The 4th day is the day we left. I woke up at 6am before my alarm even went off. Breakfast was being served from 7 - 8 or something like that, but like I said before, I'm not a breakfast person so I didn't want to go. I did however want a coffee. I put on some clothes, my new Lenovo hat, and some sunglasses and went to the cafe. I got my coffee and went back to my room. We had to check out by 11am, so I started gathering and packing my things. I also got out my laptop and logged into my work email to stay caught up. Robert called while I was getting my coffee and left me a message. I returned his call and told him I was not going to breakfast, that I had already gotten a coffee and I was packing. He had already packed his stuff the night before, so he was ready to go.
I took a shower and got dressed, trying to pack as I finished using something. I was taking my time because I had plenty of it. I talked to my boss for a little while on Instant Messenger before shutting down my computer and packing it, too. It was still relatively early - 9am, so I read for a little while before leaving my room. Robert called and was ready to get all of his things out of his room and go to the main hotel and walk around. Our bus to the airport did not leave until 12:45, so I was not in a hurry to leave - we had plenty of time to walk around after checkout time! I told him he could bring his stuff and come to my room if he wanted to, while I finished up. But since my room was in the opposite direction, he did not want to bring all of his luggage with him to my room and then have to take it all the way back to the lobby. So he went on down to the lobby to check his bags with the bell hop while we waited. He called and said we could go ahead and get our boarding passes and our luggage checked right at the hotel, so he was doing that. After the fiasco of getting my luggage on the first day, I was hesitant to trust them with it again. But Robert thought it would be fine, so I decided to do it, too.
When I came to Orlando, I had 2 bags - my suitcase with my clothes that I checked at the airport, and my laptop bag that I carried onto the airplane. Now that I am leaving, I have 4 bags. Two that were given to us by Lenovo in addition to the ones I brought with me - both of the new ones were full, also. The laptop case they gave us was full with all of the freebies we were given. The other was a canvas beach-bag type that I had put the souvenirs I had bought. So not having to worry about carrying them through the airport to check was sounding rather good. If they got lost, I had clothes at home to wear! :)
So I proceeded to the lobby with all of my bags in tow. I went to the desk to check out because they did not have video check out, so I wanted to make sure nothing else was needed by me. I checked my two carry-on bags with the bell hop guys, and proceeded outside to where the airline check-in is located. Robert was sitting off to the side of the counter, and there was a line, so I took my place in line and waited. Apparently Robert was having problems. When they tried to print his baggage labels, the did not print. When they tried to re-process, they received an error that the passenger was over his limit of bags to check. We were only allowed to check 2 bags, and the computer thought he was trying to check 4. So, after talking to the airline, the people at the counter told him he would have to check his bags at the airport.
Not promising, but I went ahead and did it anyway. I did not have any problems with mine. :) With our luggage out of the way, we decided to walk around and shop in the shops, take pictures that we had not taken previously, and just hang out. It was a beautiful, sunny day, so after we were finished with everything else, we sat outside on a bench near the bus stop. It was around noon, so we had a while. Another bus came to the stop and they asked if we were supposed to be on it. After telling them that our bus was supposed to be the 12:45 one, they said if the bus driver was OK with it, we could go ahead on this one. Since we were not sure how long it would take to fix his luggage issue, we went for it.
We arrived at the airport and had to walk FOREVER to the baggage check. It was packed! I'm glad I didn't have to deal with it, but since Robert did, I found a bench nearby and waited. It wasn't too bad, about 10 minutes or so, and we were off to find our gate. The security check line was a lot longer here than in Dayton, but it didn't take too long. Put everything in a bin, take off your shoes and any coats you have, remove any computers or video cameras from their cases, put them on the conveyor belt thing, and walk through. No problem.
We found our gate and took our seats. I decided to go and get something for lunch and left my stuff with Robert. Burger King was the most appealing at the time, so I went there to get some food. It was like a cafeterial line - they put sandwiches in a warmer and you choose what you want, put it on a try and move forward to the cashier. Condiments are on a little island so you can take what you want, except for ketchup. What is it with the rationing of ketchup?? I had to go back and wait in line to receive 2 small packages of ketchup from the cashier.
When walking back to the gate, I looked around at all the people. There was one couple sleeping - the woman laying on the bench and the man lying on the floor beneath the bench. Both appeared to be sleeping rather well. I don't think I could sleep like that, in a public place, but if they were able to, more power to them.
Our plane was scheduled to fly out at 3:10PM. We did not have seats anywhere near each other this time, and the plane was full. I spent the flight time reading and we were home in no time. I gathered my bags and walked down the rolling stairs to wait for Robert (he was further back than I was) and we headed for the baggage claim area. After we passed the security check point, Roberts daughter came running for him, so happy to see him. I had told Jeff that he could be late and that way I would be sure to have my luggage already and he wouldn't have to park.
I got my luggage, said good-bye to Robert and his family, and went outside to sit on a bench. I called Jeff to see if they were anywhere near, but did not get through. Allie called me back and told me they were near West Carrolton, so I knew it would be a little while. It was a nice day, so I didn't mind sitting outside waiting. :) Besides, I still had some of my book left to read!
Perfect timing, I finished the last sentence in the book and looked up to see my car coming towards me. Conor was sitting in the back seat and his eyes got really wide when he saw me. At least someone missed me!! I started getting my bags and putting them in the trunk, Jeff got out and helped me, and the girls got out to switch seats, so Conor was left buckled into his car seat. I opened the back door and let him out and he just hugged me so tight. He kept telling me "I love you, mommy!"
I was definitely glad to be home! It was fun, and a little busy, and I just wanted to go home and relax. Yeah, right. Relax. I don't know what that is anymore! :) We ended up stopping to get something to eat because everyone was hungry and I didn't want to cook! I had Jeff drop me off at home before taking Ceara to her mom's house, so I got home at 8:30 and had a little bit of quiet time to unpack and start some laundry. But I was happy to be home! :)
Friday, May 26, 2006
Friday, May 19, 2006
Florida - Day 3
I got up today with no problems, I actually woke up at 6AM - well before my alarm clock went off. I piddled around a little bit because I was still a little bit asleep, but I eventually got in the shower. I heard my phone ringing and knew it was Robert, but obviously I couldn’t answer it. I called him back when I got out to let him know that I was way ahead of him.
This is on Tuesday – this is the day that we have only a couple of hours in a meeting then we were going to Epcot! :) We made it to breakfast in plenty of time – bacon, eggs, sausage, hash browns, biscuits, gravy, donuts, muffins, coffee cake, 3 juices, and coffee. I do like all of these things, but I really am not much of a breakfast person. I got a little bit of food on my plate and headed towards a seat. Robert piled his plate high and followed. I ate some of the food, but really just wanted coffee. The coffee they had was not as good as the one I had found in the café the day before, so I opted to go back there and get another one of those. Robert told me that I’m spoiled. Yeah, whatever. :) Just when it comes to my coffee.
I returned in time for the meeting, located Robert and took my seat. The opening for this meeting was 4 small Chinese boys doing acrobatic stunts with the help of some barrel type things that looked like over-sized round cheese graters. They were great! I do not really know how to describe what they did without it sounding really, ummmm, bad. I will attempt to do so….. They could sit on these “barrels” and fold their bodies so that they went all the way down in them – with their feet and heads sticking out of the top. They would then rock the barrel so that they tipped forward and could get out. They formed a pyramid with 3 of them, then the one on the top would bend over and put the barrel on his bottom… and the 4th one would do some flips on the ground and spring up to land with his bottom in the other side of the barrel. They all did all sorts of acrobatic flips and stunts, and it was great! They looked to be around maybe 8 years old.
After their show it got BORING. I was finding it difficult to stay awake. One of the presenters found it necessary to share with us the same slide show that was shown to the managers the day before – the techs hadn’t seen it, but they were finding it quite boring, too. The 1 ½ hours that we had to sit there were longer than any other time. We were finally free to go at 10AM. This was the day that everyone could do whatever they had chosen – Disney World, MGM Studios, Epcot, Animal Kingdom or Golf. We had chosen Epcot. It had begun to rain, but we still wanted to go. Robert wasn’t feeling quite up to it at that time, so he wanted to go to his room and take a nap. I told him to call me when he was ready and I went to my room and did some work, then read while I waited. I finally called him at noon and asked him if he still wanted to go. So he got ready and we were off.
We rode the mono-rail and arrived at Epcot. We rode the ride in the big silver ball first. I forget the name of it… it was interesting. After that one, we went to ride a space shuttle simulation-type ride. It was, of course, still raining. Robert was very excited about the space ship ride, but I was very skeptical. It said “if you get motion sickness, or you do not like spinning, you shouldn’t ride this ride.” OK, I do not like spinning at all (I’m getting old and it isn’t fun anymore!), but I only get motion sickness if I am trying to read while riding. So I went ahead and rode it. I must say it was an experience. Not the worst, not the best. I’m glad I know what it is like, but I am not likely to ride it again.
Those were the only 2 rides we had time to ride. We had to be back at the hotel for dinner (which was at 7PM) and closing ceremonies. We spent the rest of our time walking around to the different countries. I absolutely loved it. I loved seeing the various creations made by the different cultures, and the atmosphere and music was wonderful! :)
We ate lunch in France, watched a band performing in Morocco (called Mo Rockin), and were entertained by a Mime in Italy. We walked through almost every store in quite a few of the countries. We were not able to visit them all because we had to leave to get back for dinner. Of course I got yelled at a lot for “wandering off” while we were browsing – I think Robert has some sort of fear of being left behind. He kept threatening to buy a leash and put me on it so that he wouldn’t lose me. For goodness sake, we both had our cell phones and could call each other if we were to lose each other, but that didn’t sooth his worry, apparently. I would walk outside a shop I was done in before he was done looking and he would yell “Katie! Where are you going?” Ummmm… just right out here Robert, I will wait for you… I told him at one point that we were both adults and would both be fully capable of finding our way back to the hotel on our own if we were unable to find each other! Dang! Lol
I got Conor a small drum in Morocco – he likes to pretend he is playing the drums a lot on stuff, so I felt he would enjoy it. I also got various samples of chocolate from different countries. Germany, France, Italy… to name a few. For the girls I got little mini – drum things… like they used in Karate Kid. There are 2 beads attached by a string to each side of the drum (which is on a stick) and you twist it to make it play a beat.
