience, family, especially children should be the focal point. Working couples can find it very difficult to juggle career and family. It is by far better for one parent to stay home and raise the children.

Anyone who thinks career is more important than family probably should not have a family. In these modern times, people seem to have forgotten the importance of a parent teaching, nurturing and caring for children. Sure children seem to do ok when raised by other caregivers, but they will ultimately benefit from the love of a parent.

Having a parent at home not only makes for a stabilizing environment, but also provides security and love for all family members. When women choose to stay home, the house is not just simply a house, but a home. For some women the thought of leaving children to go have a career is unthinkable. Others decide that not using the hard-earned college education is unacceptable. Either way, family has to be the more important of the two.

Having a great family life is a rewarding experience that will continue forever even after retirement and beyond. People can never replace family events such as baby’s first steps, school events and other precious moments. No one should have to regret missing life’s special moments. Life goes by too fast and people should consider the future when deciding between career and raising a family.

Some would cite financial difficulty when considering having a parent stay at home. The answer should and can be to simply budget purchases and living within the family’s means. Families have and do get by on one car, cheaper housing and stretching the dollar. Preparing meals and finding alternatives to going out to expensive places for entertainment can help a family stay within budget.

Single parents do have to support families. There are ways for a single person to work but still be actively raising a family. For instance, the single parent might choose to live at home with his or her parents and work at night. Working from home is another option to explore. Sometimes life events make things difficult but many people manage to find solutions and then make those solutions work.

Choosing between career and family should not even be a question. Developing another human being is one of the most important jobs on earth. In America, people do have the freedom to choose between a career and family. People should give this issue some very serious thought before making a decision. It is important to remember that choices made early on can have profound effects in later life. Planning today can help yield a happier tomorrow.

Upset Co-Workers, Leaf Blowers and One Rude Dude

I woke up this morning in a really good mood. After all, it’s Friday and payday. I worked over during the week so I could get off of work early and was looking forward to alone time at home with the last season of Six Feet Under.

Everything was going just fine except my cubicle neighbor was having a bad day with some extreme personal problems. She spent most of the morning receiving phone calls and crying.

After a bit I hear her say, “Oh no!”
So I say, “What’s wrong?”

She had just entered some information incorrectly. Ok, no big deal I tell her it can be fixed and I proceed to tell her how to fix it. I guess she did not understand in her upset state because pretty soon she gets up and I can hear her talking to some other people about it and by now she is pretty hysterical. Of course they tell her it is ok but proceed to try and tell her to fix it in the most difficult way possible. This always happens and makes my head blow off.

She comes back and I roll over and sit with her until it is all fixed. No harm no foul. BUT, she is now worried that our supervisor is mad at her for making the mistake (can you say insecurity?). I reassure her that everything is fine and the mistakes are corrected. I should have been a phyciatrist.

After all this I decide to go take a break. I go outside and there is man with a leaf blower. I hear him coming closer and closer but don’t think much of it. Closer and louder and Whoa, he nails me with the leaf blower. I just can’t believe this just happen!!
Of course he apologizes profusely and thank God there wasn’t a whole lot of dirt on the walkway but I was beginning to wonder about my nice Friday.

Ok, next up I go up to my floor and since we have security cards to get in the door we are not allowed to “tailgate” anybody going in the door. We can hold the door for people but we all have to hold the cards to the device and “beep” in. So I am almost right behind him and he turns and looks at me but does he hold the door? Hell no. Another girl who was about to leave just looked at him and shook her head. Now outside of his obvious lack of manners is his skill of sleeping almost all day at work! I think he is only about 20 or so but that is no excuse for no manners and job sleeping.

I think on Monday I need to put a plan into action. Chair bumping (oh excuse me!), balled-up post-it note throwing (who did that?), and a speech, “When you meet a lady at the door…”.