Test your Politics

I found this test last week and decided to see where I fit in. Usually I find these sorts of things to be off, but I think in this case it was pretty on target. The best part were these extra questions at the end where the answers do not contribute to results but are more "fun" questions such as "If all eight Democrat Presidential candidates are dropped onto a deserted island to run through various, deadly tests that pit them against each other in battles of wits, endurance, and physical strength, which candidate emerges at the end, bloody but alive? " (I chose Hillary...and that will be the only time I vote for her.)

You are a Social Liberal (60% permissive) and an... Economic Conservative (63% permissive) You are best described as a: Centrist (63e/60s) Link: The Politics Test on Ok Cupid Also: The OkCupid Dating Persona Test

Fortune

We had Chinese food for lunch today, which ended with a fortune cookie. The message read:

"You will obtain your goal if you maintain your course."

That one goes up on my cube wall!

Waitless

One of my co-workers told me about this site, www.waitless.org. Sprint is promoting it on their site. It's cool! To quote Creed Bratton, "check it out."

Made it to Round Three

I have an update on the interview process with an old employer for the Controller position.

I've officially made it to Round Three - a face to face interview. I made it through the first round - the resume test. I was one of eight people chosen to do a phone interview. I had the phone interview on Monday evening, and though I was told they were probably going to have their decision on next steps at the end of the week I just found out I made it through round two and will be one of 2-3 people brought in for face-to-face interviews.

The interview will be on November 2, so I have 10 days to mentally prepare. I know I have a lot of things working in my favor, as the President told me three times on Monday that the person I would be replacing was really happy I chose to apply for the position. My old boss was a tough person to please and that means a lot. I know his opinion will mean a lot to the leadership in making their decision.

At this point I'm happy I've come this far. I'll definitely be disappointed if I don't end up with an offer, but at minimum it will provide me with a chance to see everyone again and also provide me an opportunity to practice my interview skills. All will not be lost.

24 Hours

In the last 24 hours:

1. We went to watch the Indians game on the big screen at the Jake and they lost horribly. Tonight is the final game, amongst accusations of drug use by one of their pitchers.

2. There was a huge upset in Formula One; Kimi took the title. Now there are allegations regarding the fuel levels of three of the top eight cars. If by chance those cars are disqualified then Hamilton would take the title. What a mess.

3. On the way home from the grocery store we were driving through the two-lane country roads (we live on the edge between city and country living). We saw cars slowing down ahead of us, as one of them was making a turn into a driveway. Unfortunately the motorcyclist ahead of us didn't see them slowing down. B started saying "That guy isn't going to make it" but before he could get the whole sentence out the motorcycle hit the back of the car in front of him. He flew above the handlebars, hit his back on the back of the car's rear window and then rolled down the rest of the car onto the street. It was like a ragdoll being thrown up against the back of a car.

Just like that, we were witnesses and also first responders. B jumped out of the car and immediately tended to the guy, asking him his name, where he lived and just keeping him talking. I called 911; there was another big accident about 10 miles away, so there was some confusion amongst the operators that this was a separate accident, but help arrived after a very long five minutes. The guy was bleeding from his mouth, his clothes and hands were pretty cut up but he was alert at all times. We stuck around for about 40 minutes until they had our statement and gave us the ok to leave. B even helped the EMT guys; he did a great job. The smell of gas will stick with me for awhile, as well as the image of that guy flying above the bike and hitting the car. We're glad he's ok; the other accident nearby sounded a lot worse from what we heard from the responders.

When we had left the grocery store I had set eggs and bread in the backseat so nothing would get crushed in the trunk. Though I started slowing down when I saw the cars up ahead break, I must have stopped the car pretty hard once we saw the accident...when we got home the eggs and bread were on the floor in the back. Half the eggs were broken and the bread was pretty smashed. A small price to pay. This has been a very strange weekend.

Can you say "choke"?

My parents invited B and I out to The Jake to watch the Indians/Red Sox game. The team was in Boston but they opened up the park to about 10,000 people. Most of the seats were free, but my Dad splurged for the $25 seats since they included free, unlimited food. My Grandma B. and her husband also came along.

The stadium seats that were open to the public were full of people who were ready to celebrate their victory. Unfortunately for them it never came. The team, every single member, choked. Big time. By the end of the third inning the people were streaming out of the stands in a mass of red and blue.

On the plus side the weather was perfect, we had great seats to not only see the big screen but also the production team to the right of us. On the train ride back to the burbs we had a group of younger kids that were hilarious - interviewing the people on the train about their thoughts on the game and also providing some sketch comedy, singing and dance moves. It was truly the best part of the evening!