It rained on and off the entire day and we were both pretty damp. It didn’t really bother me, I’m not the type to get upset over rain – I don’t care if my hair gets messed up or anything like that – at least not usually. Now, if I were all dressed up to go somewhere and wanted to look nice, I would care a bit more.
We were late arriving back at the hotel – we did not get there until 6:50PM – because the mono-rail made a lot more stops on the way back. So I did not have a whole lot of time to get ready. Robert wanted to just go on down, so I told him to go ahead because it would take me a little while. He really didn’t want to go by himself, he asked how long and offered to wait… but I wouldn’t give him a specific time and told him it could be a while so he would just go. He called my cell phone to let me know where he was sitting and that he would save me a seat. It did not take me too long, actually. I straightened my hair out and re-did my makeup. I had to iron my pants, too, and I was done and there by 7:40. Not bad. 10 minutes of that is how long it took to walk from my room to the convention center.
The last diner consisted of salad, Lobster, steak, grilled chicken, muscles, red-potatoes, beans, corn on the cob, and dinner rolls. It was served buffet style, all-you-can-eat. They said the record for the most Lobsters eaten had been set last year – 16 of em. Robert only could eat 3. There was, once again, an open bar, too. They did a few prize drawings and then they had 2 guys with pianos on-stage performing. They were great! Not only did they play music and sing, but they did comedy routines, too. It was hilarious. They eventually asked for the members of the Security Advisory Committee to come up on stage (our VP is one of the members). When they all were up there, the piano guys said that they were instructed to embarrass them the best way they could. So, one of them instructed them on how to dance while the other played the Piano and sang. The song and dance? The YMCA. It was absolutely hilarious! They would stop the music in the middle of the chorus to point out that some of them did not know how to spell – that YMCA was not YMAC or ACMY – and there was no e or I in there! Oh, it was great! And the best part – we have pictures…. Really good pictures…. The VP has stated that he knows who to come after should those pictures ever get sent out to the entire company, or to our company newsletter…
The evening actually ended at 10PM, as scheduled. I was invited to a party at the Jacuzzi by one of the other service managers, but I was not up for it. I said maybe and went back to my room. I did consider it for a little while, but in the end I chose to just read in bed for a while. It is not very often that I am able to read anymore, and I have a Jacuzzi tub at home… so, kinda an easy decision for me. I did intend to walk out there to say good-bye to all the new people I had met, but I didn’t make it. I was asleep before midnight. Yep, just a party animal…
The forth and final day will be short and sweet, but it will also be on another post… this one is too long, anyway!
This is on Tuesday – this is the day that we have only a couple of hours in a meeting then we were going to Epcot! :) We made it to breakfast in plenty of time – bacon, eggs, sausage, hash browns, biscuits, gravy, donuts, muffins, coffee cake, 3 juices, and coffee. I do like all of these things, but I really am not much of a breakfast person. I got a little bit of food on my plate and headed towards a seat. Robert piled his plate high and followed. I ate some of the food, but really just wanted coffee. The coffee they had was not as good as the one I had found in the café the day before, so I opted to go back there and get another one of those. Robert told me that I’m spoiled. Yeah, whatever. :) Just when it comes to my coffee.
I returned in time for the meeting, located Robert and took my seat. The opening for this meeting was 4 small Chinese boys doing acrobatic stunts with the help of some barrel type things that looked like over-sized round cheese graters. They were great! I do not really know how to describe what they did without it sounding really, ummmm, bad. I will attempt to do so….. They could sit on these “barrels” and fold their bodies so that they went all the way down in them – with their feet and heads sticking out of the top. They would then rock the barrel so that they tipped forward and could get out. They formed a pyramid with 3 of them, then the one on the top would bend over and put the barrel on his bottom… and the 4th one would do some flips on the ground and spring up to land with his bottom in the other side of the barrel. They all did all sorts of acrobatic flips and stunts, and it was great! They looked to be around maybe 8 years old.
After their show it got BORING. I was finding it difficult to stay awake. One of the presenters found it necessary to share with us the same slide show that was shown to the managers the day before – the techs hadn’t seen it, but they were finding it quite boring, too. The 1 ½ hours that we had to sit there were longer than any other time. We were finally free to go at 10AM. This was the day that everyone could do whatever they had chosen – Disney World, MGM Studios, Epcot, Animal Kingdom or Golf. We had chosen Epcot. It had begun to rain, but we still wanted to go. Robert wasn’t feeling quite up to it at that time, so he wanted to go to his room and take a nap. I told him to call me when he was ready and I went to my room and did some work, then read while I waited. I finally called him at noon and asked him if he still wanted to go. So he got ready and we were off.
We rode the mono-rail and arrived at Epcot. We rode the ride in the big silver ball first. I forget the name of it… it was interesting. After that one, we went to ride a space shuttle simulation-type ride. It was, of course, still raining. Robert was very excited about the space ship ride, but I was very skeptical. It said “if you get motion sickness, or you do not like spinning, you shouldn’t ride this ride.” OK, I do not like spinning at all (I’m getting old and it isn’t fun anymore!), but I only get motion sickness if I am trying to read while riding. So I went ahead and rode it. I must say it was an experience. Not the worst, not the best. I’m glad I know what it is like, but I am not likely to ride it again.
Those were the only 2 rides we had time to ride. We had to be back at the hotel for dinner (which was at 7PM) and closing ceremonies. We spent the rest of our time walking around to the different countries. I absolutely loved it. I loved seeing the various creations made by the different cultures, and the atmosphere and music was wonderful! :)
We ate lunch in France, watched a band performing in Morocco (called Mo Rockin), and were entertained by a Mime in Italy. We walked through almost every store in quite a few of the countries. We were not able to visit them all because we had to leave to get back for dinner. Of course I got yelled at a lot for “wandering off” while we were browsing – I think Robert has some sort of fear of being left behind. He kept threatening to buy a leash and put me on it so that he wouldn’t lose me. For goodness sake, we both had our cell phones and could call each other if we were to lose each other, but that didn’t sooth his worry, apparently. I would walk outside a shop I was done in before he was done looking and he would yell “Katie! Where are you going?” Ummmm… just right out here Robert, I will wait for you… I told him at one point that we were both adults and would both be fully capable of finding our way back to the hotel on our own if we were unable to find each other! Dang! Lol
I got Conor a small drum in Morocco – he likes to pretend he is playing the drums a lot on stuff, so I felt he would enjoy it. I also got various samples of chocolate from different countries. Germany, France, Italy… to name a few. For the girls I got little mini – drum things… like they used in Karate Kid. There are 2 beads attached by a string to each side of the drum (which is on a stick) and you twist it to make it play a beat.
It rained on and off the entire day and we were both pretty damp. It didn’t really bother me, I’m not the type to get upset over rain – I don’t care if my hair gets messed up or anything like that – at least not usually. Now, if I were all dressed up to go somewhere and wanted to look nice, I would care a bit more.
We were late arriving back at the hotel – we did not get there until 6:50PM – because the mono-rail made a lot more stops on the way back. So I did not have a whole lot of time to get ready. Robert wanted to just go on down, so I told him to go ahead because it would take me a little while. He really didn’t want to go by himself, he asked how long and offered to wait… but I wouldn’t give him a specific time and told him it could be a while so he would just go. He called my cell phone to let me know where he was sitting and that he would save me a seat. It did not take me too long, actually. I straightened my hair out and re-did my makeup. I had to iron my pants, too, and I was done and there by 7:40. Not bad. 10 minutes of that is how long it took to walk from my room to the convention center.
The last diner consisted of salad, Lobster, steak, grilled chicken, muscles, red-potatoes, beans, corn on the cob, and dinner rolls. It was served buffet style, all-you-can-eat. They said the record for the most Lobsters eaten had been set last year – 16 of em. Robert only could eat 3. There was, once again, an open bar, too. They did a few prize drawings and then they had 2 guys with pianos on-stage performing. They were great! Not only did they play music and sing, but they did comedy routines, too. It was hilarious. They eventually asked for the members of the Security Advisory Committee to come up on stage (our VP is one of the members). When they all were up there, the piano guys said that they were instructed to embarrass them the best way they could. So, one of them instructed them on how to dance while the other played the Piano and sang. The song and dance? The YMCA. It was absolutely hilarious! They would stop the music in the middle of the chorus to point out that some of them did not know how to spell – that YMCA was not YMAC or ACMY – and there was no e or I in there! Oh, it was great! And the best part – we have pictures…. Really good pictures…. The VP has stated that he knows who to come after should those pictures ever get sent out to the entire company, or to our company newsletter…
The evening actually ended at 10PM, as scheduled. I was invited to a party at the Jacuzzi by one of the other service managers, but I was not up for it. I said maybe and went back to my room. I did consider it for a little while, but in the end I chose to just read in bed for a while. It is not very often that I am able to read anymore, and I have a Jacuzzi tub at home… so, kinda an easy decision for me. I did intend to walk out there to say good-bye to all the new people I had met, but I didn’t make it. I was asleep before midnight. Yep, just a party animal…
The forth and final day will be short and sweet, but it will also be on another post… this one is too long, anyway!
Thursday, May 18, 2006
Florida - Day 2
I woke up to the phone ringing - it was Robert wondering if I was ready for breakfast. Ummmm, no... you just woke me up. Apparently I slept right through my alarm clock. It was 7:10 and our meeting started at 8, so I knew I could make that. I told Robert to go on to breakfast without me and that I would see him at the meeting. Oh, well, I'm not much of a breakfast person anyway - I just need my coffee and I am fine. I got into the shower and got ready in no time. I walked to the hotel coffee shop, hoping to find something that would be comparable to my usual coffee back home. I ordered the special from the sign - it looked and sounded good - then I went to the conference center to get to the meeting. I got there before it started, found Robert in the huge crowd, and took my seat beside him.
