Whatever you give a woman, she will make greater.
- If you give her sperm, she'll give you a baby.
- If you give her a house, she'll give you a home.
- If you give her groceries, she'll give you a meal.
- If you give her a smile, she'll give you her heart.
She multiplies and enlarges what is given to her. So, if you give her any crap, be ready to receive a ton of shit."
I had a terrible week last week - by Friday I was beside myself. I was peed off, angry, upset at myself for feeling so bad, but couldn't find a way to kick my own ass out of it. I know how to stop people annoying me but it just wouldn't budge. I'm happy to report that spending the weekend doing almost nothing, out for dinner a couple of times with friends and a good massage has made me feel a whole lot better.
After that I wasn't really looking forward to today. I got my just desserts though. This person who annoyed the crap out of me last week managed to get their ass royally kicked by my boss. They organized a meeting to give my boss an update on this project - them, me, the global department program manager and my boss. Interesting that I didn't see the presentation beforehand, or even asked for my input....but that is soooooo typical. I didn't get mad and attended the meeting (which BTW was with 15 minutes notice!!!!!). It just shows you when you put a presentation together rule number 1 is to make sure you know your audience and what they will do with the information. She just ripped him a new a-hole. The bitchy side of me? Laughed my freakin ass off. It was laughable - even I couldn't understand what the hell they were trying to say....and believe me, with my boss - you have a total of 10 seconds to get your point across. hahahah-di-ha. Serves them right - they only need to ask my advice and I'd help. Even now neither of them has talked to me.
So, onto the topic of this post. We have friends getting married in Mexico in May. Part of me didn't really want to go as it was so far, expensive etc etc....however when we realized it was the holiday week and that we could airmile ourselves there for about $160 we booked it. This will now be our holiday for the year I think - and there was no arguing from Trevor. It'll be interesting to see what it's like. So exciting. I just need to figure out how you prevent yourself getting Delhi Belly......and most people I know who go to Mexico always get sick.
So now the keep fit and diet is kicking into high gear.....way too many skinny people will be there!
I've never usually had an issue getting on with people at work. While I'm a strong driver of deliverables I'm usually fair and work well with everyone. Every once in a while someone comes along who just gets right under my skin and whatever method of communication/planning/talking/emailing/relationship building I try they still irritate the crap out of me.
I'm working with someone this year who's driven me nuts for years. They first started working for back in 2005, then I took a break when they moved, then they worked for me for 2 years. They're so arrogant and I think the thing that just amazes me is that they have absolutely no fear - of anything or anyone. They are secretive and won't share information - it's totally nuts. I'm not usually to pull rank but he's several levels below me - and it would be nice that I was not treated like I was little more than a piece of dirt who knows nothing. Especially when I know that a) I don't and b) most of my colleagues agree with me. Now this is one of the biggest projects the company has ever under taken and it's important to get it right. I know that the people I work with are comfortable with my approach - so I'm very frustrated with myself that I just can't seem to cut a break with this idiot.
I hear all these voices in my head about how not to let them project their behaviour onto me, or to allow myself to get emotionally caught up in the BS that's going on. I also know lots of ways to get these kind of people on side....just NOTHING works. Nothing at all.
I know that I have lots of information and I'm just fed up getting emails to me, copied to the world with (and I quote) "This is critical to the account planning process. " No sh*t, sherlock! And that was the last sentence of the flipping email. So rude. And obnoxious.
So, I'm trying to figure out how the hell I get out of this. I know that I need to project manage them into a corner.....however, it's really hard when they won't share any information at all - unless I go to my boss and say they won't give it me, she then in turn emails them and then I get it. Seems ridiculously stupid and childish. It's also nuts that they INSIST on copying my boss on EVERYTHING. She doesn't care - she trusts that we'll make it happen. Such an idiot.
Back on track....I'm creating the plan and pieces and basically creating my dependencies on him. That way when I meet with them I'm focusing on deliverables and not my emotions. I just wish they'd quit and get a new job. This is way way too much stress.
I'm always so open...so I find it very difficult when people are secretive. By this I mean, I suggested we had some kind of repository for documentation/analysis/plans/issues lists etc - and they said no because "they don't want documents getting into the wrong hands". What the hell does that mean? This is a global project. How crappy is that? So, so short sighted.
I'm determined to get through this - I'm just trying to figure out the best way through. So, i've decided to start with what I know best - roles and responsibilities, a high level project plan and basic immediate deliverables.
Wish me luck!
