Twist of Lemon

Work has not been good recently.  I am still happy with the job, in fact I like the job much better than the last, and I enjoy my new coworkers.  My new company is great.  But this week has been just rotten.  We were informed that  customer audit from two weeks ago, which we were led to believe went decently, was actually poor.  And then I was informed by HR that one of my staff was going to be let go, today.  In order to meet the new quality system the whole plant needs to do a crapload of work in just the next four months.  So it brought a little sunshine to my day when I came across this petunia growing amongst the weeds in the hood, as I walked to my car after twelve hours at work.

So I had mentioned that earlier this week was busy.  Well the truth is I had to go into work on an overnight shift and it kicked my ass.  I used to work overnights for years with no trouble.  Now one overnight and I am out of it for a few days.  I am old.  Like today, after work I was home for two hours and then BAM I was asleep.

So now I am up after my four hour “nap” and I am over thinking my life.  Like how in the heck am I going to lose the weight I want to lose?  Why do I have such a need to be liked by everyone, paired with a personality that doesn’t make that an easy task?  Why do I feel like my friends are so much more intelligent than me?  Why do I always seem to get stupid when I talk to my folks, or worse yet be so unfocused as to appear to be on drugs?  I wonder what sort of child my folks really wanted and if I am even close?  This is why people have pets, unconditional love without second guessing.  I love my cats and I miss my dog.

Well so yeah, it was Mr. Bitter’s birthday yesterday and he is still waiting for your gift gentle reader.  Well not actually, and thank you to those who have sent good wishes [you know who you are].  I have been meaning to post for the last few days, but things have been busy, and last night when I had a breather I just plain fell asleep.  Fun times.

Work has been very interesting and is looking to get much more busy in the next few weeks.  I really enjoy the people I work with and the challenges of my new position.  This week has been tough since we have both the MDA and the IMS in auditing us and one of our customers just called to set up a supplier audit for June.  And my boss is having me do an analysis of how much needs to be done to meet our planned quality system implementation.  I don’t feel like I have time to get much done when I get home either.

So what did this birthday mean to me?  Feeling older and really, really thinking about how much I would like to raise a child.  When Brain graduates and becomes employed again, I know what I would like to do with the extra money.  I am thinking baby fund.  Wish me luck!

Random crap.

It has been a serene past few days. Well in a sense. Friday at work was just weird, since it seemed like my time was just being eaten up by other people. There are too many nebulous tasks that need to be done. The plant itself is running fine, but is way behind in program development. There is the feeling that everything will just work until it doesn’t and then the fire fighting has to start. I’ll ask someone who handles fixing a particular piece of equipment when it needs repair and am told “Oh Larry handles that.” Then when I ask who else can fix it I am told, well no one. And I am thinking, well if Larry gets hit by a bus do we just have to close down shop then?!? We really need to get training and preventative maintenance programs in place so we can avoid future problems not just react to them. I guess that is what they hired me for isn’t it? Gonna be a long road, but hopefully rewarding. Oh and I am taking some sort of “strengths finder” training next week. It is a prerequisite to taking any other career development courses that the company offers. I had to do an online assessment of my strengths and they were as follows [their one word definitions, mine in parenthetical]: Learner [love to learn], Input [inquisitive], Relator [need to know more about people you already know...share etc.], Strategic [ok I am just gonna tell it like it is...Manipulative is what i think this means] and Achiever [drive to get things done]. So I convinced my trainer/ally/only other person I have met that thinks like me at work/friend Cheryl to sign up for the class as well since she has not taken it and the others signed up are all in some sort of accounting roles. Four hour training course with accountant types…I need another critical person [with a personality] in the room or I will definitely go mad.

So where was I oh yeah, lot of time working on fires on Friday at work and not a lot of time working on long range goals. But I managed to get a computer into that old lab and networked so my staff can stop entering test results on paper and, well, as I told one of the lab techs, “Welcome to the 20th century!” The lab is probably too small for a LIMS system, so I don’t think it will ever make it to the 21st century.

Friday night Brain and I went out to see my folks and play some Pinochle [OMFSM I spelled that correctly first try! Woot!]. We stopped on the way to bring them their favorite pizza, from Latuff’s in Plymouth, only to find they thought it had gone downhill since the last time they had it. End of an era I tell you! The upside is my car still smells like very tasty pizza, but not overwhelmingly so. We had a great time with the folks and playing with Mercury. I really think when Brain and I get the old house sold and a new one bought, and Mercury back with us, the folks will be getting their own dog. And some disturbing news too, looks like Mom has to have a needle biopsy for a lump found during her last checkup. I am really hoping it is benign. I know my father came to terms with his cancer very quickly, since he figured he would develop it ever since his father died of his, but I don’t know how he or Mom would cope with her being diagnosed with cancer. Or how I would cope for that matter. Over the last few years I have come to appreciate my folks more all the time, and I want a lot more time to spend with them. That is one reason I am glad Brain and I are settling in the Twin Cities for awhile.

