Costume Came Out Good!

Lots of folks think I look just like Abby Sciuto!  I've very pleased with the tattoo.  Straytats did a great job!  That is the part of the costume that is getting the most chuckles, because they can't believe I actually have the actual tat...not some generic spiderweb tat that doesn't look anything like it.

Sun, Sun Go Away...

...save yourself for another day!

What!?!?!?

Not the SUN!!!!  I'm meeeellllllttttttting!

(If you can't tell, I'm in a little bit of a goofy mood today.  Hey, better than being in my usually pissy mood!)

Clouds Are Back :)

Yes...it is a beautiful overcast day!  I'm not getting slammed at work...at least not so far.  Tomorrow is a work from home day, because I later have to go see the dreaded dentist with my kids (I hate going to the dentist...I really do).

Today, for the most part, is a good day!

Call Me A Vampire...

...but I am no fan of the sun!  It is still cool outside, but where did my clouds and rain go?  I want my clouds back!!!  Weatherman says that maybe they will be back tomorrow, but we all know about the weatherman.

Realized my playlist was gone from Myspace last night.  Seems the RIAA and record companies sued playlist.com for copyright infringements simply for creating an index of songs on the web!  Seems the record companies want money simply for people playing the songs over the internet...not just owning the songs...saying that if people could play them on-demand on the web, why would they need to go purchase the music?  Um...so they can have it on their iPods and when they are not connected to the internet, like in their car where some of us spend a good 2 hours of our day?  Seems like stupid greed to me!  If people cannot download the song, what is the big deal?  They went after many of the streaming radio stations a while back for the same kind of thing.  I remember Radio Nigel having something posted a while back about it.  Apparently, they even went after Pandora.

In my opinion, a playlist is nothing more than the mix tapes of old!  How many of us recorded songs off of the radio, and created mix tapes back in the 1980's?  I know I had a ton of them.  I'm sure the RIAA and the music labels knew this was going on, and it drove them crazy that they couldn't figure out how to make money off of it!  Mix tapes were an expression of the person...favorite songs that had meaning in the person's life...a mix tape about a particular situation...a mix of their music style.  You could usually tell something about a person by getting in their car and popping in their mix tape.  Playlists are the same thing!  We post them on our blogs and social network pages to give insight to who we are and what is going on our lives...an expression of ourselves!  Going through a breakup?  You will usually find songs on a person's page that express how they feel about it...be it they caught the other person cheating or they just drifted apart...you can tell by the music that person put up on their playlist.

If anything, playlists help people figure out what artist did the song, so that they can go out and buy the CD or MP3s...actually helping the artists make money.  I know many of the radio stations around here are bad about saying who did the song and what the name of the song is.  I don't know how many times I had to try to Google a song through lyrics because of this, and it's not always easy.  If there aren't lyrics, you have to wait until you happen upon someone's page playing the song, and then you can look at the playlist to get the info you were looking for!  Now, some radio stations will post a text listing of their playlist, but you have to know the exact time of day you heard the song to figure it out.  Not many people really look at the clock when they hear a song, let alone remember it hours later when they remember they wanted to go look up a song.  At best, I can remember what I was doing, which gives me a round about time within an hour, but even then, I need to find a way to pull up all the songs listed that I don't recognize so that I can figure out which song it was.

Well, just realized I got up on a soap box!  I've said how I feel about it all.  I just think it is all stupid!  A DJ doesn't have to pay royalties to record companies to spin a record at a party...why should these folks have to pay royalties to stream the music on the web?

Cold Rain

Nice, cold, rainy day!  Probably the only thing that will soothe my nerves today!  I have a lot of work ahead of me already so early in the day.  Wish there was a way for me to work outside...under an awning or something...enjoying the cool air and the sound of the rain.  I so wanted to work from home today.  At least there I can hear the rain hit the roof.  Not so in an office building.  I can only look outside and imagine....

Not As Bad Today

The work I had to do went smoothly today, so it truly only took a couple of hours today.  Of course, I also have to work late tomorrow...will put in a day of more than 10 hours when done.  Not looking forward to that at all!

Hope Tomorrow Is A Better Day!

Well, the couple of hours of work I was promised turned into all day!  Eight hours, to be exact.  Needless to say, I'm not very happy about this!  I've officially worked 13 days straight without a day off, and looks like I'll need to work another 6 before I finally see one!

NOT Happy!!

I was assured we I talked to the boss about this work that needed to be done this weekend, that TOPS the work would only take up a couple of hours of my day!  So far, I've been at this for 5 hours, with no sign of being done any time soon!  Two systems...on one, the process is taking forever to run.  The other?  Process keeps failing because of others not doing things the way they should, so I have to work to undo their mess before I can finish my work!