I couldn't post anything until I least acknowledged that there's a new President in town. I'm not really sure how I feel in so far as I'm not sure if I'm happier that Obama is President or that George W is not.
I'm so happy that prize idiot is gone - isn't it amazing how much damage a guy can do in just 8 years? He started a war (without evidence), the economy has crashed (understatement), he's given the Daily Show on Comedy Central fodder for the funniest political show on TV, and he didn't find the guy responsible for 9/11. There are a million other things - but you get the idea.
What I am thrilled at is I've felt the mood change - for the better. This is the start of a new era.
I do think that Michelle Obama needs a stylist....while some of her dresses are good, so many of them are not. Hopefully that'll happen in the next few months:)
So now there's a new man in town we're looking at our financial options. This is a great time to invest in stuff - the million dollar question is how do you decide what will still be standing at the of this decade? Watch this space.
Here's to 2009!
As you know I'm all about splitting proteins and carbs on my diets and rarely eat them together (unless I'm eating sushi). This is a high protein burger...but with white meat. I tried this out a few days ago...got the idea off of Big Daddy's House on Food Network. Was marvelous. Of course I don't have quantities or anything like that but you'll get the idea...
Ground turkey
Few rashers of bacon, chopped
Chopped onion
Small cubes of cheese (I used strong cheddar)
Bit of cream cheese (like Boursin)
Mixed herbs, salt and pepper
Some egg
- In a pan, with a little oil or spray, fry the bacon and onion until cooked. Set aside.
- In a bowl put the ground turkey, herbs, salt and pepper and mix together well. Add enough egg to bind.
- Make sure the cheese is in small cubes
- Make the burgers - Next make some thin patties with the meat mixture, in the middle put a combination of the bacon, onion and cheese. Cover with another thin pattie
- Fry in a little oil until cooked
As long as you season well they taste great. Put it like this - Trev wants me to make them again!
This note is for my friend Debbie. No idea if she reads this....but I finally made it! The pair of brown pants we bought in England at the beginning of the summer that I bought on the basis that I was going to lose some pounds I wore out for the first time this past weekend! Wooooohooooo!
Very exciting. Now it wasn't all plain sailing. I had never had washed them and just took the label off and wore them. About half way through the evening I felt itching on the backs of my thighs. It was severely cold that night so thought the burning that I was feeling was downto the cold....not so sure - decided it was proabbly the pants. Owwweeeee! Getting better now though.
The second thing was to go with my brown pants was my pair of brown high heeled boots. Yep, that's right - 8 months after falling off a bus I spent an evening wearing heels. My ankle survived pretty good and I didn't have too far to walk but was so happy to go out feeling like a girl...rather than some kind of 60 vegetarian:)
That was really really cool. Let's hope we keep the pounds off:)
I was pretty excited a few years ago when I discovered FreshDirect - a website where you can order groceries and for about $6 they would deliver it. The only issue with the website that about 30% of what we normally eat we couldn't get on there so you would either a) go without (which worked sometimes) or b) you'd have to take yourself to the grocery store anyway.
So...guess how excited I was when our local grocery store started doing online shopping and delivered for $6. Oh my word....I love this. You get a personal shopper who takes your list, walks round the store and then calls you if they have questions. It's sooooo cool. There are several benefits to this:
a) you only order what you want and can't get roped into impulse buying
b) the store has 99.9% of the stuff you want
c) you can leave little messages under each item (so if you don't know how heavy 8 apples is you can put 2lb in weight but then say "I want 8 please")
d) you spend less than if you went with the list because of a) above
e) you don't actually have to go to the store!
Marvelous!
I started work on Monday and next thing I knew it was 6pm on Friday night. It went soooo fast, as did the week before. I don't feel I had much time to post updates so here's a snapshot.
1. My trainer. Since beginning of December we've not been able to work out and I'm missing it dreadfully. I'm still hopeful my friend Sharon will fix it so we can use the facility that we did - if not, not really sure what I'm going to do. I still go to spin classes and the odd strength class but it's nothing like I was. This WILL get better (so I tell myself).
2. Diet. It's cool. I seem to have found a way to maintain or lose every week since October. I'm very happy about that. Slow but steady is always good.
3. Work. I had my performance review and it was awesome. Not only does your boss review you but so do your colleagues. That's always more terrifying I think - you may think you have a good relationship but sometimes you find out that may not be the case. This was not what happened - there was not a single "development" item. It does make you wonder when that happens why you don't get the highest score......but hey, as long as I'm not average who cares?
