success

…if at first you don’t succeed, try farting first…

this is war…

This is all out war on my staff. It started with little things. First I couldn’t reach the binders for SOPs (standard operating procedures). They have them placed on high shelves where I would need a step ladder not just a stool to reach them. I moved them to a lower shelf. Every morning they would end up back on the high shelves. Then the swivel chair I used I would lower so that my feet touched the floor. Everytime I got up and left, when I got back the darn chair would be chest high again. My staff are a group of men, all ex-military from the airforce, navy and the army. My dry erase board that I put the schedule on would have caricature all over it everyday, my soda would disappear from the refrigerator, the communication log would disappear when I needed it and would mysteriously appear at the end of the day. Yesterday they had a body outlined in tape on the floor and would tell anybody who passed that this was their boss. I’m declaring war on these guys. I got whiff of a rumor that they’re planning to rearrange my office. I’m going to work in the middle of the night and lowering all their counters to knee level, taking the ball out of the mouse on their computers and wrapping their chairs in plastic wrap. I’m not taking this lightly. All ideas and suggestions are welcome.

mile after mile after mile

Driving cross state in the height of summer is a twisted error in judgment. Of course we have no sense of judgement, twisted or otherwise. We made a lame attempt of driving from California to Texas. We flew into California and decided to drive the cars back to Texas. These were the cars we left behind from our last trip because we didn’t have enough drivers.

When it’s hot you tend to drink a lot of ice cold drinks. It’s the ultimate thirst quencher. It’s the best thing to cool down your hot and sweat-drenched body. On a road trip that’s not such a great idea! Do you realize how desperate you become till the next rest area? You’re counting every mile, reading the mile markers, hardly daring to breathe. You twist and turn in your seat, nervously tapping your feet, looking out the window pretending to enjoy the scenery, every bump on the road an agony. You stare at the painted white stripes on road going on forever. Then with relief you see that sweet, endearing “Exit”  sign to the rest area. Revenge on the all controlling bladder. Then it starts all over again, 1200 miles.

Quality time …

It’s a three day weekend. Memorial weekend. But it’s excrutiatingly hot and humid outside. All the campgrounds, picnic areas, water parks, theme parks or points of interest in the immediate vicinity was jammed pack with people. We opted to stay at home in fear of venturing outside in the heat. We turned the AC on and sat around talking and eating. This got boring after a while. Then someone brought out the magic mike. We then sat around drinking and singing out of tune. We went thru the whole book and ran out of songs we knew. After a few attempts to sing songs with either high notes or fast beats we gave up on that as well. We decided we sounded like pigs in pain or cats having sex. Then someone found an old mahjong set. Ooooh this will keep up us occupied a while. Since only one person knew how to play we spent the first hour learning to set up the tiles. That what was a lot of fun. Building your bridge of tiles and trying to lift and move them without breaking. We learnt the basic rudiments of the game with a lot of questions and debating. We spent a good three hours playing, learning all the terms and making up our own rules. “Bunot” “Todas” “Waiting” “Siete Pares” “Eskalera” “Pong” ‘Kang” “Chow”  were new additions to our vocubulary. Combined drinking, the heat, and the energy expended on mahjong we were tired. We now found our favorite spots on the living room floor, as comfortable as possible, chips and snacks within arms reach, and turned on a horror flick. This is our weekend.

Another trip

I had a respite from travelling for 2 months. Didn’t last long. Tomorrow I’m flying to LA. True to form whenever I make plans something screws it up. I was planning to fly over there at the end of this month. I needed to make my orthodontist appointment since I’ve missed 2 already. I’ve been having to fly to California every 6 weeks for my brace adjustments. On my last trip my beloved braces, that I had on for 2 1/2 yrs finally came off. I could finally bite into a burger and a slice of pizza. Mmmmmm heaven! Well I need to get fitted for my retainers. I have the invis-align on now but apparently my newly straightened teeth have decided to move on their own. Well after spending thousands of my own hard earned money to give me a killer smile and all the frequent flyer miles its accrued me these pearly whites where going to have to straighten up. Now I need to get fitted for a retainer. I fly out of here at 7:30 am, arrive in Orange County at 11:00 am and make it to my orthodontist at noon. To make the trip worthwhile I’m hitting the casinos all weekend. Maybe I could win some of the money back these chompers have cost me. In case you’re wondering why my orthodontist is 1200 miles away, it’s because 3 months ago I lived in California.