Saturday was sort of Anniversary celebration. Brian and I went over to Wayzata to try a place called Patrick’s Bakery and Bistro. Mom had mentioned how she liked some of the pastry from there, and as we are missing our Daube’s fix, we decided to check it out. We even had lunch at the bistro. Brian had a burger [figures doesn't it?] and I had a chicken pot pie puff pastry thingie. But first off I had the French soup! And I highly recommend it! It was outstanding, even if it was served hotter than hell. The service was great, but the room is loud, it might have been where we were sitting in it, but we couldn’t even have a conversation with each other, and there were only about 10 other diners in the joint. Other than the soup the food was alright, but nothing to rave about. We then hit the bakery case and bought a little of everything to take home. And over the course of the day we have decided it is only ok. So if you are in the area try the place out by all means, but don’t make a special trip. To cap off the celebration we watched the last Torchwood episode of the season and the first Doctor Who episode of the season. And I am super happy to see Catherine Tate on Doctor Who again, she brings a much needed touch of laughter back to the show. And after that last Torchwood we needed the funny [and that is all I am gonna spoil - sorry Mary].

Did you ever watch the cartoon “The Superfriends” when you were younger? I just have the TV on for background noise right now, and Boomerang is a good channel for noise. That is how I find myself watching a rerun of what has to be the cheesiest show I ever watched as a child. Well excluding the Sid and Marty Kroft shows. I even remember _liking_ the Superfriends! Well age brings wisdom and all that.

Friday Brian and I raced over to the notary once I got off work. We had to get some title documents finished in case we get an offer on the house. It turns out the notary was a gal I used to work with at the bank in Fargo! We had a nice chat while we were signing various documents. Then we went over to see the Star Gate gals and watch the new straight to video SG1 movie. I must say I found myself strangely engrossed in the show. Saturday Brain and I went over the the Ridgedale library and got ourselves library cards. I figured I better not buy books while we are in such cramped quarters, so I better have access to the library! Sunday we didn’t do much, I basically spent the day watching two seasons of the Britcom “Solo” staring Felicity Kendall that originally aired in 1981 to 1982.

Today I spent most of the day trying to organize my office. There are piles of documents everywhere, and I finally got maintenance to drill out the lock of the locked filing cabinet to which no one in the building seemed to have a key. And what did I find, but old files from about eight years ago. Well those got tossed in a box to be hauled away, and now I have a file cabinet to organize form scratch, and that I can use to transfer what files I mean to keep from the last QA manager. Good thing my office is so large, there is so much crap being stored in it.

…you’re in for it now! Had a very long day today. I started at 7:30 and my day ended at 19:00. I think I understand more today than I did yesterday. I know I have more to do tomorrow than I did yesterday. My boss came to the plant to meet with me this morning, the result? More for me to read, more to learn and a lot of advice on how to move forward on many changes, while not making too many waves. Should be an easy tightrope to walk, don’tcha think?

I feel like I cannot catch a break this week.  I never realized just how much time even a small commute takes out of your day.  I got home today, fed the cats, and relaxed for what seemed to be maybe a half an hour.  Brian and I caught up for a bit and suddenly it is 19:00!  That is when I took a little “nap” and suddlenly I wake up at 22:30.  No wonder my parents never wanted to do anything after work when i was a kid!

Work is going well for me, but there is a lot to do and I am just in the prioritization phase of things.  My work calendar is filling up very quickly, time is just slipping through my fingers.

Making room for a bunch of crap seems to have been the theme of my week.  Even though we only moved what we thought we needed into this apartment, we still ended up with a bunch of crap to organize.  Saturday Brian and I went over to our friend Ken’s place to pick up the remainder of Brian’s belongings.  Brian had been staying there during the school year while I was in Rochester.  Ken had just gotten back from a business trip, so we took him and his son William out to eat so we could catch up a bit.  I can’t tell you how much i enjoyed hanging out with William [who is six] and a lot of fun.  I got to thumb wrestle, make faces, and play pinball with the little guy.  Then we came home, I took one look at all the boxes, and decided it was time to nap.  Until 2100.  Then I watched Britcoms.  Today we finally got Brain’s drafting desk fully assembled.  We also sorted through all the boxes of clothes to determine which we would keep here and which we would pack right back up and drop off at my folk’s basement.  So after bringing four totes of clothes out to Maple Grove, and playing with our puppy for a couple of hours, we stopped off at Target on the way home.  Time for pre-fab furniture and low tech storage units!

Sorry for the lame update, but Rachel made me do it!

Well it looks as if it has been awhile since I posted. But then again it has been an eventful week. So where to start? I guess I will go along chronologically. Skip ahead if I bore you.