4. Work. It's been nuts. I'm working like crazy and it's getting out of control because of #1 above. It seems to me that I need a more senior job, get paid more and then work way less - oh yeah, and hire a dummy like me who works their tail off. While some of the stuff I do is fun it would be nice to have a little bit of feedback periodically.
5. My ankle. It gets better all the time and while I don't notice it day in, day out I can now wear heels at work (although I revert to flats to go outside!) and walk any distance I choose. I just wish it'd stop aching when it's cold.
6. Our gym. It's nuts - the new owners are in a world of their own. They've canceled half the classes, all the instructors have left so coupled with not seeing Billy I'm finding it tough. Time to look for a new gym....problem is there's only a few in our town and all have their pros and cons.
7. My short hair. Now, I liked it the day it was done then hated it for about 10 days. I realized that perhaps if I changed brushes to match the shorter hair it'd be easier to manage. I seem to have found the best way to dry it so it at least looks like a style when I get to work (rather than just a crappy short hair do).
It's now the weekend - we're off to see Somorre tonight in the city with some friends - never seen any of her stuff (I'm told it's wild...) so will report back.
I just wish I had more time....
I've never seen an airplane in water before....it's kind of scary. I work in Times Square and my floor is about 1500 yards from the Hudson river. While there are a few buildings between the Hudson and where I am I still caught a glimpse of the US Airbus that went down yesterday. My colleagues saw it hit the water and the emergency doors open (I happened to be in the Ladies room at that time). We then saw it float down the river as passengers were getting off. At the same time we've got all the TV's on showing us closeups of what's going on.
The pilot is a hero. How he managed to miss one of the most densely populated areas is beyond me. The Hudson is a big river...and the cool thing is there are so many ferries that go back and forth it made it easier to reach the stranded. I'm so happy that everyone got out alive.
The thing that irritated me was the people commentating on this event. Some of the things that came out of the mouths of these people - how did they get the job? Here were my 2 favourites.... and I quote:
- "is there anyone in the helicopter?" ..... (someone in my office shouted out "nah...we're on autopilot!")
- "it was so cool....watching the plane come down. I called my girlfriend to tell her what was going on..." (guy to interviewer...)
That just says to me that something that could have been a major catastophe was not.
We indulged! A price of a cheap night out in NY ...$100. And it is soooooo worth it.
We have a Netflix subscription. We do the cheapest membership at $8.99 a month so by mail we get one DVD at a time. We thought it was pretty good because we rarely watch more than one DVD at a time and with work/gym etc we can wait the 2 days before the next one arrives. As a bonus you can watch loads of stuff free online on demand. That was pretty cool......
....until we were told about the Roku box. This is where as part of the on demand online feature it streams it directly to you TV. It's blinking awesome. It took just a few minutes to set up (program it to your wireless network) and then ta-da you go online and activate the box. Once you've done that you can then put stuff in your "watch instantly queue". Miraculously this turns up instantly on the TV - where you click "select" and watch. It takes less than a minute to load a movie or TV episode and then you watch. We have done a lot of watching this weekend and it's only jumped once or twice which is quite impressive given it's delivering movies across the wireless network.
A selection of what we've watched this weekend:
- Yes Minister
- Inspector Linley Mysteries (several)
- Vicar of Dibley finale episodes
- The Good Life (known in the US as The Good Neighbors)
- An old Doctor Who - Tom Baker was the Dr
Another cool this is that you unplug it and walk it to a different TV and it works there too. When we visit people (like Rach in Chicago) we'll for sure take it with us - it's the size of about 5 CDs stacked.
What a VERY lazy weekend.....
We have celebrations in the family.
Firstly, Carrieanne has passed her exam and she's now officially an Optician. We're so excited for her. It means that she can use that between different stores to change her job, and also she can trade that in different states. She was so worried that she hadn't done well - but no reason to. She passed! Yeeeeha.
Second, it's all about me. I can officially state that I've dropped 2 dress sizes. I have had to actually buy pants for work - just so I don't look weird...:) The reason I'm posting this as a celebration is that I'm managing to lose weight (probably 1-2lb every couple of weeks) and I'm really not in a diet. It's strange. For the first time in my life I watch what I eat all the time....but not in a "diet" way. I also exercise regularly. How cool is it? By the time Rachel gets married I may even be in single digit sizes....watch this space:)
Third, it's about me again. My ankle is getting better. I've progressed to walking around at work in boots with a 3 inch heel - something I couldn't do a few months ago. I don't walk in the city in heels, but I do wear something other than sneakers. Wooohooo - we may be near the end of the road.