Sleepy

I have no motivation left for today. Sure, it doesn't help being up since about 3:15am this morning and driving into work while it was still pitch black outside. It's just been a rough week physically; lots of pain, more than what I had before the last acupuncture appointment. Of course that makes the days hard to get through and it causes me to be up quite a bit at night, despite any drugs I might take to counter that. I'll give it another week and if I'm still this bad I might have to return for another visit.

The week has gone by pretty fast, and it's one of those where you look back and wonder where you spent your time. I think 50% of it was in meetings, 40% was preparing for two conferences, one which we are sponsoring a morning coffee break for, and 10% was reading/responding to e-mails. I do not think I worked on any project work this week, but that's mostly because we currently have very few active projects at the moment.

Saturday will probably go by pretty fast. Have to take the car in for it's 35,000 mile service. We are attending the visitation and funeral for my co-workers daughter; I'm going to say right now it will probably be the most heartwrenching service I have attended in my life. At some point will probably have a nice lunch or dinner out with the parents.

Not sure what else we will do, but unless the pain goes down some I might just be laying around when I'm not doing that other stuff. I can't complain, since I really had a few weeks this past month where I felt good. Having one good day is better than no good days.

Next week should be a decent week. Most of the people are out of the office on client travel, so that's a big plus. Tuesday there is a local healthcare conference that I get to attend, so that will give me a little something different to do.

I have officially been asked to participate in a 15 minute pre-interview with my former employer's President for the Controller position, so I'm looking forward to (yet nervous about) that. From there I believe they will narrow the 10-15 candidates down further and then maybe have 5-7 people at most come in for face-to-face interviews. I feel I do really well for the in-person interviews; phone is a lot harder, but I've done it before and had good luck. Since I've been through the interview process with them before at least I somewhat know what to expect.

I hope everyone out there has a great weekend. And, since I've decided I need to show a bit more support for the city, "Go Indians." And for the Formula 1 fans out there who happen to come across this blog, "Go Hamilton!"

Welcome Back/Weekend

My mom returned home late Monday evening, so Tuesday after work I stopped by the house and spent a few hours with her. It was great to talk to her for more than five minutes and without interruptions. The cat was particularly happy to see her, though it was short-lived; she took him to the vet to have a biopsy Tuesday morning and they had to keep him overnight. We'll know in a week whether it's cancer.

It will take awhile for her to settle back into things, but it's nice to have her back. We have very different personalities and we don't always see eye to eye, but I'm still grateful she's my mom.

In terms of this past weekend, it flew by. B and I went to a big farm south of Youngstown where they have fresh produce - including apples and pumpkins - and fresh baked goods. Their donuts were excellent; the best I've had since we moved here. They also carried a Sumatra coffee which B really liked the smell of, but chose not to purchase it at this time since he already had plenty of coffee at home. We will definitely go back for the donuts and coffee, even if it is a 70 mile drive! We also painted a bit more, and of course did the typical household stuff.

We watched "Blades of Glory" on PayPerView Saturday evening, and Jenna Fisher is officially on B's "list" now due to a scene where she's dressed pretty scantily. I love Will Arnett but overall the movie was pretty bad. I'd rank it a solid "D".

Sports to Watch

There are several big games to watch this week:

Sunday - Bears vs. Vikings at Soldier Field. Out of all the football teams, I find the Vikings the easiest to hate. Vikings must lose today....take 'em down! (Update: We LOST. Oh, the pain.)

This week - Cleveland Indians vs. Boston Red Sox. Since the Cubs are out of the playoffs, I guess I have to root for the Indians to win. I don't really care, but a lot of people around me do. (Update: It's 3 (Cleveland) to 2 (Boston). Can Cleveland take the fourth win Saturday?)

Next Saturday/Sunday - Formula 1, final race in Brazil. It's a three-way title race; I'm hoping Hamilton can close the door and win his the title his rookie year. It will be an exciting close to a season riddled with scandal. (Update: Hamilton didn't get pole, but he's second. Can he pull out a win Sunday?)

TGIF

Thank goodness, Friday is here! It's been a busy week with a lot of twists and turns, so I'm looking forward to 5pm.

So what's in store for the weekend? I don't think I feel up to painting, but my body may surprise me. I had another acupuncture treatment Monday and I usually feel pretty crappy for a week or two afterwards, which I'm told is a positive sign. At least that is what I've been told.

My main focus this weekend will be helping my family. Mom is still in Iowa, and my Dad and their cat is suffering. We've had Benny for over 16 years; he was actually a "We're sorry we moved you again" gift for me and my brother when we moved to Austin, Texas in 1991. But since I left home he's really been my Mom's cat; her baby. For the past couple of weeks he has had difficulty eating and has lost a couple of pounds. It's not good. Tests have been run and it's been narrowed down to a curable intestinal disease or non-curable lymphoma. To add to that, my Dad is also not eating much and also losing weight, and he doesn't have a lot to lose; he's now sick, which is really unusual for him.