GRRR!!!!

That's it....just GRRR!!!!!!

Not Getting Any Better!

Not only do I have to work this weekend, but I'm getting slammed with work today....Friday!  When does it end?  I'm not even allowed to catch up!  The work is coming in faster than I can complete it...and I'm actually pretty quick.  I hate going into the weekend with work that is not done, but I'm not going to have a choice, and I'm going to start my week next week behind!  I hate that!!!!

And I have to ask again...how hard is it to give me the correct information the FIRST time so that I don't have to waste my time fixing your stupid mistakes?

Ugh! Did The Sun Have To Come Out?

Enough said!!!!!

Here Comes The Rain Again!

A little something to bring my spirits up...RAIN!  I love rainy days.  They are so peaceful.  Some people just don't understand how sunny days frustrate me, while rainy days calm me.  I could go forever without seeing the sun, as long as it is raining....or snowing!

Another Day

Still dealing with this stupid migraine! Still haven't heard word on if I'm going to have to cancel on my son's game tomorrow night or not.  It isn't like this was last minute...I let my boss know of my son's game last week before this project came up!  I'm going to be stuck working on the weekend again, which my husband is not very happy about at all...especially after last weekend and me getting so slammed with work on Sunday that I had to walk out of service and spend the rest of the morning in the conference room instead of getting my spirit fed.  He knows how much that upset me...and then not being able to go to evening service.

I know the migraine is directly related to work, and the fact that I'm still upset about things is keeping the thing going.  I mean, I took a nap yesterday afternoon, and had it almost gone...and it came back instantly when I caught up on my email and found out that I have to work these evenings and weekend! I understand that being exempt means that I MAY have to work overtime and will not get compensated for it, but it shouldn't be all the time - especially when I don't get the same benefits as others.  When the others work the night shift, they get two days off...they work either seven 8-hour shifts or seven 7-hour shifts, and they get two days off.  I normally work nine hours a day...take my lunch to work and take a quick break to eat, because there is often too much for me to do to get out of there for an hour...so that is 45 hours in a week already.  When I have to work the weekend shift, that is another 18 hours on top of my 45, but I don't get any comp days like anyone else, and I get paid less than they do!!  How is that right?  As it is, I'm going to work three straight weeks without a day off...and no compensation!  Again, how is that right?

My husband says I need to say something...ask for a raise, compensation, something.  The only problem is that I feel like it will fall on deaf ears!  Like I told him, if they truly appreciated me, the money and compensation would come without me asking.  The fact that it doesn't shows me they will just work me and not care how I feel!  I don't know what to do, as there really are not many jobs around at the moment, so it isn't like I can just find something else.

Don't Know What To Do!

The job is really starting to get to me.  I worked last weekend...now I'm being told there is a project which will have me working in the evenings for the next week (on top of my normal 9-hour day), and I'm required to work this weekend, too.  When do I get time for my life?  I had to give up my time of worship and God's presence on Sunday because of my job...something dear and important to me.  Now, I'm scheduled to work the evening of my son's football game...the last home game of the season, and I've only gotten to watch him play twice so far this year.  I have to work on "date night" (Friday).  I'm scheduled to work next Tuesday, and I have practice at church.  I'm already putting in more than 40 hours a week, and they expect more!  I do my best to keep my personal life from taking away from company time...scheduling things outside of office hours whenever possible, etc.  I have dealt with some really emotional stuff this last year...things that I should have taken time off to deal with...but I would shake it off and go into the office...put in a full effort, and then go home and cry.  However, the job keeps encroaching on MY time!  My time with my God!  My time with my family!  My time to do for me!  My job is not my life...just a means to have the resources to live my life; however, the powers that be at work do not seem to understand that anyone can have a life outside the four walls of that office!  I get sick...I work from my bed...I can't even be sick!!!  I have suffered all day today with a near disabling headache (most likely triggered from work this past weekend, as I suffered all day with a mild version of it yesterday), and I still had to work from my dark room in bed.  Something has got to give...and that something is not me!

Has Not Been A Good Day!