This story made me laugh....
http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/article2105253.ece
TAG! ~ YOU'RE IT! ~If you opened it, you have to do it. It only takes a couple minutes! Then, send it back to the person who sent it to you and the rest of your friends!
~ Two names you go by: Phil or "Oi! You!"
~ Two things you are wearing right now: Gym pants, gym shirt
~ Two things you want very badly at the moment: Get out of debt & get healthy
~ Two people who will most likely send this back: Errr....given Penny gave this to me, no blinking idea
~ Two things you did last night: Spin class and watched an episode of Dr Who
~ Two People you just spoke with: Trevor and a colleague in Australia
~ Two things you're doing tomorrow: Work and spin class
~ Two longest car rides you've been on: St Louis MO to Boulder CO and St Louis MO to Hoboken NJ
~ Two favorite beverages: Nice cup of hot strong English tea with milk, surfer on acid
Now, here's what you're supposed to do ... And please do not spoil the fun. Hit reply, delete my answers and type in your answers. Then send this to a whole bunch of people you know INCLUDING the person who sent it to you
This is by far the funniest ad I've seen.....just wait for the line "you're going to love my nuts". This got posted on our local town's website....and I saw it on TV the same day. Blinking hilarious.
It was a very quiet start to the year. After going out with friends on New Year's Eve we spent New Year's Day at home watching TV as Trev wasn't feeling too hot as he's caught what I had a couple of weeks ago. Work was on Friday and while I thought it'd be a quick day it turned into a full one as I finished loads of things off ready for the start of the "real new year" on Monday when everyone and its dog turns up after the holidays.
Poor Trev, he's still unwell. The coughing is bad and tonight his temperature is 101.6. That's way, way too high. I hope his fever breaks tonight and that tomorrow he'll be on the mend. I did suggest that he visit the doc's on Friday as I know that's what cleared mine up so fast....but he didn't do that. Funny thing is I think he'll go Monday.
So, I figured while I was keeping out of his way that I'd reflect on 2008 and start thinking about what I want to do in 2009.
- Green Card. Yeah!!! Never again will either of us complain we don't have one and it's just not fair and why can taxi drivers get them really easily but we can't. As of May we are official legal aliens:)
- Friends. This year we've really managed to get ourselves a set of friends outside of work that we hang out with on a regular basis. Some are our neighbours (Jackie, Nick, Rich) and some are from the gym (Sharon, Debbie, Billy, Leslie, Anwar). It's pretty cool to be able to call people if you need a hand (like when I got a flat tire just before we went to Jamaica and I needed to get to the Optician and Trev wasn't around). That said I totally miss everyone who's dotted around the world.
- My ankle. That really sucked when I had that accident. It was not planned and it totally knocked me for six. Now I'm finally doing physio I really think I'm making progress. I hate the physio place...there's just something about it I don't like, that said I did manage to all walk all the way down the high street and back where I live - something I've not done before. We have hired a lawyer and will be sueing the company responsible.
- My bike. I love it. It was my birthday present and I think both of us were unsure whether it'd get used, but I'm happy to report that if I'm going anywhere in town then I usually bike unless it's snowing. The only thing I really need to do is buy some gloves that are specifically for biking because regular insulated ones just don't cut it. Luckily I can get from one end of town to the other in 5 minutes so it's not long enough to get frost bite. I'm ordering those tonight while I'm killing time.
- My job. While I work for the same person I changed my job in 2008 to go back to delivering global programs and projects rather than directly managing 60 people. That was just too much. It was touch and go for a while as it was weird having to plan my time but after 3 months of figuring that out I've got used to playing with spreadsheets and making data look fabulous. I do have moments where I feel that I'm overpaid for what I do but they're usually short lived. I don't want to do this forever and I think I've finally got to the point where I know what I want to do next. That said, while the economy is doing what it's doing I'm staying put with people I know and benefits that are not bad.
- Rachel and Mike got engaged. That was VERY cool because we were all in Cedar Rapids celebrating Trev's birthday when it happened. 2009 will be full of wedding planning....that's for sure:) What a great couple.
- Peter's an official doctoral candidate. He passed all the things he needed to and he's now on the official path to becoming Dr Peter. 18 months from now we should all be heading out to Boulder for graduation and Trev will finally get his official cap and gown portrait that Peter refused after his first degree.
- Carrieanne got her house. It's so exciting to see her independent and confident enough to negotiate and move back into town. She's definitely got a plan on what she wants to do with her career and she's doing everything she can to get it. My fingers are crossed for her exam results that are due in January sometime.