I had no idea what to expect, but the theme of the meeting was the Olympics. Lenovo was a huge sponsor of the Olympics and had chosen that for the theme. The lights dimmed and all these people in togas made their way up the center isle. They all took their places on stage around the pillars and 2 men in spandex white shorts came out on stage and faced each other. Talk about muscular. Oh my.... I don't think I could begin to describe how ripped these 2 are - huge muscles!! The 2 men began a routine of complicated stunts, some things I did not think were possible. They took hold of each others arms, one's right arm locked onto the others right arm by holding onto each other's forearms - close to their elbows, and one of them laid down on the stage. He locked his arm that was holding the other guys arm and the 2nd guy balanced and paralleled his body - suspended in air by their single arms connected. The guy on the floor then proceeded to stand up while holding ... (ok, "the guy on the floor" and the "other guy" terms are getting confusing and hard to describe, so I will give them names... let's go with Chris and Dan.. :) much easier lol) OK, so Chris stood up while balancing Dan on his one arm and held him above his head - as if they were trying to form the letter T. Several of these balancing and lifting stunts were performed. It was amazing. One other that stands out in my mind is Chris standing with his head down - chin to his chest, with Dan upside down in the same position - on top of Chris. They were NOT holding onto anything - their shoulders were touching and that was all. Chris turned in a circle while Dan balanced - only by his shoulders on Chris' shoulders - upside down with his feet straight up in the air. I do not know if that is descriptive enough for you all to know what I am talking about, but the bottom line is that these guys were AMAZING! Oh, and they were very, very hot!! :)
After that, the opening meeting continued and it was actually funny and interesting. Not your usual boring speeches and boring material. They kept it light and funny. At 10, we were released to go visit the vendors, then we had to break into smaller groups for training. There were several vendors there, all giving out something... pens, golf balls, towels, USB hubs, USB mice, re-tractable Ethernet cables, and so on. So I had a ton of stuff to carry around. I had left the bag that I had received upon registration the previous day in my room.
Our training started at 10:30ish, I had to go with the managers and Robert go to go with the techs. Of course they got to play games and have fun, while we got to watch slide show presentations and listen to people read them to us. That always amazes me. They do a slide show, make copies to hand out to you, then they have to stand up there and read them!! Seems like a big waste of time to me. If you are going to make a slide show, you can point out major points, but other than that - unless the people you are giving it to are toddlers and cannot read - you should just let people read it them selves!
We were released for lunch at 11:45, to return to the meeting room in 1 hour. Robert did not get a lunch break at the same time as me, so we did not see each other until dinner. After lunch, the guy went through things rather quickly and released us at 1:45 for break, but we didn't have to return until 3:00, so I went back to my room and read a bit. Our 3:00 guy went really fast, too, and he released us at 4. Since the bus to dinner wasn't leaving until 6:30, that gave me a couple of hours to myself. I went to my room and caught up on my work email to make sure there wasn't anything that needed immediate attention. Then I went ahead and got ready for dinner.
For dinner, we were all bussed to the House Of Blues - they had rented out the music hall for the entire night. There were people walking around with food as well as a buffet set up on 2 sides of the room. There was an excellent band performing and an open bar. It was a lot of fun. I got to meet a lot of the other people there - more of the managers that I hadn't already met, and several more technicians. I got a lot of contacts to use when we need service to one of our customers in their areas. We also spent a big part of the evening hanging out with our Vice President - I always had liked him before, but now I like him even more. He is a great guy, very down to earth and not at all pretentious as some people in his position would be. We had a great time.
There were supposed to be busses running every 15 minutes to take us back to the hotel, but when we went to get one, there was a group coming back that said they had been waiting for 25 minutes with no luck. So we went to another area to see if maybe they were at the wrong place. There was a taxi sitting there and our VP walked up to him and asked him to take us back to the hotel. He paid for it and we all piled in. When we got back to the hotel, it was 11 and Robert said, "It would be a shame not to make use of the pools and Jacuzzies while we are here..." so we went and got our suits on and met back at the pool area. There were a few others who had the same idea. We hung out there for a while, talking, telling stories, laughing and having fun. I was the first to leave - it had been a long day and I was tired. The hot water in the Jacuzzi just added to that, but it did feel good. I slept very soundly and had no problems waking up the next morning for breakfast.
Day 3 continued at a later time....
I had no idea what to expect, but the theme of the meeting was the Olympics. Lenovo was a huge sponsor of the Olympics and had chosen that for the theme. The lights dimmed and all these people in togas made their way up the center isle. They all took their places on stage around the pillars and 2 men in spandex white shorts came out on stage and faced each other. Talk about muscular. Oh my.... I don't think I could begin to describe how ripped these 2 are - huge muscles!! The 2 men began a routine of complicated stunts, some things I did not think were possible. They took hold of each others arms, one's right arm locked onto the others right arm by holding onto each other's forearms - close to their elbows, and one of them laid down on the stage. He locked his arm that was holding the other guys arm and the 2nd guy balanced and paralleled his body - suspended in air by their single arms connected. The guy on the floor then proceeded to stand up while holding ... (ok, "the guy on the floor" and the "other guy" terms are getting confusing and hard to describe, so I will give them names... let's go with Chris and Dan.. :) much easier lol) OK, so Chris stood up while balancing Dan on his one arm and held him above his head - as if they were trying to form the letter T. Several of these balancing and lifting stunts were performed. It was amazing. One other that stands out in my mind is Chris standing with his head down - chin to his chest, with Dan upside down in the same position - on top of Chris. They were NOT holding onto anything - their shoulders were touching and that was all. Chris turned in a circle while Dan balanced - only by his shoulders on Chris' shoulders - upside down with his feet straight up in the air. I do not know if that is descriptive enough for you all to know what I am talking about, but the bottom line is that these guys were AMAZING! Oh, and they were very, very hot!! :)
After that, the opening meeting continued and it was actually funny and interesting. Not your usual boring speeches and boring material. They kept it light and funny. At 10, we were released to go visit the vendors, then we had to break into smaller groups for training. There were several vendors there, all giving out something... pens, golf balls, towels, USB hubs, USB mice, re-tractable Ethernet cables, and so on. So I had a ton of stuff to carry around. I had left the bag that I had received upon registration the previous day in my room.
Our training started at 10:30ish, I had to go with the managers and Robert go to go with the techs. Of course they got to play games and have fun, while we got to watch slide show presentations and listen to people read them to us. That always amazes me. They do a slide show, make copies to hand out to you, then they have to stand up there and read them!! Seems like a big waste of time to me. If you are going to make a slide show, you can point out major points, but other than that - unless the people you are giving it to are toddlers and cannot read - you should just let people read it them selves!
We were released for lunch at 11:45, to return to the meeting room in 1 hour. Robert did not get a lunch break at the same time as me, so we did not see each other until dinner. After lunch, the guy went through things rather quickly and released us at 1:45 for break, but we didn't have to return until 3:00, so I went back to my room and read a bit. Our 3:00 guy went really fast, too, and he released us at 4. Since the bus to dinner wasn't leaving until 6:30, that gave me a couple of hours to myself. I went to my room and caught up on my work email to make sure there wasn't anything that needed immediate attention. Then I went ahead and got ready for dinner.
For dinner, we were all bussed to the House Of Blues - they had rented out the music hall for the entire night. There were people walking around with food as well as a buffet set up on 2 sides of the room. There was an excellent band performing and an open bar. It was a lot of fun. I got to meet a lot of the other people there - more of the managers that I hadn't already met, and several more technicians. I got a lot of contacts to use when we need service to one of our customers in their areas. We also spent a big part of the evening hanging out with our Vice President - I always had liked him before, but now I like him even more. He is a great guy, very down to earth and not at all pretentious as some people in his position would be. We had a great time.
There were supposed to be busses running every 15 minutes to take us back to the hotel, but when we went to get one, there was a group coming back that said they had been waiting for 25 minutes with no luck. So we went to another area to see if maybe they were at the wrong place. There was a taxi sitting there and our VP walked up to him and asked him to take us back to the hotel. He paid for it and we all piled in. When we got back to the hotel, it was 11 and Robert said, "It would be a shame not to make use of the pools and Jacuzzies while we are here..." so we went and got our suits on and met back at the pool area. There were a few others who had the same idea. We hung out there for a while, talking, telling stories, laughing and having fun. I was the first to leave - it had been a long day and I was tired. The hot water in the Jacuzzi just added to that, but it did feel good. I slept very soundly and had no problems waking up the next morning for breakfast.
Day 3 continued at a later time....
Sunday, May 14, 2006
Florida - Day 1
Well, today has not turned into the best day, I certainly hope it gets better! To start with, I didn't get much sleep last night, trying to get everything together and not forget anything. I arrived at the airport 2 hours prior to my flight, as I am supposed to, got right through the ticketing counter and the security, then had nothing to do for 2 hours. Since my favorite coffee shop was not open early enough, I did not get to start my day with my usual coffee, so I thought I would get one from the cafe in the airport. It did not even come close to holding a candle to my usual.
Robert arrived not long after I did, and we went to sit at our gate - B12. We were the only ones there for a while. He is sick, coughing, stuffy nose, sneezing... blah... We finally get on the plane and we had seats in a row, I was 7A, he was 8A. The plane was small, so there were single seats on the row, so we could not sit next to each other. Not a problem because I had a book to read, and I was tired. I started out reading my book - big mistake. It made me feel sick. So I quit reading and just rested my head against the seat, trying to go to sleep. Not much luck there, either. But, I survived the boring 2 hour flight, no problem. We arrived at the airport at approximately 1PM and they wheeled stairs out for us to exit the plane. Yep, the plane was that small. :) Stepping outside, I was immediately hot - it was 40 degrees when we left OH, so I had worn pants and log sleeves - and here in Florida, it is 85 degrees. Oh, well, I figured I could handle it until we reached the hotel and I could change.
Once we arrived at the main building, we had to find the Disney welcome center. There was no need to go to the baggage claim area because Disney had sent us special tags to put on our luggage, and they would retrieve it for us and bring it to our rooms within 2 hours of our arrival. After consulting our airport map, we finally figured it out and went down some escalator stairs. Mad house. TONS of people everywhere. Big long lines waiting to board the busses. We had to go to a counter, register, then proceed to the "associate with the big white Mickey hand" for our lane assignment. After waiting in line a while, we finally boarded the bus. It was a big, nice bus. Comfortable seats, flip down TV screens, and a bathroom in the rear. I don't even remember how long the drive was, but it wasn't too bad. I don't know what they use the TV screens for normally, but we did not get to watch anything. We stopped at another resort before the Contemporary to let some of the other passengers off, but we were the second stop, so that was good. We register at the front desk and get our room information - they are both in a building separate from the main building, I am on the ground floor with a patio, and Robert is on the second floor - about 1/2 mile away... yeah, really. Far away.