Well as my best laid plans went awry, I’m going to make the most out of this trip. I called all my friends. Dinner dates, lunch dates and shopping sprees are being planned. Let’s see how many activities I could squeeze in, in the next 4 days. To top it off I have to drive back so I could bring back one of the cars still left there. It’s a 23 hour drive and I do not look forward to it. Another freaking road trip, with blood-shot eyes, nasty rest areas and sleep deprived driving. This is my weekend… Feel free to sympathize…

Elusive Serenity…

It’s been a while since I’ve had anything to say. I’ve been busy adjusting to my new work (been there 3 weeks), maintaining my other blog  and reading other people’s blog. I find the latter much more interesting. My other blog is mostly family pictures kept up to keep my friends updated on my whereabouts since I left California in February. Booorrrring!

I work smack in the middle of downtown San Antonio, Texas. I am about 2 blocks away from the famous Riverwalk. I tell you this because I have to continuosly remind myself of the fact. I’d take a walk in the park for lunch. The park happens to be across the street. The park is shaded with picnic tables, lots of trees and lots of vagrants as well. They’re there sleeping under the tables and underneath the trees…enjoying an afternoon siesta. I was warned by security to stay close and not wander too far, where they can’t see me (I could get mugged). Oh Shattered peace! I figured I’d try the Riverwalk instead. It’s pretty and cool, with meandering walkways, lots of trees and lots of tourists as well. They’re there walking around, stopping foot traffic to take pictures and sitting on the benches loitering. Oh Shattered ambiance! I gave up. I took my lunch in the cafeteria like everyone else. Such is my thwarted attempt in finding some serenity in the midst of a chaotic day at work.

Hence, I decided I’d take my walk in the park by the house. It’s breezy, with benches in the shade and lots of trees. Finally, I found my little oasis of quiet until… I hear the dogs barking and the kids yelling. Every dog and its owner, big or small, young and old were there walking their dogs, playing with their dogs, playing with each other… Forget the peace and quiet I thought I deserved. Apparently I don’t merit it. If you can’t beat them, freaking join them. I lay my fat ass on the bench, under the shaded tree, closed my eyes and took my siesta. Who said I couldn’t be a vagrant?

Color-coded panic modes

I’m sitting in my office answering emails and trying to tie things up for the weekend. I look up, thinking, “Did I hear that overhead page correctly?” I could have sworn they called a “Code Black!”

Ok let me initiate you in the color coded panic modes…hmmmp…I did just finish another 8 hours of boring orientation again today, 16 hours of enlightenment. For example, “Code Red” means there’s a fire, panic but don’t be too obvious. ”Code Green” means there’s violence and we need muscle (security) and “Code Black” is a subtle way of announcing that there is a bomb threat.

I jumped out of my chair and ran out of my office. I asked the first person I saw, “Did I hear a code black? Is it a drill?” Affirmative, a code black was called and Negative, don’t know if it’s a drill. Here I am panicked to the tips of my natural, black dyed hair. As the senior supervisor on the premises, (Actually I was the only one left, everyone had gone home early. It’s a Friday!) I was supposed to know what to do. Yeah right! I know what it means but I haven’t read the safety manual yet on what steps I’m supposed to take.