- Trevor changed his job. As a result of the Green Card he started looking around for a job and while the salary wasn't quite what he was looking for he seems to be really enjoying what he's doing. It's great having him home all the time and I think he's finally settling into a routine.
- Mum is well on the road to recovery after her knee replacement. It took a while and I spent 5 weeks back in June in England hanging out and helping out.
- My weight/My fitness. This is a life long struggle but I've found a way to control this. I pay for a trainer. It seems on the surface to be a complete and utter luxury but I know personally that this is a good investment for the future. I'm fitter and stronger than I ever thought possible and nothing phases me any more at all. Also once I started getting active again after my fall I've lost about 15lb....and I fully expect to keep that going.
- The condo. We're still in litigation and have to do depositions soon so that the association can sue the builders for the $400,000 we now owe fixing all the things they didn't. Hmmmm... that'll be a story for 2009 I'm sure. Even so we managed to get the whole place finally decorated: living room has all new furniture and the TV hung on the wall, the bathroom floors are different, the master bath has a new vanity and sink, the kitchen now has a splashback and all the walls have fancy paint on them. Woooo hoooo! I just LOVE it.
I'm so thankful that I was able to spend time in England with my family - I went back a record 4 or 5 times in 2008 and while it made it difficult at home it was the right thing to do and I enjoyed meeting up with everyone. I'm looking forward to planning my first visit for this year - we have traditions set up that are now hard to break. I get picked up from the airport (unless it's a business trip), we go to Kesgrave Kitchen for a Full Monty Breakfast, we have fish and chips for dinner on the same day, I visit the Baipo Thai restaurant with Diana and Charlie, I hang out at Debbie's and we catch up and usually reminisce about being her kids ages (!!!!) and I also meet up with Jenny and Frankie. I then manage at least once to meet up with other family members (Angela and Mike, Caren and Lee (and kids), Emily (and kids), Frank) to catch up as well as with colleagues in London and my friend Amanda. Oh what fun we have!!
In 2009 I'm looking forward to spending more time with Trev. With him working locally and not traveling so much (and me not traveling quite so much) we should be able to spend time on us. We already have common interests but now we can do them together rather than separately. We'll have our 12th wedding anniversary in June...how is that possible? Time really does fly.
So far we have planned:
- a visit to Chicago to celebrate Mike's 30th birthday (ssshhhhhh - it's a secret and he doesn't know - hopefully he doesn't have my blog link)
- Boulder in March to go ski-ing
- Mexico in May for Jackie and Nick's wedding
- A trip to Cedar Rapids at some point
- A trip to St Louis to meet up with BJ and Paul and everyone else who's there (Debbie, Caroline, Nikki)
- A few more trips to Chicago to help with Rach's wedding
- Alaska for me if Mum and Dad book their holiday like they're planning to
- Turkey (if I have time this year) - I promised when I got my Green Card that I'd go and visit Mum and Dad there.....I'm thinking September time
- Rachel's wedding in November
- Go Race Car driving - I bought it for Trev last year and we haven't used it. I think we have that planned for August some time
- A holiday just for us.....not really sure at all when we're going to get that planned, but I'm determined to
It's January 3rd.....and we have that much planned already. Phew!!!!!
Happy New Year everyone....
Got a new hair do.....whaddayathink?
I decided to stop fighting the fact that it kinks out at my chin....I've had it cut to emphasize it. The test will be on Monday morning when I have to make it look this good for myself:)
I got a new crockpot! Woohoo. Mum and Dad bought us a new one for Christmas. It's fabulous.
My old one has been retired to the bin. It's done really well - I bought it for about $35 when we first arrived in America in 1996. My new one is a step up - it has a timer, probe and a locking lid. It's blinking awesome. I tried it the day I got it and it works great.
I love the fact that I don't have to worry if I get caught at work and that it'll turn itself off. I'm looking forward to cooking a whole chicken at the weekend so I can use the probe:)
I think the funniest thing is I thought I'd ordered quite a small one - and it turns out it's huge. I've had to move stuff around so I have somewhere to store it as it was too deep to put where the other one was.
Happy New Year everyone!
We celebrated with a few friends last night. We went out with Leslie and Anwar, their friend Steve, Sharon and ourselves. It was so cold last night (about 20F with wind chills way below that) - I know for those in the midwest that's not too bad but for us on the east coast I've never know it so cold.
We had dinner at a restaurant that was disappointing then continued onto Anwar's local bar in town. Check out the pics - we had fun!
Happy New Year!
 |
| 12-31-08 New Year |