We decided to go ahead and go to the Convention Center and register with Lenovo before going to our rooms. We received a bunch of "freebie" gifts upon registering, among them a shirt, and then we proceeded to our rooms. Mine is the 3rd farthest room in the entire complex. I had to walk forever! Lugging my carry-on and my freebie stuff. I get to the room at approximately 3:30PM. So, 2 1/2 hours from landing, I finally got to my room. Now, one might think that my luggage would be waiting on me in my room, but no such luck. So I figured I would get my carry-on unpacked, maybe take a nap and relax a bit, then my luggage may finally arrive. After settling in, I was thirsty, so I went off in search of a soda machine. I finally found one - a long way away from my room. I would think they would have more convenient access to them for all the rooms in this place - but not so. The price on one soda from the machine is $2.50 - highway robbery - but I was thirsty, hot, tired, and willing to pay it. I tried in vain to get the machine to take the money I had, but it would not. It did have a slot for credit cards - but I did not bring one with me. I did, however, have my room key card. It was supposed to act as a credit card during my stay and charge anything I would like to purchase to my room. So I tried it. No luck. Not a valid card, it said. So I walked all the way back to my room, got another card and walked back to the machine. I swiped my card, chose my selection, and nothing. I tried again. Nothing. And one more time because I was desperate, but nothing. Each time the screen said "vending product" but it did not vend anything! So I gave up. I went back to my room and called the front desk to report the machine. I probably got charged $7.50 for nothing. They said if I see any charges on my card to call them and they would be able to reimburse me.
It is now 4:30 and I decided to just take a nap. After just falling asleep, Robert called and wanted to see if I had received my luggage yet. Nope. So I call the baggage people and the guy says he will look into it and call me right back. He never called back. At 5:30, we decided to go look around in the hotel for something to drink and for me some shorts. We looked around at all the shops, I bought some shorts and a 2 liter bottle of Sprite (for $3.50), and headed back to our rooms to see about getting ready for the Luau that we were to attend at 7PM.
Still no luggage. So, I called the baggage people again. I was once again told that I would be called back in 5-10 minutes with a status. Yeah, right. I told the person on the phone that I had been told that same thing at 5PM and had never gotten a return call. He assured me he would call me back. He did call back - he said they had located my luggage and would bring it to my room within 10 minutes. Great! I hung up the phone and waited. 7:50 - no luggage. I called again. Was told once again that I would get my luggage in 5-10 minutes. By this time, I was starving, and did not want to wait any longer. So I put my Lenovo shirt on (at least it was short sleeves!), called Robert (he did the same) and we went to the Luau. All of the Lenovo people were wearing the same shirt, but all of the other people were wearing normal cloths.
We got our food and some drinks, and sat down to eat. A couple of vendors approached us thinking we were from Lenovo, so we had to explain the situation to them. We talked to them for a while - about the service industry and their product - AMD Processors - and finally just relaxed and had fun. The Luau was supposed to end at 9PM, but everyone was having such a good time that they extended it. The band continued to play and the continued to serve drinks. Robert and I were talking and watching people when we noticed a guy who looked like our Vice President. After discussing it for a few minutes and trying to see his badge, we just went over and talked to him. It was in fact our VP. He was sitting with 2 of our Technicians from other branches that we had not met before, so we sat with them and talked business for a while. At 10:30 the band quit and everyone started leaving. Not the group I was with... they just kept talking and talking.... At 11, I had finally had enough so I excused myself and came back to my room. My luggage had finally arrived!! I unpacked my clothes, changed into my PJ's, and got ready for bed.
I think I fell asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow. I was exhausted! I awoke to an ear-piercing alarm going off - I looked for the alarm clock to turn it off, but it wasn't the alarm clock. It was 2AM. I called the front desk, half asleep, and asked what that "horrible noise is??" to find that it was the fire alarm. I asked if there really was a fire and was told no - just a problem with the system and their engineers were working to stop it. Great. Breakfast was being served @ 6:30AM and I had to get up in a couple of hours, so I put a pillow over my head to drown out the alarm and went back to sleep.
So far, day one was not a good day..... I will continue with Day 2 at a later time. :)
Robert arrived not long after I did, and we went to sit at our gate - B12. We were the only ones there for a while. He is sick, coughing, stuffy nose, sneezing... blah... We finally get on the plane and we had seats in a row, I was 7A, he was 8A. The plane was small, so there were single seats on the row, so we could not sit next to each other. Not a problem because I had a book to read, and I was tired. I started out reading my book - big mistake. It made me feel sick. So I quit reading and just rested my head against the seat, trying to go to sleep. Not much luck there, either. But, I survived the boring 2 hour flight, no problem. We arrived at the airport at approximately 1PM and they wheeled stairs out for us to exit the plane. Yep, the plane was that small. :) Stepping outside, I was immediately hot - it was 40 degrees when we left OH, so I had worn pants and log sleeves - and here in Florida, it is 85 degrees. Oh, well, I figured I could handle it until we reached the hotel and I could change.
Once we arrived at the main building, we had to find the Disney welcome center. There was no need to go to the baggage claim area because Disney had sent us special tags to put on our luggage, and they would retrieve it for us and bring it to our rooms within 2 hours of our arrival. After consulting our airport map, we finally figured it out and went down some escalator stairs. Mad house. TONS of people everywhere. Big long lines waiting to board the busses. We had to go to a counter, register, then proceed to the "associate with the big white Mickey hand" for our lane assignment. After waiting in line a while, we finally boarded the bus. It was a big, nice bus. Comfortable seats, flip down TV screens, and a bathroom in the rear. I don't even remember how long the drive was, but it wasn't too bad. I don't know what they use the TV screens for normally, but we did not get to watch anything. We stopped at another resort before the Contemporary to let some of the other passengers off, but we were the second stop, so that was good. We register at the front desk and get our room information - they are both in a building separate from the main building, I am on the ground floor with a patio, and Robert is on the second floor - about 1/2 mile away... yeah, really. Far away.
We decided to go ahead and go to the Convention Center and register with Lenovo before going to our rooms. We received a bunch of "freebie" gifts upon registering, among them a shirt, and then we proceeded to our rooms. Mine is the 3rd farthest room in the entire complex. I had to walk forever! Lugging my carry-on and my freebie stuff. I get to the room at approximately 3:30PM. So, 2 1/2 hours from landing, I finally got to my room. Now, one might think that my luggage would be waiting on me in my room, but no such luck. So I figured I would get my carry-on unpacked, maybe take a nap and relax a bit, then my luggage may finally arrive. After settling in, I was thirsty, so I went off in search of a soda machine. I finally found one - a long way away from my room. I would think they would have more convenient access to them for all the rooms in this place - but not so. The price on one soda from the machine is $2.50 - highway robbery - but I was thirsty, hot, tired, and willing to pay it. I tried in vain to get the machine to take the money I had, but it would not. It did have a slot for credit cards - but I did not bring one with me. I did, however, have my room key card. It was supposed to act as a credit card during my stay and charge anything I would like to purchase to my room. So I tried it. No luck. Not a valid card, it said. So I walked all the way back to my room, got another card and walked back to the machine. I swiped my card, chose my selection, and nothing. I tried again. Nothing. And one more time because I was desperate, but nothing. Each time the screen said "vending product" but it did not vend anything! So I gave up. I went back to my room and called the front desk to report the machine. I probably got charged $7.50 for nothing. They said if I see any charges on my card to call them and they would be able to reimburse me.
It is now 4:30 and I decided to just take a nap. After just falling asleep, Robert called and wanted to see if I had received my luggage yet. Nope. So I call the baggage people and the guy says he will look into it and call me right back. He never called back. At 5:30, we decided to go look around in the hotel for something to drink and for me some shorts. We looked around at all the shops, I bought some shorts and a 2 liter bottle of Sprite (for $3.50), and headed back to our rooms to see about getting ready for the Luau that we were to attend at 7PM.
Still no luggage. So, I called the baggage people again. I was once again told that I would be called back in 5-10 minutes with a status. Yeah, right. I told the person on the phone that I had been told that same thing at 5PM and had never gotten a return call. He assured me he would call me back. He did call back - he said they had located my luggage and would bring it to my room within 10 minutes. Great! I hung up the phone and waited. 7:50 - no luggage. I called again. Was told once again that I would get my luggage in 5-10 minutes. By this time, I was starving, and did not want to wait any longer. So I put my Lenovo shirt on (at least it was short sleeves!), called Robert (he did the same) and we went to the Luau. All of the Lenovo people were wearing the same shirt, but all of the other people were wearing normal cloths.
We got our food and some drinks, and sat down to eat. A couple of vendors approached us thinking we were from Lenovo, so we had to explain the situation to them. We talked to them for a while - about the service industry and their product - AMD Processors - and finally just relaxed and had fun. The Luau was supposed to end at 9PM, but everyone was having such a good time that they extended it. The band continued to play and the continued to serve drinks. Robert and I were talking and watching people when we noticed a guy who looked like our Vice President. After discussing it for a few minutes and trying to see his badge, we just went over and talked to him. It was in fact our VP. He was sitting with 2 of our Technicians from other branches that we had not met before, so we sat with them and talked business for a while. At 10:30 the band quit and everyone started leaving. Not the group I was with... they just kept talking and talking.... At 11, I had finally had enough so I excused myself and came back to my room. My luggage had finally arrived!! I unpacked my clothes, changed into my PJ's, and got ready for bed.
I think I fell asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow. I was exhausted! I awoke to an ear-piercing alarm going off - I looked for the alarm clock to turn it off, but it wasn't the alarm clock. It was 2AM. I called the front desk, half asleep, and asked what that "horrible noise is??" to find that it was the fire alarm. I asked if there really was a fire and was told no - just a problem with the system and their engineers were working to stop it. Great. Breakfast was being served @ 6:30AM and I had to get up in a couple of hours, so I put a pillow over my head to drown out the alarm and went back to sleep.
So far, day one was not a good day..... I will continue with Day 2 at a later time. :)
Thursday, May 11, 2006
Catching up...
Wow! I didn't put one post on here in the month of April! I have a ton of pictures that I was going to put on here, but I haven't taken the time to download them to my computer yet. So that won't happen today.
My job is getting a little less stressful for me for a couple of reasons.
1. Louisville is no longer my responsibility, kinda. The "decision makers" at my company decided to combine the Louisville and Cincinnati branches, so Cincinnati is now doing for Louisville what I used to do for them. It has only been in effect for 4 days now, so I am still doing some of it. Tomorrow I will be training a Cincinnati person on what all has to be done for Louisville. After that, my involvement will be minimal.