There has got to be a separation between my personal life and work, though I do not feel like there is most of the time! I had to miss out on my time today because of work...my time with God seeking his wisdom.  I missed out on morning service because of work, and will also miss out on evening service.  Why?  Is my job more important?  No!  Though there are those people who do not understand this.  Am I getting paid enough to make this kind of sacrifice?  Heck no!  Something has got to give, but I don't know what.  I don't feel like things will ever change at work, no matter what I say or who I say it to.  At the same time, there isn't anyplace for me to go at this time.  I feel like I'm stuck between a rock and a hard place, and I am the one totally losing in the end....losing time with God, losing time with my family.  I just wanted to cry this morning...I was that upset.  I wanted to just call and say, "That's it!  I quit!"  If I didn't have financial responsibilities, I would have!  However, I still have kids to raise and a household to help support.  These companies know this...they know that we can't just quit because we feel taken advantage of...not in these current times. 

I just don't know what to do, and I feel so stuck and frustrated!

T.G.I.F.?

It's not really T.G.I.F. when you have to work on the weekend, but at least tomorrow is an easy day of work.  Sunday may be a little crazy, however.  Got here early this morning, and hoping I can run out of here a little early.  Would be nice!  Day has already started off crazy.  Came in to a whole load of work tickets this morning, and already did what feels like a day's worth of work in 2 hours!  Not to mention, I'm getting pressure on other things that are out of my control, so I simply get to relay the message that stuff needs to be done like 3 days ago!  I don't see it getting any better in the coming months with our busy season right around the corner!  Feel like I already need another vacation!

Knew It Couldn't Last Long!

Come in this morning to a ton of work, and at least of half of it being work I get to REDO because SOMEONE ELSE again messed up and didn't get me correct information from the beginning!  I'm really getting tired of it!  I mean, when I make a mistake, I'm the only one (well, with the exception of my boss...but he makes me do it as a learning experience) who can fix it.  My mistakes only affect me!  However, no one else has the access to fix their mistakes!  They don't give us the right information and data gets lost or processed incorrectly, all they can say is 'Oooops...sorry', while we have to spend the hours fixing it!  They never learn anything from their mistakes or feel any of the pain to fix it!  Being the NCIS fan I am, I often wish it were permitted at work for me to just slap someone upside the back of the head when they do or say something stupid....like not give me the correct information from the beginning!

Costume Almost Complete!

I've decided that this year I will partake in some of the Halloween festivities at work by dressing up, and I've come up with the perfect costume!  Abby Scuito!  I mean, I have most of the stuff already in my normal every day wardrobe (just don't go full goth at work, for fear of folks looking at me very strange).  Only need a black wig (since my hair is red) and a lab coat!  Very simple!  Wonder how many people will actually figure it out, and how I will fair at the judging.  Hmmmmm.....I think I can pull it off!

Gotta love Pauley Perrette....she does such a great job with the character.  I also love her voice...hope she records more.  Love the song Fear that they used on NCIS last season!

It's Been A Good Day....So Far

The work has finally slowed down...after a week and a half of craziness!

So, you are probably wondering...what is with the black cat pictures.  For me, it is for awareness of what happens to these poor things this time of year.  If you have a black cat, or a tortishell cat for that matter (these are the ones that are mostly black with orange and cream colored spots), please consider keeping them indoors in the coming weeks.  Due to superstitions and sick beliefs, these poor things are often captured and abused this time of year...some even killed.  They are NOT...I repeat NOT...bad luck as many care to believe.  Nor do they have any evil powers.  They are simply the result of a gene...an albino gene to be exact that has the reverse effect on cats (underneath the black hair, their skin is actually white, unlike other cats who's skin is some shade of the hair that grows from that spot).  One of my kitties is a black cat, and she is the biggest sweetheart out of the whole bunch!!  I would hate for anything ill to happen to her simply because of some crazy belief some people have!

Why does this also apply to tortishell cats?  Because they are "Halloween" colored...so I don't trust what people may do to them, either.  I have two of those, one happens to be the mother of the black cat and the other is a daughter of the black cat.

Oh...and another little fact you may not know.  My black cat has a Siamese-looking sister.  Believe it or not, the SAME gene that causes a cat to be black also causes a cat to be pointed (i.e., have a Siamese appearance).  This is also an albino gene...just a different mutation of the gene where the cats are born completely white and their hair changes color based on body temperature (cooler parts of the body, such as the tail, face, and ears).  Additionally, you will notice that in most cases, the pupil of their eye is red, rather than the iris, which is normally blue with this gene.  In black cats, the iris is orange (which is why only black cats have orange eyes).

So there is your cat service message and bit o' knowledge for today!  And as Bob Barker used to say...please help control the cat population, and get your cats spayed or neutered.  There are too many of these precious babies in shelters that only end up being euthanized when homes cannot be found, and countless others living wild having difficulties finding food.  Also, if you are looking for a cat, please consider adoption, and try to keep pairs together.  Cats need a companion when you are gone to the office. :)

Ahhhh....

