Work | My Blog | Page 12

Passages

Posted on June 26, 2008 by

Yesterday, we got news that a dear friend of ours had died of a heart attack. Tirion- Sir Starhelm, Michael Boelter. He was driving his truck when it happened. His wife managed to stop it without further incident, and call 911.

It’s odd when someone dies that you know in common with others. The stories that come out, or the things you remember. I met Tirion online in an email group for pagans. One where you had to be more than just a newbie. We’d all been chatting when one day, he emailed me a joke. it was the beginning of a lovely ongoing chat. What was interesting is that I had known him for some time before the Harpers moved in with us. I didn’t know that they knew him, and visa-versa. It was so funny when I came out one day laughing to share a joke, and Dan or Beth realized I was talking about the dear friend they knew as Starhelm. I have the feeling that Tirion had known for a while and thought it a good joke on us.

Tirion was also some one I could talk to and bare some of my deepest hurts to, knowing that he’d listen, and give me an answer if he could. If nothing else, he’d tell me a joke to lighten my mood or share some article on chain mail or and esoteric theory. He’d be gone for months at a time and then one afternoon, my email or chat client would be bursting at the seams with him. I didn’t realize at first that the absences were due to him going overseas with the military. When he realized I was an ex-military wife, we chatted about the military too.

I will miss my dear friend. Tirion, I hope you find a place amongst the knights that have gone before you. The world is a poorer place without you.

Deep breath….

It has also been a hard week at work. I tried so hard to do all the right things to get the job at the DA’s office. However, I learned this morning that the job is going to someone else. My last day will be sometime before the 15th of July. sigh….

So, I am applying to some other places that want secretaries and hope that I land a job. If not, I’ll call Marge Durham, the Doggy Daycare rescue lady. She needs a home help person and part time dog helper. We will see.

Lawyers and paperwork and dogs Oh My!

Posted on June 21, 2008 by

Here it is Saturday, and I finally have more than a few minutes to read my email and GASP!!! , write in my journal. I have been at the D.A.’s office for a week now. Technically, I don’t have a contract any more, but that is fine by me. Don’t like to sign contracts during Mercury in Retrograde. Lee, the D.A., said I’m to come to work on Tuesday, so that is fine by me. I guess that I will work the whole week and then find out if I have the full time job.

Everyone at the office thinks that Linda, the “HR person” is daft to hire me for a couple of weeks and then let me go. Stupid to re-train a totally new person. However, no one ever said she was intelligent. I like the job. There are some daft things about it though.

I know I was thrown in at the deep end of things, but I have managed to cope with it all. I know that there are still some bits of the job I’m a tad shaky on, but not surprising all considered. I’ve learned some crazy facts about this county. They’d probably be true of any small town…

75-80% of the crimes are committed by 4 or 5 families. The same names keep popping up. Sometimes the same last name, other times the same exact name. Some of these people have 6-7 files all at the same time! Some people never learn!
Not all lawyers are as portrayed on TV…. (duh!) One of them plays solitaire instead of working. Another needs his ‘mommy’ to dress him! Came in with an unironed shirt on! All I could think of was no wonder things screw up in court if these are the people responsible for interpreting the law! I know that there have to be good ones out there, but OMHGS! One of them is also missing a can and the plastic ringy thing to hold the sixpack together!
Paperwork will eat you alive! I think in a week I personally went through 4 reams of paper. I probably handled 16 or 18 reams of paper. It’s everywhere and multiplies in the dark!
There are NO SECRETS IN SMALL TOWNS!!! I was trying to be polite and not mention names when talking about people when the other secretary said “oh yeah, you mean…..” and then filled me in on all the other bits I hadn’t known about that particular person. Gossip, thy name is the D.A. office and dispatch center!
Keystone cops don’t exist just in movies! We had cops trying to pull a suspect out from under a car, and couldn’t figure out why he wouldn’t move! That’s when they discovered that two different cops had two different limbs and were pulling from two different sides of the car!
I have a very strong stomach. My fellow office mates were worried that I would be upset by pictures of dead bodies, dead animals or sexual case photos. I had to assure them that they don’t bother me. (which is true) I also learned that neither of them can cope with pictures of dead animals. sigh…. I guess I will be handling all the road kill pictures.

Last but not least, the person that hired me lost my application for the full time job. So, I frantically had to reassemble everything and fill out a new form for application on Wednesday during my lunch hour, because the Assistant D.A. was holding interviews that afternoon. In the middle of all of this, Daniel called and wanted me to be home at 5pm on the dot to meet his girlfriend’s mom. I told him I’d try, but that I was rather busy.

I had my interview, which I think went well, and made it home in time to find Daniel and Breanna waiting for me outside with her mom. Oh, and a very SMALL puppy. Breanna was sad that Daniel lost Oscar, and wanted to give him one of the puppies that her dog had had about 7 weeks ago. This puppy is a chihuahua miniture bulldog mix. Probably weighs 2 pounds. Which is really funny, because there has been a 7 week old puppy running around the sheriff’s office all week that we have been playing with. His name is Mongo. He weighs 25 pounds, is 7 weeks old and is a mastiff great dane mix. Mongo’s head is bigger than the other puppy.