2. I decided that it is just not worth it. It's a job, and while I will always do the best job I can, some things are out of my control. And I can't do everything. It's funny, I received an email from a Corporate person concerning our Toledo branch. I responded and told her that I worked for the Dayton branch and she needed to contact someone from the Toledo branch. Her response was that she was told that I was now over the Toledo branch, too. I immediately went to Joe (the one who volunteered me for Louisville) and asked, "Did you volunteer me for Toledo and forget to tell me??" Turns out it was a mix-up, thank goodness.
I also want to spend more time with my family. I saw my brother last month - the first time I have seen him since Christmas - and I want to spend more time with him. I want my kids to know him better. He will be 21 this weekend - on Mother's Day as a matter of fact - and I want to be more involved in his life.
I also do not see my dad as much as I want to. So I took Conor with me one Friday night and went to visit him. We had a lot of fun. My dad's dog, Toby, is hilarious. Dad has always had dogs and they are always so well trained. Toby has his own "ramp" to get into and out of my dad's pool. Dad threw a toy into the water and told Toby to go get it. He stood on his ramp and just looked at the toy floating in the middle of the pool - wanting to jump in, but hesitating. So Dad said, "What, you want your raft?" and he pushed a pool float towards Toby. He jumped onto it and floated around the pool on it... trying to will himself towards the toy, I think, because he kept running back and forth on the float trying to stretch towards where the toy was. He finally gave up and just jumped in and got it. He brought it out of the pool and put it down on the deck near Conor. Conor was just delighted by the whole thing. He picked up the toy and threw it back into the pool. This went on for a while. When Toby seemed to be worn out, Dad got a towel out and put it on the deck and told Toby to dry off. And he did! He went over to the towel and rolled around on it, drying himself off. It was so funny!
Oh, and my Dad has always been referred to as PePaw - this is because there were so many grandparents and each one needed a different name to be referred to as. So we have Grandma (my grandma), Mimi (my mom), Poppy (my step-dad), Pepaw (my dad), Naner (my step-mom). But Conor does not pronounce PePaw correctly, so it sounds like he is saying "Meatball" - which is always a source of a good laugh. I don't know how my dad feels about being referred to as ball of meat, but everyone else thinks it is very amusing! :)
Bottom line is I do not spend as much time with my family as I would like to. I am going to try to change that, though.
On yet another subject, my trip to Florida is coming up - I fly out on Sunday morning. Yep, on Mother's day. I don't know who scheduled this conference for Mother's Day, but it had to be a man. heehee. We will be going to Epcot - not Disney World - because the technician I am going with has his heart set on Epcot. I have never been to Epcot, so it will be an experience for me. So the next post will probably be about my trip to Florida. :)
Oh, I just realized that I didn't really say anything about anyone else! Allie is going to be a teenager in just a couple of months, but she is already exibiting the characteristics. You know - embarassed to hang around her mom, the attitude, the rolling of her eyes, sleeping late, make-up, all kinds of stuff.
Ceara has decided to come back to our house next year for school - so we will be seeing her a lot more often.
Jeff finished his 2 classes that were causing him so much difficulty and has had the last 2 weekends free of home work, so he has been a LITTLE more pleasent to be around. But not much more...
Conor is getting bigger all the time, saying things that can shock or amuse me.
OK, I have to get off here now. Hope everyone is doing well!!
My job is getting a little less stressful for me for a couple of reasons.
1. Louisville is no longer my responsibility, kinda. The "decision makers" at my company decided to combine the Louisville and Cincinnati branches, so Cincinnati is now doing for Louisville what I used to do for them. It has only been in effect for 4 days now, so I am still doing some of it. Tomorrow I will be training a Cincinnati person on what all has to be done for Louisville. After that, my involvement will be minimal.
2. I decided that it is just not worth it. It's a job, and while I will always do the best job I can, some things are out of my control. And I can't do everything. It's funny, I received an email from a Corporate person concerning our Toledo branch. I responded and told her that I worked for the Dayton branch and she needed to contact someone from the Toledo branch. Her response was that she was told that I was now over the Toledo branch, too. I immediately went to Joe (the one who volunteered me for Louisville) and asked, "Did you volunteer me for Toledo and forget to tell me??" Turns out it was a mix-up, thank goodness.
I also want to spend more time with my family. I saw my brother last month - the first time I have seen him since Christmas - and I want to spend more time with him. I want my kids to know him better. He will be 21 this weekend - on Mother's Day as a matter of fact - and I want to be more involved in his life.
I also do not see my dad as much as I want to. So I took Conor with me one Friday night and went to visit him. We had a lot of fun. My dad's dog, Toby, is hilarious. Dad has always had dogs and they are always so well trained. Toby has his own "ramp" to get into and out of my dad's pool. Dad threw a toy into the water and told Toby to go get it. He stood on his ramp and just looked at the toy floating in the middle of the pool - wanting to jump in, but hesitating. So Dad said, "What, you want your raft?" and he pushed a pool float towards Toby. He jumped onto it and floated around the pool on it... trying to will himself towards the toy, I think, because he kept running back and forth on the float trying to stretch towards where the toy was. He finally gave up and just jumped in and got it. He brought it out of the pool and put it down on the deck near Conor. Conor was just delighted by the whole thing. He picked up the toy and threw it back into the pool. This went on for a while. When Toby seemed to be worn out, Dad got a towel out and put it on the deck and told Toby to dry off. And he did! He went over to the towel and rolled around on it, drying himself off. It was so funny!
Oh, and my Dad has always been referred to as PePaw - this is because there were so many grandparents and each one needed a different name to be referred to as. So we have Grandma (my grandma), Mimi (my mom), Poppy (my step-dad), Pepaw (my dad), Naner (my step-mom). But Conor does not pronounce PePaw correctly, so it sounds like he is saying "Meatball" - which is always a source of a good laugh. I don't know how my dad feels about being referred to as ball of meat, but everyone else thinks it is very amusing! :)
Bottom line is I do not spend as much time with my family as I would like to. I am going to try to change that, though.
On yet another subject, my trip to Florida is coming up - I fly out on Sunday morning. Yep, on Mother's day. I don't know who scheduled this conference for Mother's Day, but it had to be a man. heehee. We will be going to Epcot - not Disney World - because the technician I am going with has his heart set on Epcot. I have never been to Epcot, so it will be an experience for me. So the next post will probably be about my trip to Florida. :)
Oh, I just realized that I didn't really say anything about anyone else! Allie is going to be a teenager in just a couple of months, but she is already exibiting the characteristics. You know - embarassed to hang around her mom, the attitude, the rolling of her eyes, sleeping late, make-up, all kinds of stuff.
Ceara has decided to come back to our house next year for school - so we will be seeing her a lot more often.
Jeff finished his 2 classes that were causing him so much difficulty and has had the last 2 weekends free of home work, so he has been a LITTLE more pleasent to be around. But not much more...
Conor is getting bigger all the time, saying things that can shock or amuse me.
OK, I have to get off here now. Hope everyone is doing well!!
Thursday, March 30, 2006
Helpin' out
I had to make some cakes last weekend for some birthday parties, so Conor wanted to help out of course! His helping includes pouring ingredients into the mixer, turning it on, then asking if he can eat it. As you can see by the pictures, he did get some batter - he got to lick the bowl and beater. :)
March 29th
85 years ago today, one of the most amazing people I've ever known was born. My Grandma. She is one of the kindest, strongest, honest, loving, helpful, and extraordinary people I know. I absolutely adore her. She is 85 and she still mows her own grass, does yard work, household chores, and cooks for her entire family every Sunday. By entire family I mean the 8 kids she had, their spouses, grand-children, great-grandchildren, friends, whoever wants to come to her house and eat. At last count, there were well over 50 of us - and although all 50+ do not show up every Sunday, there are some Sundays that we all do, and she always has enough for everyone. She will always have something to eat for anyone who comes over - and she will insist that you eat - even make up a plate for you if you don't get to it quick enough!
All the kids love going to grandma's because there are always toys, there is always something sweet to eat, and there is absolutely nothing in her house that she feels kids could possibly harm. I remember begging to stay there as a child, and my cousins did the same. There is no place on earth like Grandma's house.
She makes the best potato donuts, the best home made pizza, the best roast beef, the best chicken and noodles, the best apple pie, and numerous other things that I will never forget. She has always been a huge part of my life and has made a huge impact on me. I feel so very blessed to have her in my life.
Happy Birthday, Grandma! I love you so very much!
All the kids love going to grandma's because there are always toys, there is always something sweet to eat, and there is absolutely nothing in her house that she feels kids could possibly harm. I remember begging to stay there as a child, and my cousins did the same. There is no place on earth like Grandma's house.
She makes the best potato donuts, the best home made pizza, the best roast beef, the best chicken and noodles, the best apple pie, and numerous other things that I will never forget. She has always been a huge part of my life and has made a huge impact on me. I feel so very blessed to have her in my life.
Happy Birthday, Grandma! I love you so very much!
Monday, March 27, 2006
St. Patrick's Day Pics
Ceara didn't come to our house on this particular weekend, so I was unable to get her posing with the "hat" in the pictures. The hat was actually just a container that cookies came in - not really supposed to be for wearing - it was too small to fit anyone's head, even Conor's! But we though we could get a couple of fun pictures out of it anyway. :)
Allie would look a thousand times better without those bangs in her eyes (that drives me crazy!), but she still looks good posing with the hat.
Conor was too wiggly for it to stay on his head, so Jeff had to hold it up there. He was not thrilled that I took the picture with him holding it, but I loved the look on Conor's face. Besides, I couldn't get a good "still" picture with it on his head because he wouldn't hold still!
Allie didn't wear green on St. Patrick's Day - I think she was hoping to get pinched. But the rest of us did! :) I got to wear my Green Bay Packer's sweatshirt to work. If it would have been a little warmer, I would have worn my Favre jersey. It was a bit chilly and the sweatshirt appealed to me because of the warmth.
Hope everyone had a fun day pinching or getting pinched!