I'm on the schedule to work this weekend, but just found out it is maintenance weekend!  That means relief for me!!!  Why?  My work has been cut in less than half!  All systems will be down for most of the day Saturday, so not much for me to do there (because there will be nothing to monitor).  System backups scheduled for Sunday are canceled to help processing catch up after being down on Saturday.  Ahhhh....here is to maintenance weekend FINALLY falling on my weekend so that I can enjoy the rewards...LOL!

It's A Munday!

The craziness has yet to stop!  Only 2 hours into the work week, and I'm already being swamped with work.  Even worse, this is my weekend to work, so I'm not going to see a day off for another 13 days!  I have got to find a way to take a day off in there, or I am going to go completely crazy.  Unfortunately, I don't see any opportunity to.

It's 4:40 p.m. On A Friday...For Pete's Sake!

What?  Is this my punishment for taking a vaction...something I get to do so rarely that even after taking a week off I still have about a month's worth of vacation time left?  Has this week been annual "Let's slam Subi with work" week?  Come on!!!!

Let Me Introduce You To Sparta and Loki!

I love these cats.  You can check them out on The Mean Kitty's channel on YouTube (http://www.youtube.com/themeankitty).  You have to check them out!  I don't know how this guy gets such great footage of his cats!  Guess I need to walk around the house with a camera rolling all the time to catch these kind of antics from my cats.  I do have to get me one of these bowls!!!

Health Care Bill - AGAINST!!!

Okay...usually I stay out of political discussions, because there are a whole lot of people out there who do not agree with my views, and are very rude and mean about it!  For example, there have been people, who know better, call me a racist because I don't agree with most of the views of our current president.  I find it amazing how people are stooping to this level when I try to make an educated argument!

That said, I have some serious concerns about the government taking on health care.  Democrats are really pushing this "public option", which truly has me concerned.  Why?  There was once a time when I had to depend on the government run health care program known as Medicaid.  This was while I was pregnant with my first child.  I was only 18, was still in school, etc.  I stayed on this program until my daughter was just over a year old.  When I compare the birth of my daughter to the birth of my son, it is like night and day!  How I was treated during the prenatal, birth, and post-birth with my daughter was a very unpleasant experience for me.  The doctors were very hum-drum...the lab techs always caused severe bruising and pain whenever blood was ordered...at the hospital I felt like I was on an assembly line...and when my daughter was ill after birth, no one was willing to take the time to find out what was really wrong with her.  We were at the doctor nearly every week with my daughter having respiratory issues, and each time I again felt the assembly line feeling as they were just quick to hand me another antibiotic and send me out the door!  It wasn't until I was hired on to a job where I could get private insurance that anyone took the time to figure out my daughter suffered from asthma, and do something about her repeated ear infections as well (i.e., temporary tubes).

Though my pregnancy and birth of my son, I was treated like someone special...like this was the special time in my life it really was.  Even the lab techs I dealt with were more gentle, and actually took time to draw the blood without much pain and bruising.  My son had his own issues after birth, but they were quickly diagnosed and treated, rather than being a long, drawn out process.  I felt more like the doctors cared!

So, this new public option concerns me.  I work for a small company, and many small companies are saying that if a public option passes, then they are going to drop coverage for their employees, and advise them to sign up for the public option.  The only saving grace I have is that my husband works for a school district, so I may be able to change my coverage to his plan and avoid having to go public option.  However, I am afraid that so many others will be in a similar boat...their employers dropping private coverage forcing them to go on the public option, and then these people being treated like crap by the medical professionals as many others on goverment run plans have been treated in the past!  Instead of caring for the patient, it will be an assembly line of getting them in and out, because they are not getting paid as much to see those folks as they do for folks with private insurance!

When we were in Cozomel, at any drug store you could get the basic meds....albuterol for asthma, amoxicillian, even viagra over the counter.  The prices for these things were less than the co-pays we pay for them here in the US...no insurance contribution at all.  I asked my husband why the US doesn't allow that, and he stated that 1) the US based pharmaceutical companies would never allow their products to be sold for such low prices; 2) the government would never keep their hands out of it enough for prices to be that low; and 3) Americans would kill themselves!  Of course, at the last one, I joked that this would further lower the cost of health care!  But he made two good points.  Take albuterol, for example.  In Mexico, I could get an inhaler for $7 US.  This is the price I used to pay for my albuterol inhaler (insurance co-pay is $10 for generic, so my insurance never kicked in for this med) for my asthma before the environmentalists got involved with the whole complaint that the propellant contributed to global warming (which is a crock, if you ask me....but that is a whole other discussion).  Now, thanks the the environmentalists, they use a different propellant (same med, mind you), and now I have to pay a $40 co-pay for this med, and my insurance is also still required to pay a good $60+!  SAME MEDICINE....SAME NUMBER OF DOSES!  And people wonder why the cost of health care is going up!  I'm sure this type of thing is happening across the board!