Of course, in light of Breanna wanting to give Daniel a puppy, I didn’t have the heart to say no. So, Daniel is now the proud “parent” of a dog named Fatty. He was the fattest in the litter. (omhgs!) John fumed, but gave in.

Today, I did sleep in a bit! Huzzah! Working 8 to 5 has been a challenge, as my system was set to non-school time! However, my parents came into town on Thursday and we are cleaning the sewers for 408, 520 and 203 today. Dan and I will be stinky!! ewwwww…..

Is it really Thursday?

Posted on June 12, 2008 by

Gads! The last two days have been a blurr. Lots of files and papers dancing in my headspace. It has been an interesting two days at the DA’s office. Wednesday was hectic and yet I did very well. Cleared a huge backlog of files. I thought that it was about a week’s worth only to find that it was nearly three weeks of work! OMG!

The phone still gives me the fits. Not surprised. However, I think I’ll get it. Not only did I clear up all that filing, I diagnosed the computer problem, and ferreted out the computer service company and got the part ordered. Oh, and I almost got blown away in the wind! It was fierce on Wednesday. I had to run over to the Court House twice. Once to be introduced to everyone and once to take files for the assistant DA who grabbed the wrong pile of files! He seems nice, but sort of daft too. We shall see.

Today, I did some more filing, cleaned up the “dead file” where they keep closed files for six months and then move them to storage. I also learned how to make files. Wheee…. There have got to be easier ways to do it. Oh, and I fixed the computer. The part came in and I had it up in a minute. Hardest part was running all of the virus scans and cleaning all of the previous secretary’s junk out of it. OMHG’s!!! Tons of personal stuff. Sorry, but that doesn’t belong on an office computer. She should have cleaned it up before she left, but…. oh well. If I’d been on a service call, that would have been bout $75 to $100 billable.

Tomorrow I will attack the felony file cases. What a mess!!! And, I’ve decided that should they not desire to keep me on, I will put an application in at the Housing Authority which is advertising for help. The apps deadline is June 27th, and I should know by then or just before then if the DA’s office will keep me.

A hot Tuesday afternoon

Posted on June 10, 2008 by

And what may be my last quiet day for a while. On Monday I went to an interview at the D.A.’s office. I was hoping to have a full time job there. However, it seems that there are other candidates with more clerical experience than me. Therefore I was interviewed for the part time job. I was suppose to go meet the D.A. tomorrow and see if he “liked” me. However, the woman I interviewed with called me this afternoon and asked if I could start tomorrow. I said yes! Granted, it is part time. 8 to 5, M-F for at least 3 weeks, or until such time as the full time person is ready/in place/etc. $8 an hour too. After that, they’ll decide if I will be kept on part time or what. I’m hoping that they find I’m just what they need. Fingers crossed!!

Also this afternoon, Dan and I went to a meeting at the Huerfano Journal. Chere Cuz Gretchen and Hubby Brian’s newspaper. The other local paper is about to take a nose dive, and they are trying to get ready to pick up the slack. :> Dan writes the Tech Savvy articles for the paper and I went along because it’s family and I help on the tech articles every once in a while. During the discussion, other columns were brought up. Some being the Moon Talk and Weirdness Beat. Of course, just previous to that I had mentioned that we needed a Huerfanology column to cover all the odd things that go on in the county. Of course, I said I’d help with the Moon Talk column, and then Gretchen asked who would like to do the Weirdness Beat and they all looked straight at ME! So, I get to write two columns!!! It will probably be once a month for both, but that doesn’t bother me a bit. teeheehee… I get to cover weird lights in the sky, tarantula and tortoise migrations and all things Weird. :>

We also talked about doing humorous columns about life in Huerfano County. I think I’ll submit the story about John being upset that I was related to everyone except the postman, only to have the postman walk up and say, “hello Cuz!”

Today I’m going to finish up various bits here at 520, like painting doors and then some laundry before I head off to bed. 6:45am is going to come very early. I’m going to baby my knee a but too. I tripped yesterday and bashed my right knee rather nastily. sigh….. I am such a klutz at times. Dan and Brandy both tried to help me up. Poor pup! She may not have thumbs, but she is loving.

Soporific Day

Posted on June 3, 2008 by

I am doing my best to stay awake. Not working really well, and the bed is looking better and better. Who knows, maybe I will take a nap in a bit. It’s been a long week and it is only Tuedsay.

Yesterday, we took care of all the business stuff. Dan went and helped John with a technical telephone conference and I tried to organize stuff here at the office. hahahaha! That didn’t go very far. I worked on my area a bit and that was all. I have to wait for Dan on the rest of it.

We spent the rest of the evening sort of in that numb zone. Lots of people sending condolences and “hopes” that things get better. Erin and Morgan came over with Logan and we had a late supper. Spaghetti.