Friday, March 17, 2006
Shrinky Dinks
Does anyone remember Shrinky Dinks? It has been a long time.... Allie found a book that Molly had given her years ago that has different projects in it for kids. She actually cleaned her room last weekend and came across it. Inside of it, there are various activities and one of them is Shrinky Dinks. So she, Ceara, and Conor sat at the kitchen table and colored on the special plastic, then cut them out and baked them. They had a lot of fun doing it, and they did a very good job on them. Below this post is a picture of the whole collection they did. The colorful square was done by Conor; the tiger and cats eyes were done by Allie; and the dolphin was done by Ceara. The rest I am not sure who did, but they all are done well. The tiger was immediately claimed by Conor as "his" since he is currently obsessed with tigers, so Allie made 2 so she could have one too! :)
Saturday, March 04, 2006
Disney World
Welp, I'm going to Disney World!! All expenses paid, too! The company where I work, for those of you who may not know, is in the IT Solutions business. That means we set-up and repair computers, printers, networks, servers, software, and whatever else our customers need us to do. We partner with several vendors to sell and service their equipment, depending on what our customers want. HP, IBM, Toshiba, Cisco, Microsoft, and several others. There are very strict guidelines that we have to follow in order to be allowed to service these units under warrant and get reimbursed for the labor. Every warranty unit we work on, that vendor does a survey of the end user to see if they were satisfied with the service we provided. The ratings go from 1-5, with 5 being the best. We get paid based on these ratings with a couple of the vendors - IBM/Lenovo and HP are 2 of them that I am very familiar with.
There are different pay ranges depending upon these surveys and a few other areas. The payment tiers are Premiere, Preferred, Basic, and below Basic. Every branch of our company is considered to be independent as far as the vendors are concerned. We do not get penalized for any of the mistakes made by other branches of our company, we are rated based only upon the customers that we service ourselves. All of the years I have worked there, we have been 95% of the time Premiere. There are a few time that we have fallen below to the Preferred level, but not usually because of surveys - mostly because of the other guidelines. Why? Because we really do care about our customers being satisfied at our branch of the company. :)
So, enough of that boring stuff!! But I wanted to explain a little as to why IBM/Lenovo is paying for 2 of us to go to Orlando, FL for a Conference. Because our branch was Premiere for the entire year of 2005, so we get to choose a Manager and a Technician to go to Florida. I got chosen as the "Manager" because my boss doesn't want to go, and the tech going with me is Robert - our depot manager. They were going to send me as the tech and Robert as the manager, but the tech that goes has to be IBM certified - so although I have my A+ and know a little bit about computers, I am not certified in anything and since the tech has to go into a "work-shop" of sorts with other techs, I would be way out of my league there. Robert is one of the best techs I have ever known (I've know a lot) and he will fit in well. I can hold my own with the managers!
I don't get to take any of my family. I do wish that I could take everyone, I want to take the kids to Disney World - I was wanting to when Conor is a little older anyway - BUT - I am looking forward to a peaceful, fun trip by myself. Of course Jeff is giving me all kinds of playful grief about going off on a trip with "some guy" while I leave him behind to take care of the kids and the house.... He acts like I just planned a trip for myself and Robert only - that there won't be a bunch of other people there for the same reason. He keeps telling everyone that "Katie's going off to Florida with some guy" and so on.... But I know he is just teasing me. :)
I have worked with, and been friends with Robert for 6 years. He is my go-to person for any type of technical assistance. He has fixed, or helped me fix, several of my computers and my families computers. He is also married and has 2 kids. :)
So, that is my news. We will be going in May and I will get more details about where we are staying and all of that later in March. But for now, what I know is:
Arrival will be on Sunday, with check-in @ 1PM or later. That evening Lenovo will host a welcome reception from 7-9pm @ the Disney Contemporary Resort.
Monday we will have a general session followed by training breakouts for managers and technicians.
Tuesday will start with a general session and afterwards everyone will have the opportunity to enjoy Disney's parks or golf at one of Disney's premier courses. A dinner on Tuesday night will conclude the conference activities. We will depart on Wednesday with check-out by 11am.
I'm excited!! :)
There are different pay ranges depending upon these surveys and a few other areas. The payment tiers are Premiere, Preferred, Basic, and below Basic. Every branch of our company is considered to be independent as far as the vendors are concerned. We do not get penalized for any of the mistakes made by other branches of our company, we are rated based only upon the customers that we service ourselves. All of the years I have worked there, we have been 95% of the time Premiere. There are a few time that we have fallen below to the Preferred level, but not usually because of surveys - mostly because of the other guidelines. Why? Because we really do care about our customers being satisfied at our branch of the company. :)
So, enough of that boring stuff!! But I wanted to explain a little as to why IBM/Lenovo is paying for 2 of us to go to Orlando, FL for a Conference. Because our branch was Premiere for the entire year of 2005, so we get to choose a Manager and a Technician to go to Florida. I got chosen as the "Manager" because my boss doesn't want to go, and the tech going with me is Robert - our depot manager. They were going to send me as the tech and Robert as the manager, but the tech that goes has to be IBM certified - so although I have my A+ and know a little bit about computers, I am not certified in anything and since the tech has to go into a "work-shop" of sorts with other techs, I would be way out of my league there. Robert is one of the best techs I have ever known (I've know a lot) and he will fit in well. I can hold my own with the managers!
I don't get to take any of my family. I do wish that I could take everyone, I want to take the kids to Disney World - I was wanting to when Conor is a little older anyway - BUT - I am looking forward to a peaceful, fun trip by myself. Of course Jeff is giving me all kinds of playful grief about going off on a trip with "some guy" while I leave him behind to take care of the kids and the house.... He acts like I just planned a trip for myself and Robert only - that there won't be a bunch of other people there for the same reason. He keeps telling everyone that "Katie's going off to Florida with some guy" and so on.... But I know he is just teasing me. :)
I have worked with, and been friends with Robert for 6 years. He is my go-to person for any type of technical assistance. He has fixed, or helped me fix, several of my computers and my families computers. He is also married and has 2 kids. :)
So, that is my news. We will be going in May and I will get more details about where we are staying and all of that later in March. But for now, what I know is:
Arrival will be on Sunday, with check-in @ 1PM or later. That evening Lenovo will host a welcome reception from 7-9pm @ the Disney Contemporary Resort.
Monday we will have a general session followed by training breakouts for managers and technicians.
Tuesday will start with a general session and afterwards everyone will have the opportunity to enjoy Disney's parks or golf at one of Disney's premier courses. A dinner on Tuesday night will conclude the conference activities. We will depart on Wednesday with check-out by 11am.
I'm excited!! :)
Grand-dad's Day
Jeff's dad, Jim, has decided that Monday nights are going to be Grand-dad's day. So last Monday (2/27/06) was the first one. He went to Ceara's mom's house and picked her and Kaitlyn up (Kaitlyn is Ceara's little sister, Debbie's daughter), and then came her to pick Allie and Conor up. He was already here when I got here - granted it was after 6 because once again, I had to work later. He had mentioned Grand-dad's day to me over the weekend, but I didn't know when it was supposed to start, so I was a little surprised - but very happy about it. An entire night to myself!! That is a rare thing. Jeff, of course, was gone to work - so it was very quiet and peaceful.
So off they went. I was able to do some over-due filing, clean some stuff, and then I played on the computer for a while. The time flew by, and before I even realized the time, they were back - with cookies!! :) Yummy chocolate chip cookies that they had made with Grand-dad's help. This is supposed to be an every Monday thing, and I can certainly get used to that! I hope they don't wear him out too quickly and make him not want to do it anymore!!
So off they went. I was able to do some over-due filing, clean some stuff, and then I played on the computer for a while. The time flew by, and before I even realized the time, they were back - with cookies!! :) Yummy chocolate chip cookies that they had made with Grand-dad's help. This is supposed to be an every Monday thing, and I can certainly get used to that! I hope they don't wear him out too quickly and make him not want to do it anymore!!
Saturday, February 25, 2006
Pronunciation
Conor talks very well for his age, but there are a few words, or rather letters, that he has some problems with. One of them is F. He pronounces most words that begin with f with a t. He says toot and teet instead of foot and feet. Jeff tries to get him to say it correctly and tells him, "Say fff fff fff foot." So Conor says, "fff fff fff toot." It is quite hilarious. He tries so hard and can get the fffff sound, he just can't put it with other letters....
Conor has also been singing a lot lately. He just makes up songs and sings them. It is so cute. I need to get it on video, but haven't done that yet. He usually does it in the car or when we aren't near or ready with the camera. I will get is soon, though!
His newest thing is that he is a tiger. He crawls around on the floor and talks in a low, gravely voice. If you say his name, he replies, "I'm not Conor, I'm a tiger." It is certainly something new all the time.
On Thursday night, I decided that I wanted to take the kids and do something fun. It's cold outside, so I couldn't think of anything to do besides Chuck E. Cheese. Believe me, I tried. I called Allie from my cell phone to tell her to be ready when I got home from work because we were going to leave right away.
Once she was in the car, I asked her, "Can you think of any place fun to take Conor?" I was hoping she would come up with something different, because I really didn't want to go there. But she had the same thought. So, we went. The whole way up there I thought, "Well, it will be something to write in my blog. I even started composing the post. 'What was I thinking going there?' was one of the things I was going to put. But it didn't turn out that way.
They recently remodeled the place, and it wasn't that crowded, so we got a booth in an area for little kids to play. They had a slide, a Bob the Builder bulldozer to ride on, and a couple of other ride on things in there. Conor took to the slide immediately. After a little bit, Allie and I tried to talk him into going outside the little kid area and playing. But he wanted none of it. So we sat in the booth and watched him. He finally, after the pizza came and we ate, noticed the tunnels up on the ceiling to crawl in. He went up there and crawled around - I followed from the ground, worried that he would freak out and not remember how to get out. But no such thing happened. He had fun. Then we went and played Skee-ball. Conor tried, but most of his balls went just over the hump - for 0 points. He was getting the hang of it after a while, though, and was even making it into the 20,000 hole.
After we ran out of tokens, I told him, "We have to go now, let's go get an ice cream."
"Yeah!" was the response. I fully expected a "NO, MOMMY, I don't want to leave!!" response, but I was very happy it didn't come. We left and went to UDF to get some ice cream. Then we went on home. Conor and I played cars in the kitchen while Allie watched her TV shows. So, it turned out to be a really good evening for all of us. I think Allie was a little bored - after all, Chuck E Cheese is a little too young for her now - but she still had fun. She was the one who made me dread going there when she was young.... she was the one who cried and screamed when it was time to leave.... lol Glad she grew out of that!
Hope everyone is having a good weekend, and a good week!
Conor has also been singing a lot lately. He just makes up songs and sings them. It is so cute. I need to get it on video, but haven't done that yet. He usually does it in the car or when we aren't near or ready with the camera. I will get is soon, though!
His newest thing is that he is a tiger. He crawls around on the floor and talks in a low, gravely voice. If you say his name, he replies, "I'm not Conor, I'm a tiger." It is certainly something new all the time.