So, our SOCIALIST government (yes, go look up the word and you WILL realize that this is what we are moving toward....government running industry), is trying to take over the health care industry (they have already taken over a good chunk of the banking and automotive industries), thinking that this is the fix.  Truth is, government helped get health care costs where they are today!  If we are to really get control of health care costs, more needs to be done to bring down the cost of meds and services...not the cost of insurance!  Insurance has had to raise their rates to keep from losing their shirts to the rising costs of meds and services!  My father-in-law has one med that costs the same every month as most folks' car payments!  Why!?!?!?

Not to mention, Americans or more UNHEALTHY now than ever!  It is sad to see more people pull into McDonald's every morning than pull into the gym!  Diabetes, hypertension, high cholesterol, high blood preassure, etc. are all on the rise, and not only in adults!  These unhealthy adults are raising unhealthy children!  I would be more willing to pay a junk food tax to discourage unhealthy eating than pay for these people to continue to do what they want and pay for their health care!  I'm not perfect....none of us are.  I do acknowledge, however, that I was responsible for my being over-weight and developing hypertension and pre-diabetes!  I am one who likes to eat...I really enjoy certain foods!  However, my health was more important...even more so now that I have to be concerned about the medical treatment I may get in the future should this health care bill pass!  I had to make sacrifices!  I hate exercise, but I'm at the gym 5 mornings a week.  I love my pizza and french fries, but I have to put them aside for fruit, veggies, and lean meat.  I love my Diet Coke, but I have had to replace that with water!  I have lost 50 lbs thus far.  My resting heart rate has gone from 92 bpm to 70 bpm.  I no longer show symptoms of pre-diabetes!  How about the government make my gym fees tax deductible?  Or my vitamins?  When I was in California earlier this year, I noticed that restaurants were charging a health tax....why not make that nation-wide?  I wouldn't have a problem paying extra to eat junk occasionally if it detoured some people from eating too much junk food because they no longer afford to do so!  I mean, am I the only one who has noticed that it is cheaper to eat bad than it is to eat healthy?  It should be the other way around!  Why does fresh food cost more than canned, when canned takes so much more to process?

Think about it!!!  If you really put all politics and feelings about people who oppose our current administration aside, you will find that I am making perfect sense here!  Government and lack of personal responsibility got us into this mess, and now people are looking at government to fix things and allow them to continue to not take personal responsibility!

Okay...off of my soap box now.  I've said what I want to say!  I'll close with another one of my morphed vacation pictures.  This one was taken at Richmond Hill in Montego Bay, Jamaica...morphed with BeFunky.com.

More Fun With BeFunky.com

I'm loving the new effects!  I'm thinking that I'm going to scan in some of my sketches and see what I can do with them!  These are both the same picture.

I also like my new profile pic for my blog, also done with one of the newer effects.

I know...lots of posts today.  Guess I'm making up for the week I was away.

Playing With BeFunky.com

BeFunky.com has added some new effects, which do some really neat things to some of my vacation pics!

Super Grrrrr!!!

Why is it so difficult to give the correct information up front?  All day today, I've been getting requests for changes, because either the person responsible for getting all of the information in the beginning didn't, or the customer is being fickle!  Don't these people realize the changes often times take more time to implement than if we had the correct information from the start?  Oh yeah...they do realize this...but....THEY DON'T CARE!!!  GRRRRRRR!

Already Want To Run Away, Again!

What?  Did they save the work until I got back from vacation?  I have been totally slammed since I got back!  Yesterday, I was at work 10 hours, and still didn't get everything done!  Will work for cruise!!!!  Seriously!!!  I want to run away...far, far away!

Home...Reluctantly!

The cruise was simply AWESOME! It is so hard to be back at work today and in the real world!  Ahhh...to live a life of no cares.  If I was hungry, just wander up to Lido Deck and there was surely something to eat.  5-star food every night in the dining room.  Every time I turned around, my bed was made and room tidied up.  If I wanted an afternoon nap, would come back later to find the bed remade.  If I wanted to lounge around, I lounged around.  If I wanted to do something fun, there were plenty of things going on. 

Oh well...back to work.  I'm already starting to plan in my head another cruise next year!