It's very accurate to say my Mom plays a big part in keeping Dad and the cat healthy, so her month-long absence is really taking a toll. Though I've been trying to help out with the cat this week, this weekend my focus will be on my Dad. He's not a cook and he hates eating out, so instead he just doesn't eat. To solve that problem I've spoken with my mom and gotten my Dad's list of favorite meals, which I'll start making tonight. All stuff I can just freeze and then all he has to do is heat it up and eat.

Besides spending time with B I'm not sure what else we'll do besides typical household stuff. Who knows, maybe I will do a little painting after all.

On the Lighter Side

House is on tonight! And though I think this photo may be from the episode next week, it's just too cool and I had to put it up.

House is getting rid the potential team replacements "Survivor" style, WITH bunsen burners!

The Aftermath

Three of us had our evaluations yesterday. Though none of them were near bad, those little "side" comments" really ruined the experience. So where are the three of us today besides at work?

#1 has cleaned her desk of all personal belongings as a reminder that "she is just a person paid to do whatever is demanded of her and that's all she is, nothing more or nothing less."

#2 has stepped up her job search (me).

#3 has asked a few of her friends to see if there are job opportunities for her where they work.

The morale here is wonderful! :-) You just have to laugh.

It didn't last long

Given where I work it makes perfect sense that the warm, fuzzy feeling of last Thursday is long gone. Already.

I had my performance review today. Every year it's the same thing...the three owners get together and rate you. This year it's either "meets" or "not meets," plus a description of why they rank you that way for each item. They also make each person fill out a form for themselves.

Though I had all "meets", it's the descriptions that always throw myself (and everyone else here) in a tizzy. Basically the unofficial rule is that the partners get together and rather than determine to describe you has how you usually are, they pick that once instance from months ago that they barely remember and that's what they put down. You're then left with these weird comments that make you say "Um, when did this happen?"

I had four of those "Where did this come from?" comments today. It was a total joke. For instance, and I kid you not, they feel I "put too much on my plate". Huh??? Um, I don't assign myself responsibilities around here, they do. And most employers I know would love to have someone who takes on a lot and still gets it done accurately and before/by the deadline. I'm not even going to get into the other ones, but it does follow a trend.

I'm proud of myself for speaking up and telling two of the partners who did the review that the big problem is that everyone is always blindsided this time of year with these one-time situations. I told them that if something is a problem then I would appreciate them taking me aside and telling me what they perceived I did "wrong", rather than storing it in their mind and then putting it down on paper months later.

I have told B this every year after every review I've had with my current employer but I really, really mean it this year - I will NOT be around come review time next year. There's nothing holding me back, now. I'm not perfect health-wise but it's manageable and I'm not having to fear additional surgeries at this point. I've been with this company 3.5 years, I don't owe them anything at this point. I've done what I can and it's time to move on for my own sanity.

The good news from today is that I did find out that my old employer has made the first round of cuts from resumes received for the open Controller position, and I did make the first cut. They are anticipating to start the second round - interviews - next week. It's time to get prepared for the interview of my working career. Game on!

Crippled

I woke up Saturday feeling better than I have in months. With B at school with his work group I decided to do something I haven't done in years - paint.

We purchased paint a few months ago; my mom was "contracted" to do the job. She loves painting and it gives her something to do. However, she has spent the last month in Iowa and though she's coming home soon I know she has a lot of projects piled up at their own fairly new home. So when I realized how great I felt Saturday and the lack of pain I had, I decided to surprise everyone including myself and to start painting our upstairs hallway.

Since becoming an adult I have only painted one room; that was my office in Minnesota. When we moved to our house I had surgery four days later, so for three weeks my mom would come on occasion and check on me and painted our main floor rooms while I was recuperating. The only room painted upstairs was our bedroom, which I want to repaint a slightly darker color than what it is currently.

Due to my lack of painting skills I went on the Behr web site and read their painting tips. I then got out our supplies out of our basement and went at it. The end result was about five hours on my feet and a really nicely painted hallway! B came home after about 30 minutes into it and did pitch in a bit, otherwise I never would have gotten as much done as I did. (thanks, B!)

Saturday evening I was sore, but Sunday it was even worse. Though the acupuncture has been helping, I'm still having these horrible pains in my legs/feet whenever I stand or walk for more than a half hour or so. I really do think it's some sort of peripheral neuropathy, aka nerve damage from my back surgery and who knows what else. Last night I couldn't even fall asleep until 1:30am, and that was after hours of drugging myself. It's this stupid sharp nails/pins and a"fire" sensation. I think I might have to bite the bullet and see a neuro guy.