On Thursday night, I decided that I wanted to take the kids and do something fun. It's cold outside, so I couldn't think of anything to do besides Chuck E. Cheese. Believe me, I tried. I called Allie from my cell phone to tell her to be ready when I got home from work because we were going to leave right away.
Once she was in the car, I asked her, "Can you think of any place fun to take Conor?" I was hoping she would come up with something different, because I really didn't want to go there. But she had the same thought. So, we went. The whole way up there I thought, "Well, it will be something to write in my blog. I even started composing the post. 'What was I thinking going there?' was one of the things I was going to put. But it didn't turn out that way.
They recently remodeled the place, and it wasn't that crowded, so we got a booth in an area for little kids to play. They had a slide, a Bob the Builder bulldozer to ride on, and a couple of other ride on things in there. Conor took to the slide immediately. After a little bit, Allie and I tried to talk him into going outside the little kid area and playing. But he wanted none of it. So we sat in the booth and watched him. He finally, after the pizza came and we ate, noticed the tunnels up on the ceiling to crawl in. He went up there and crawled around - I followed from the ground, worried that he would freak out and not remember how to get out. But no such thing happened. He had fun. Then we went and played Skee-ball. Conor tried, but most of his balls went just over the hump - for 0 points. He was getting the hang of it after a while, though, and was even making it into the 20,000 hole.
After we ran out of tokens, I told him, "We have to go now, let's go get an ice cream."
"Yeah!" was the response. I fully expected a "NO, MOMMY, I don't want to leave!!" response, but I was very happy it didn't come. We left and went to UDF to get some ice cream. Then we went on home. Conor and I played cars in the kitchen while Allie watched her TV shows. So, it turned out to be a really good evening for all of us. I think Allie was a little bored - after all, Chuck E Cheese is a little too young for her now - but she still had fun. She was the one who made me dread going there when she was young.... she was the one who cried and screamed when it was time to leave.... lol Glad she grew out of that!
Hope everyone is having a good weekend, and a good week!
Saturday, February 18, 2006
New Year
Well, 2006 is beginning out pretty good. Conor has a little girlfriend at his baby-sitter's house, so he looks forward to going there every day. Her name is Carly and she is 4 years old. It is very cute the way they are together, she is very patient and likes to show him things. They always hug good-bye. I actually just got her dad a job where I work. He is a Cisco Engineer and had lost his job of 20+ years last year (2005). We had been looking for an engineer for out branch for a while, and when Cindy (Conor's sitter) told me that Randy (Carly's dad) was laid off and looking for work, it was just a perfect fit. He started the first of this year.
Conor is getting so grown-up! Whenever I say "That's mommy's baby boy" he replies with, "I'm not a baby, I'm a big boy!" I always tell him that he will always be my baby boy! He'll get it someday.
Allie is going to be an official teenager this year! She will be 13 in July. Wow, time flies by! I find she is getting a bit lazy in school this year, maybe it is not challenging enough for her, or she is just getting interested in other things. She doesn't want to play out-door soccer this year, but wants to do indoor. I guess as long as she stays active, it will be OK, but I will miss the out-door games. Indoor is just not the same.
Ceara is living with her Mom most of the time now, going to school from her mom's house. It is a change, but everyone is adjusting. She is still here almost every weekend - there is usually one a month that her mom has off work that she likes to keep her there for. It's funny, as much as Allie and Ceara fought when they both lived here - Allie misses Ceara now, and they get along wonderfully. Conor and Ceara always got along pretty well, and so now, Conor misses Ceara when she is gone, too.
Ceara did not come here last weekend, so when Conor and I got home last night, and she was here, Conor saw her and ran up and hugged her leg. He was so happy she was here.
We are all addicted to a new game that Jeff bought - World of Warcraft - which is a MMPORG (Massive Multi-Player Online something Game) lol. Or maybe I have the letters wrong - I dunno. Jeff has been re-considering his major because of this new way of playing games. He originally was going to school for Computer Forensics, but the college he goes to just started a new program on gaming, and he is also interested in that. It is a fitting major for him since he does love computer games.
I recently got another unwanted "promotion" at work. That is where they give you more work, but no more pay. I have been so far behind all year, just when I thought I was going to catch up, Jean took vacation and they assigned me to our Louisville, KY branch to do for them what I already do for Dayton. And their branch is a mess. I find myself unable to get off the darn phone at work to get anything accomplished. Between the techs, engineers, sales people, and the branch manager in Louisville calling me with problems to solve, there is little time for me to do my job for Dayton. When I get off the phone with one person, I usually have at least 2 messages for others that I need to call back. It is an endless loop. Sometimes I find myself not really paying attention to what is being said because I am trying to work and listen, so I miss stuff. Hopefully it will all smooth out soon, because if it doesn't, I might go insane. :)
This all happened around Feb. 7th, and work has been very bad since. I rarely take lunch and I have been pushing my day later and later every week. I have been trying to stay no later than 5:45 because Conor has to be picked up, and there isn't anyone else to do it.
I find myself forgetting a lot of things lately - at work that is unusual, but it feels like my brain is too full and it is now throwing stuff out to make room for the new stuff!
Jeff is still doing the same route and going to school. We want to try to do some painting and room switching soon - with tax refunds when we get them - but when we will find time to do it is beyond me!
So, that is a little bit of what has been going on here with us. Sorry for not writing as much, I will try to be better at keeping you all up to date. I will also need to get some pictures taken to post. I haven't had Conor's picture taken in a while, so I also need to do that. Lots to do!!
Hope everyone is doing well and enjoying the New Year!!
Conor is getting so grown-up! Whenever I say "That's mommy's baby boy" he replies with, "I'm not a baby, I'm a big boy!" I always tell him that he will always be my baby boy! He'll get it someday.
Allie is going to be an official teenager this year! She will be 13 in July. Wow, time flies by! I find she is getting a bit lazy in school this year, maybe it is not challenging enough for her, or she is just getting interested in other things. She doesn't want to play out-door soccer this year, but wants to do indoor. I guess as long as she stays active, it will be OK, but I will miss the out-door games. Indoor is just not the same.
Ceara is living with her Mom most of the time now, going to school from her mom's house. It is a change, but everyone is adjusting. She is still here almost every weekend - there is usually one a month that her mom has off work that she likes to keep her there for. It's funny, as much as Allie and Ceara fought when they both lived here - Allie misses Ceara now, and they get along wonderfully. Conor and Ceara always got along pretty well, and so now, Conor misses Ceara when she is gone, too.
Ceara did not come here last weekend, so when Conor and I got home last night, and she was here, Conor saw her and ran up and hugged her leg. He was so happy she was here.
We are all addicted to a new game that Jeff bought - World of Warcraft - which is a MMPORG (Massive Multi-Player Online something Game) lol. Or maybe I have the letters wrong - I dunno. Jeff has been re-considering his major because of this new way of playing games. He originally was going to school for Computer Forensics, but the college he goes to just started a new program on gaming, and he is also interested in that. It is a fitting major for him since he does love computer games.
I recently got another unwanted "promotion" at work. That is where they give you more work, but no more pay. I have been so far behind all year, just when I thought I was going to catch up, Jean took vacation and they assigned me to our Louisville, KY branch to do for them what I already do for Dayton. And their branch is a mess. I find myself unable to get off the darn phone at work to get anything accomplished. Between the techs, engineers, sales people, and the branch manager in Louisville calling me with problems to solve, there is little time for me to do my job for Dayton. When I get off the phone with one person, I usually have at least 2 messages for others that I need to call back. It is an endless loop. Sometimes I find myself not really paying attention to what is being said because I am trying to work and listen, so I miss stuff. Hopefully it will all smooth out soon, because if it doesn't, I might go insane. :)
This all happened around Feb. 7th, and work has been very bad since. I rarely take lunch and I have been pushing my day later and later every week. I have been trying to stay no later than 5:45 because Conor has to be picked up, and there isn't anyone else to do it.
I find myself forgetting a lot of things lately - at work that is unusual, but it feels like my brain is too full and it is now throwing stuff out to make room for the new stuff!
Jeff is still doing the same route and going to school. We want to try to do some painting and room switching soon - with tax refunds when we get them - but when we will find time to do it is beyond me!
So, that is a little bit of what has been going on here with us. Sorry for not writing as much, I will try to be better at keeping you all up to date. I will also need to get some pictures taken to post. I haven't had Conor's picture taken in a while, so I also need to do that. Lots to do!!
Hope everyone is doing well and enjoying the New Year!!
Wednesday, February 08, 2006
Hello, again!
Wow, it has been like, forever since I have written on this, huh? Last year as a matter of fact. There has been a lot going on, at the same time, not much is happening. Does that make sense? :) Christmas was wonderful - I really enjoyed everything about it this year. Spending time with friends and family, good food, good company, games, everything! On Christmas morning, Jeff and I got up first and had to wake the kids up! Do you believe that?? Conor walked out of his room and didn't even notice the presents under the tree. He walked into the kitchen and I had to steer him back to the living room for him to see. Then we dragged the girls out of bed... lol
We were supposed to have breakfast at our house on Christmas morning - it has become a tradition over the years to have a big breakfast with my parents, my sister and her family, and us. So it was at my house this year. We almost always have bacon, sausage, biscuits, gravy, eggs, and whatever else. We had all of that and baked French toast that my sister brought, fruit, juice, everything. But only Molly, Jeff (her husband), and her kids came this year. My dad called and cancelled and then my mom called and cancelled.
But we enjoyed it anyway. After they left, we had to start getting ready for Jeff's family to come over. His mom, dad, sister (Naomi) and her husband Jerry. We had lunch - ham, scalloped potatoes, corn casserole, green beans, and rolls. We played games, ate, laughed and had a good time.
It was a very good day.
OK - one update done, I am going to try to write more - and more often. :)
Let's see how many of you still check this thing since I haven't updated in a while!
We were supposed to have breakfast at our house on Christmas morning - it has become a tradition over the years to have a big breakfast with my parents, my sister and her family, and us. So it was at my house this year. We almost always have bacon, sausage, biscuits, gravy, eggs, and whatever else. We had all of that and baked French toast that my sister brought, fruit, juice, everything. But only Molly, Jeff (her husband), and her kids came this year. My dad called and cancelled and then my mom called and cancelled.
But we enjoyed it anyway. After they left, we had to start getting ready for Jeff's family to come over. His mom, dad, sister (Naomi) and her husband Jerry. We had lunch - ham, scalloped potatoes, corn casserole, green beans, and rolls. We played games, ate, laughed and had a good time.
It was a very good day.