After a few confusing, cross-eyed seconds I found the manual and read in a blur the steps to take. Simple! Lockdown your area, no one in and no one out. Then do a walk thru of the immediate surroundings, checking for suspicious boxes, containers, etc. In short, I did a brisk walk around the department and looked for anything that could be ticking. If I found anything with the potential to go BOOM!, I had on my backpack, my cellphone in my hand and I was gonna make a run for it. And how was your week?

Oh yeah! Code black was called off after 20 mins. It was a prank call!

Instant gratification…

Since I started blogging. I’ve neglected painting. The thing is, they are both outlets for stress and an illusion of doing something creative. My gear, brushes, palettes, easel, etc are all packed away in California. I only brought with me, my travelling kit. I’ve practically ran out of some tubes of paint. So here I am blogging. Thank God for small favors. My old laptop started taking a turn for the worse and the hardrive was lamenting from all the abuse. I finally got a new laptop 2 months ago. However, I’m still trying to recover some of my files that got corrupted or lost. So much for backing up my files. Being the ever-so-diligent (not!) person that I am, I got complacent and didn’t backup for months, probably a year. Ergo I lost a lot of my files. As I  sit here pondering on life and trying to regroup, I realize I am basically a hopelessly lazy person. I want instant gratification. Instant coffee – too lazy to brew, instant fastfood – too lazy to cook, wash and wear clothes – too lazy to iron, and if I could only have instant make-up and hairdo then my world is almost perfect.

Prez my friend?…

I walked in thinking this is going to be sooooo boring. I was attending a company forum were the president was going to speak. I’m thinking, “Oh no. Another boring hour of administrative politics and bull shit.” As I took my seat there’s a myspace account on the screen and the account was “Prez my friend”. Huh? Prez Hilton’s blog site is gonna be discussed? I’m thinking, some sucker was caught browsing the internet illegaly and we’re in for a whole hours lecture on internet policy in the workplace. Hohum… 

The darn forum was about the president’s myspace account. Apparently he just found out about myspace. He was so excited, he wanted all of us to know about it and add him to their friend’s list. He now has 22 friends. He posted some pictures of company events to make it legal that he was doing this on company time. Talk about ironic. Obviously he doesn’t know about Prez Hilton’s site or he would given a little more thought to the name he gave his account. Like school detention, we were prisoners and forcibly made to go through his whole myspace. Against our wills we had to look at pictures, watch videos and hear a narration on entries he has posted. Halfway through I subtley rested my head on my hand pretending to concentrate and promptly took a quick nap. So much for Prez, my friend.

 

a job offer

It’s been years since I’ve looked for a job. I was at my last job for 10 yrs and the one before that 15 yrs. Here I am looking for a new job after recently relocating here to San Antonio. I guess the process has changed. First off my interview began with dinner. I was taken to dinner to get acquainted with folks that had titles after their names, ie. director of so and so, Chief Operating Officer, etc. The following day a panel interview as set up with about 15 or so people there that lasted about 4 hours. There were drinks, pastries, fruit platters, coffee etc for snacks. Hmmmm makes me wonder. I’d love to just do interviews for months to fill one position. In any case 2 days later an offer was made. This was a different interview than the one I went to last week. So today I was asked to come in to Human Resources to fill out some paperwork and officially sign the offer. Well after a brief visit with HR for copies of my driver’s license, Social security card and State Board licensure I was ushered to another building for a mini-orientation. Here benefits, vacation, policies and W-2 tax forms were filled out and discussed. I also did a preliminary screen with the health nurse for a physical exam. Tomorrow I go to another location for my drug screening, to the lab for some blood work, and to x-ray. Next week I have a full day 8-5 orientation at the Medical school campus, which they call a General Orientation. A week after I have to attend another full day, 8-5 orientation for the Hospital Orientation. WTF! All this for a job. I remember when 2 hours of orientation was all we had and about 15 mins in HR for the paperwork, ID badge and parking permit. I guess I’ve been out of it for too long. Welcome to job hunting.