Monday - Showed up at 0720 [20 minute commute] for my 0800 start. Hmmm great, now I get to sit in my car for forty minutes in the ghetto! Luckily I saw the plant manager [PM] coming into the building, and he was kind enough to let me in. The PM then gave me my company cell phone, sans phone charger or access to voice mail. He said he would get a hold of the cell company to get me a charger. I then met with the Regulatory Manager [RM] at 0800 to start my training. In my office. My HUGE office, which is easily the size of the living room in the apartment Brain and I are currently occupying. I do have a nice working computer, quite the change from my last position where the computer would take 30 seconds to register a command. But I don’t have access yet to the programs I need to be trained on, like for inventory management, or customer complaints. So I have to log an issue with the online help desk. Oh and I cannot even log into that tool. So I call the IT number and ask for them to give me a log on, which the assure me they are in process of doing. I also get to meet some of my staff for the first time, and see the lab in detail. Yeah lots of changes to be made, lots of changes [to the lab itself, not the staff, they seem great]. Oh and lunch was at Elsie’s.

[OK this is taking too long, this is day two of me trying to get this all down...time to shorten it up]

Tuesday - On my own for the first four hours or so of the day as RM is in meetings. I decided to go down to the lab and get a feeling for the workload and what all goes on for testing in the lab. Four hours flew by and I went out to eat at, you guessed it, Elsie’s. Came back to spend more time talking with the RM about what quality programs are already in place [few] and what quality programs need to be implemented [many]. Discovered I had no access to voice mail on my cell phone or my land line. Land line still gives name of last QA manager. Found locked file cabinet in office.

Wednesday - Met with RM and went over programs on the computer for customer complaints, discussed new product introductions and product changes and my part in the process. Discussed HACCP plan for the plant. Went to lunch at Elsie’s and was late for the plant supervisor’s meeting the PM wanted me to attend [but forgot to send me an e-vite to]. Learned a lot more about the hurdles to go through for a plant with a union workforce. Cell charger comes in. Called cell company about access to voice mail.

Thursday - Call cell company again about phone and finally given the right number to call to get access to voice mail. Spend more time in the lab discovering what goes on. My safety training is canceled due to outside visitors who need attention. Lunch with PM and discussion of some of my plans for the lab, my staff, general QA programs. Seems well received. Lunch was at Gabby’s saloon. Back to the plant and more training with RM. Come home. Pile snake and her cage into car. Go to donate her to the Herpetological society. Get Brain a drafting desk at Utrecht. Stop at Ridgedale for food at the Macy’s Lakeshore restaurant [good food ok service], go to Byerly’s to get some needed food in the house. Come home, talk to Mel, Mom and Fran. Crash.

Friday - Learn more stuff. Find out I cannot access IT help desk because I am not in payroll as of yet [Eeek!]. Listen and learn a lot. Eat at the Breakaway in Robinsdale. Come back to work, learn more. RM leaves for home, I check out happienings in the lab. Stay and help out a bit. Keep hearing from employees how the last QA manager would never have been helping, let alone at 4:30 on a Friday. Come home and crash from 1700 to 2300. Up for an hour to eat, go back to sleep.

Saturday - Go out to the folks in Maple Grove to spend time with the puppy while they are at the caucuses. Get there at 0930, cuddle and watch TV with Merc. End up napping with the puppy. Stay until 1900. Go to Super Target for food and other necessities. Get home at 2100. Some jerk parked in my assigned underground parking spot. Call apartment office and leave message. about parking. Just before going to bed get a call from the folks, something is wrong with Mercury, seems his anal glands might be impacted.

Sunday - Brain and I get up at 0830 and head out to the folks to help with Mercury. Anal gland on his right side very impacted and cannot be expressed by us. Call Mary to get ahold of her sister Julie [our new Vet.]. Emergency trip down to Richfield to get Merc checked out while the office is open. Not much Julie can do, though she tries, so Merc is on antibiotics and pain meds until the swelling goes down. Drive him back out to Maple Grove. Drive back to the apartment, someone still parked in my spot. Go over to the [now open] office and complain about the parking. Get another temp spot to park. Start to unpack kitchen at 1400. Get call that parking space is now open. Finish unpacking kitchen at 1730. Sit down to finish this post.

HOPE YOU ALL ARE DOING WELL! GIVE US A CALL OR EMAIL SOMETIME!

No fancy graphic I don’t have access from this machine, well maybe I can get a random one up here. Anyway we have the stuff in the apartment and the house is ready for showing. I have my garb ready for my first day of work [minus my nice black belt because it can't be found and an old one will work I guess] and am going to bed in a minute. I will be leaving at least an hour before I have to get to work, because I don’t know my commute time yet. Wish me well!