OK - one update done, I am going to try to write more - and more often. :)
Let's see how many of you still check this thing since I haven't updated in a while!
Saturday, December 24, 2005
Christmas Eve!
It's Christmas Eve! This entire year has flown by, it is so hard to believe that it will be 2006 in just a little over a week! I have to think long and hard about what I would like the new year to bring. What challenges I face, what goals I have. Next year at this time I would like to look back on 2006 and be able to say that I changed something in my life that I was unhappy with, I have a few ideas on what to start with, but I don't want to make any predictions. I will do my best to follow through on some things, and if I do, great.
I am getting ready to prepare for Christmas morning at my house. The kids are almost in bed, and Jeff is already asleep. Yep, already asleep. The 5 hour nap he had from noon to 5pm did not give him the energy to outlast the kids tonight.
I have many more Christmas pictures to post, but I must now go to get ready for Santa to come. I have cookies to put out, and a glass of milk, and even some reindeer food (if I can find where I put it!). I hope everyone is enjoying the holidays with their family and friends.
Have a Merry Christmas!! :)
I am getting ready to prepare for Christmas morning at my house. The kids are almost in bed, and Jeff is already asleep. Yep, already asleep. The 5 hour nap he had from noon to 5pm did not give him the energy to outlast the kids tonight.
I have many more Christmas pictures to post, but I must now go to get ready for Santa to come. I have cookies to put out, and a glass of milk, and even some reindeer food (if I can find where I put it!). I hope everyone is enjoying the holidays with their family and friends.
Have a Merry Christmas!! :)
Tuesday, December 20, 2005
Conor's Birthday
My baby turned 3 on December 11th, and had to have a Scooby Doo cake. It was convenient, though, because I already had the cake pan from when Allie wanted Scooby Doo for one of her birthdays. It is really hard to believe that he is 3 already. The years are flying by.
Whenever anyone asked him what he wanted for his birthday, he would respond, "Cake!" That was his only request. But he did love all the cool stuff that he got, every time he opened a present, he would say "cool" or "yeah". He got some cool John Deere stuff - a barn, animals, and a tractor - some clothes, some trucks, a talking bear, and a big John Deere ride-on truck. He hasn't quite mastered driving it, but he will get the hang of it. It has a dump-trunk feature that Jeff is sure will come in handy during the summer - he can go around the yard and pick up dog-doo and transport it to the trash bin to dump. The age range on it is 3-8, so we figure it is a good investment for 5 years worth of dog duty! :)
See below for more pictures. Happy Birthday, Baby!
Monday, December 19, 2005
Sunday, December 18, 2005
Time flies
Well, I have been a really bad blogger of late. With all of the holidays, Conor's birthday, and work getting more stressful, I haven't taken the time to write anything here. I have plenty of material, just not the time to write it!
A couple of amusing moments of late:
One morning while I was getting ready for work in the bathroom, Conor walked in with his face covered with what I thought was black permanent marker. I freaked out and immediately tried to wash it off. It came off rather easily and I attributed that to my quick response. It was on his forehead, cheeks, chin, nose, lips.... everywhere basically. So after I had him all cleaned up, I finished getting ready and went to get my purse to leave. It was then that I found my mascara open in my purse. It wasn't black marker, it was mascara. But he thought it was for your lips, so that is why he put it there, first. I wish I would have had the thought to take a picture of him before I wiped it off, but I was too intent on getting it off quickly! :)
Another morning, we went into the coffee shop where Conor always sits on the counter. I put my purse up next to him and was talking to the staff when all of a sudden Conor pulled a Tampon out of my purse and said, "Mommy, what's this?"
I simply grabbed it quickly and said, "Nothing, just something for Mommy," while stuffing it back down inside my purse and trying to divert his attention to something else. I do not know if anyone actually saw it, but Jeff (not my Jeff, the one who works there) was smiling. But I find that I am not as embarrassed about stuff like that now that I am older. :)
I will be posting some pictures from Conor's third birthday soon, I will find the time! I also have some pictures with Santa and some other stuff, too!
Hope everyone is enjoying the holiday season!
A couple of amusing moments of late:
One morning while I was getting ready for work in the bathroom, Conor walked in with his face covered with what I thought was black permanent marker. I freaked out and immediately tried to wash it off. It came off rather easily and I attributed that to my quick response. It was on his forehead, cheeks, chin, nose, lips.... everywhere basically. So after I had him all cleaned up, I finished getting ready and went to get my purse to leave. It was then that I found my mascara open in my purse. It wasn't black marker, it was mascara. But he thought it was for your lips, so that is why he put it there, first. I wish I would have had the thought to take a picture of him before I wiped it off, but I was too intent on getting it off quickly! :)
Another morning, we went into the coffee shop where Conor always sits on the counter. I put my purse up next to him and was talking to the staff when all of a sudden Conor pulled a Tampon out of my purse and said, "Mommy, what's this?"
I simply grabbed it quickly and said, "Nothing, just something for Mommy," while stuffing it back down inside my purse and trying to divert his attention to something else. I do not know if anyone actually saw it, but Jeff (not my Jeff, the one who works there) was smiling. But I find that I am not as embarrassed about stuff like that now that I am older. :)
I will be posting some pictures from Conor's third birthday soon, I will find the time! I also have some pictures with Santa and some other stuff, too!
Hope everyone is enjoying the holiday season!
Wednesday, November 30, 2005
Socks - are they really a part of LAUNDRY??
OK, the reason I ask this question is because everyone in my family seems to think that socks are the things that you leave in a basket - apparently they will fold themselves (or I will do it!). We had almost 2 full laundry baskets of socks. I don't like doing them, either, but I also don't like digging through a basket full to find 2 matching socks to wear! So on Sunday, I sat down and mated all of them. I swear there were over 100. With 5 people in our house, it is not too hard to imagine!
And speaking of laundry and socks...
Sunday night, Jeff had to go to bed so that he could get up @ 12:30 am for work. He had not been able to finish all of his work clothes, so I told him I would take care of them. He also had bought a few gifts for a few of the women on his route, and he asked that I wrap them for him. No problem, although I did give him a hard time (and still do) about his "girlfriends" at his stops. I really don't mind, but it's funny to tease him about it.
Anyway, he went to bed. Conor, on the other hand would NOT go to bed. I finished Jeff's laundry, folded and hung up his clothes and SOCKS, and put it in his suitcase. Then I laid down with Conor to see if he would go to sleep with me there. No such luck. So, around midnight, I remembered that he needed his presents wrapped. I got up and wrapped them and also decorated them with candy canes. Then I went in to wake Jeff up because he hardly hears the alarm clock. He finally woke up a little before 1 am and asked me to make him some chocolate milk. So I did. After he had gotten up, he said, "I probably shouldn't say this, it will probably make you mad, but it is something that has been bothering me."
Me - "What now?" *Groan*
Jeff - "Wellllll, I really don't like the way you fold my socks."
Me - "Are you serious?? After all I have done for you today and tonight, you are going to COMPLAIN!?!?!"
Jeff - "I knew I shouldn't have said anything, but I just woke up...."
Me - "Well, I haven't been to bed yet, and I am tired, too. I finished your laundry, packed your stuff for you, wrapped the presents for your 'girlfriends', AND made you chocolate milk - and you are going to complain about the way I did your SOCKS?!?!?!" *Incredulous*
Me again - "You can do all your own laundry from now on!" Hmph!
I go to lay down in my bed and then in came Conor (yeah, not asleep yet!) and crawled into bed with me. He didn't want to go to sleep, he wanted to watch a movie. But I said absolutely not, it is way past bed-time and we are going to sleep. He was actually asleep within 2 minutes of getting into my bed.
Jeff was apologetic about his complaining, and said 'goodnight' and kissed me goodbye. Me - "I'm putting this in my blog, you know." *Smile*
Jeff - *Groan* "You won't tell it right.... You won't tell them that I was half asleep and I just don't want my new, favorite socks to get all stretched out and fall down."
lol - So, I have tried to put it in here fairly, but I probably did bias it a little toward my side (of course!). But I am not folding his socks anymore. If they are left in a laundry basket, I will just put individual socks in his drawer! :)
And speaking of laundry and socks...
Sunday night, Jeff had to go to bed so that he could get up @ 12:30 am for work. He had not been able to finish all of his work clothes, so I told him I would take care of them. He also had bought a few gifts for a few of the women on his route, and he asked that I wrap them for him. No problem, although I did give him a hard time (and still do) about his "girlfriends" at his stops. I really don't mind, but it's funny to tease him about it.
Anyway, he went to bed. Conor, on the other hand would NOT go to bed. I finished Jeff's laundry, folded and hung up his clothes and SOCKS, and put it in his suitcase. Then I laid down with Conor to see if he would go to sleep with me there. No such luck. So, around midnight, I remembered that he needed his presents wrapped. I got up and wrapped them and also decorated them with candy canes. Then I went in to wake Jeff up because he hardly hears the alarm clock. He finally woke up a little before 1 am and asked me to make him some chocolate milk. So I did. After he had gotten up, he said, "I probably shouldn't say this, it will probably make you mad, but it is something that has been bothering me."
Me - "What now?" *Groan*
Jeff - "Wellllll, I really don't like the way you fold my socks."
Me - "Are you serious?? After all I have done for you today and tonight, you are going to COMPLAIN!?!?!"
Jeff - "I knew I shouldn't have said anything, but I just woke up...."
Me - "Well, I haven't been to bed yet, and I am tired, too. I finished your laundry, packed your stuff for you, wrapped the presents for your 'girlfriends', AND made you chocolate milk - and you are going to complain about the way I did your SOCKS?!?!?!" *Incredulous*
Me again - "You can do all your own laundry from now on!" Hmph!
I go to lay down in my bed and then in came Conor (yeah, not asleep yet!) and crawled into bed with me. He didn't want to go to sleep, he wanted to watch a movie. But I said absolutely not, it is way past bed-time and we are going to sleep. He was actually asleep within 2 minutes of getting into my bed.
Jeff was apologetic about his complaining, and said 'goodnight' and kissed me goodbye. Me - "I'm putting this in my blog, you know." *Smile*
Jeff - *Groan* "You won't tell it right.... You won't tell them that I was half asleep and I just don't want my new, favorite socks to get all stretched out and fall down."
lol - So, I have tried to put it in here fairly, but I probably did bias it a little toward my side (of course!). But I am not folding his socks anymore. If they are left in a laundry basket, I will just put individual socks in his drawer! :)
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