So I woke up wishing I could miss work, only to find that B was in worse shape with his back. The poor guy could barely walk; still not sure why. I made him stay home and take care of himself, supplying him with pillows and some of my better pills before I left for work. I hope it's nothing serious; only one of us needs back problems in this household, thank you very much. But for now we're both a couple of cripples.

R.I.P.

R.I.P. - Chicago Conference

Since April I have spent a great many hours overseeing, managing and personally handling almost every detail for a conference my company was co-sponsoring in October. Officially as of yesterday, Oct. 3, the conference is now dead.

This was the second year for the conference. Last year had it's challenges but in the end we had a good turnout (about 40) and the faculty and registrants left very happy. I'm not a good event planner when it comes to personal stuff, but I'm actually great at the work-related ones. Developing the program, marketing campaign, speaker list, presentations...it was all in my hands. Unfortunately our attendance only hit 13, so we decided to kill the thing.

So what went wrong? Judging from the feedback we received, it wasn't the program, marketing, location or price. We had a difficult time getting a third sponsor, and once we did everything went on hold for six weeks while my key contact was on vacation. We didn't start the marketing as soon as I wanted to. And once we did, though my company did it's part, the other ones lagged a bit. And, as it turns out, the biggest difference from last year is that a lot of hospitals are now putting freezes on education related functions.

I've been told over the last few days by several people in and out of the industry that this is a sign of the times. There are a lot of conferences cancelling left and right, which includes ones who had sold out attendance for years. Our graphic designer told me the story of a mortgage company who's had sold out conferences for years and this year got absolutely no one...and paid a huge hotel "penalty" of $72k for cancelling. Luckily the final bill for us is a lot less, but for a company that is really struggling it's not the outcome we wanted.

So I've been pretty down this week. Between a bad sinus infection and getting no sleep due to the conference stress and crappy sinus medicine that makes me feel like a jittery, foggy-brained, blurry-eyed mess, I've been struggling to get through each day. And then there is the feeling of "Is there any ting I could have done differently?" and the stomach knots from worrying about how others would perceive the cancellation of the conference at a time where we are trying to build our company's currently weak image. I also worried about it affecting the relationships we have with the other two sponsors since we were the ones who initiated this.

Though I know this is not my fault, at the same time things are not looking too good financially here so this loss is hard for me. However, it appears things should be ok in the end. The sponsors have been calling me personally to cheer me up and thank/commend me for what I've done. No relationships will suffer, thank goodness. Those who had registered are handling the news well, thanks to the communication strategy I developed. At the end of the day we got a lot of great advertising through mailings and e-mail marketing, and that's a big plus. I think we've handled ourselves as well as could be expected, and we'll come through this ok.

So why the flowers?

Those are courtesy of my bosses, as "appreciation for all of my efforts in regards to the conference." It was really unexpected and a very nice gesture. They, and the rest of the office, thought I could probably use some cheering up with everything going on. I know this place usually drives me crazy with the dysfunctionality, lack of communication and passive-aggressive/childish behavior, but at this particular moment I'm ok with sitting here in my large cube with my colorful gift in view. And to remind me of this day I thought I would blog it, since I know at some point soon I'll be going crazy here and will need a reminder that not every day here is a day in hell.

The Iowa Trip

So this weekend B and I went to Iowa to the farm. Though the travel time was long, the weather was gorgeous and we really enjoyed hanging out with the family.

First things first - Grandma looked as well as could be expected. She's going to be ok, but it will be a rough road ahead. I found out from my Mom during a five minute private/side conversation that Grandma's heart damage is extensive - her heart is now working at 25% capacity. This means from here on out she will be extremely limited in what she is able to do. The end result will probably mean a move to a smaller home - either "in town" or perhaps a modular home on the farm property. Either way it will be a difficult couple of months for everyone.

During our visit we managed to see my uncle Kenny in the fields harvesting the last of the corn. It's been years since I've been around during harvest time, so it really brought back a lot of great memories from my childhood. I've always known farming is one of the most difficult businesses out there - especially for a smaller farmer - but just seeing everything my uncle had to go through just to finish the last 30 rows of corn was unbelievable. Luckily my aunt was available to come out and help him maneuver some of the equipment. After 13 hours the last of the corn was finished; this week it will be the beans.

Speaking in general terms, it was great being back in Iowa/Illinois. Everytime I go back I feel at home. It was great to be surrounded by Cubs/Bears fans; great, friendly people; gently rolling hills that allow for spectacular sunrises and sunsets; familiar meal favorites such as pork tenderloin sandwiches; grocery stores that actually carry the good brands you grew up with but can't seem to find in Ohio; and of course our family was there, so that's the topping on the cake. I know we're stuck in Ohio until B finishes his MBA, but I take comfort in knowing that the time will fly by and soon we'll be able to move back and truly settle down.