We also learned yesterday that after Dan let Airspring know that he was no longer employed by RBT, that they told Karen she had to pay the whole bill now! Some $2200.00+. She paid it. Didn’t even touch what was in the bank account. This peeved me no end, that here we are struggling and being honest about where every penny went and ‘the money’ wouldn’t help us. However, the moment we quit, ‘the money’ is helping Karen. Oh well. We know we aren’t thieves. We know we did the best we could and just how hard the work really is. Too bad we weren’t appreciated. Oh well. Yeah, I’m a little bitter.

We were suppose to be up early so that Dan could go job hunting. Well,… We almost made it. He and Erin finally headed to Trinidad around noon. I’ve caught up on my computer stuff, moved email out from the rbwifi.net account and in general done a whole lot of sitting. I know I aught to go get the papers and start job hunting. Just don’t have the urge to do it. Yeah, I’m a little blue about the whole thing. Maybe I will take that nap.

If you’re going through Hell, try to enjoy the scenery…

Posted on June 2, 2008 by

Of course, as I start to write this post, Rodney Atkins “If you’re going through hell” starts to play. Rather appropriate. What a weekend. I didn’t want to say anything until it was all done. A bit superstitious I guess on my part, but… it is now over. All but one last bit. Now to explain.

Over the last month, we have been scraping by paying the bills for the company. When Carlos, our one business partner came to visit last month, we stated rather succinctly that the company was in financial straights. Not unfixable, but that it had to have something done fast. Karen and Carlos both said that things would get done. However, they had a severe case of “oh… look at the kitty” on about three other projects. RBT was not primary on their radar when it should have been. It was also expected that we drop everything we were doing in order to follow Karen and Carlos’ latest interest. Oh, and keep the RBT stuff running as well. This meant many long hours and short nights as we literally did double time to get things done for them. It was wearing both Dan and I out. At last count, there were at least 5 projects besides the wireless side of RBT being channeled through us.

Meanwhile, Dan and I have been working without pay for the life of the company. 9 months. We figured the first 4 or 5 months would be without pay. However, we did not expect this. Nor did we expect that we would be the only ones handling the day to day aspects of the business. Doing some business projections, Dan realized that we needed a loan or a grant fast otherwise we were in trouble. We emailed everyone and asked for a meeting on Friday evening. No luck. All we got back was a terse email from Karen.

So, Dan and I talked all night. I cried. Dan was unhappy. However, as we realized that there was nothing for us to do financially at this point, we had only one option. We resigned. Dan and I are no longer part of Raton Basin Technologies. It isn’t what we wanted to do, but it was our only recourse. Both of us are have hit the limits to what we can do to creatively control our bills.

Yesterday we spent packing up and moving the business end of things over to Karen’s. Erin helped which was a godsend. There was way too much stuff that could not be moved by me or just Dan alone. This morning we dealt with the IRS, Colorado business etc. Nothing is in my or his name now. We will take care of the bank account and that will be the end of it.

However, that will not be the end of computer work. I have no doubts that Dan and I will be back in the computer repair business very soon.

Frustrating Friday

Posted on May 30, 2008 by

Today we went to Pueblo for the payday shopping. It was Dan and I this time as he had car parts to return. My heart wasn’t into the trip. It was hot and I was distracted. Why? Because we are having problems with the business. Financial problems. We’ve tried to get Karen and Carlos to understand what is happening and feel like we are hitting our heads on a brick wall.

I”m not sure what is going to happen. Granted, if things go tits up, I’ll have plenty of time to sew and write again.

Erin, Morgan and Logan came for dinner. Neither Dan or I were very hungry. Now we are listening to Eddie Izzard while Erin and Dan clean up the office. I will reorganize mine tomorrow.

Granted, I think I will sleep late tomorrow. Pull my pillow over my head and just stay in bed as long as I dare. I’m scared/nervous/upset/frustrated/angry and tired all at once.

Friday afternoon!

Posted on May 16, 2008 by

I am finally getting caught up! Yesterday all I had time for was a quick post just before I went to bed. However, yesterday was a very full day.

First off, it snowed again which made it very cold. Found out later that places like Cuchara got nearly 10 inches of snow. Brrrr! On the 15th of May no less!

Plus, around 5am, Stella started having kittens. By around 7am, she had four little tabbies and one black kitten. She looks to be a very good mom. :> Oh, and Beth was ill with some sort of stomach bug which caused havoc for her. I took her some gatorades and crackers while Dan headed to Aguilar for two jobs. I did some banking and then headed out to pick up Matt and Morgan who went on an all school rollerskating trip to Pueblo. They had a lot of fun in spite of the cold. I brought them back to the office because Beth was sick. They were going to spend the night here.

While we waited for Dan to get home, Erin, Morgan and Logan showed up. With a bit of convincing, they went to the store and I made steak and potato pie for dinner. Half way through cooking, Dan got home. He’d forgotten a part and had to come back here for it.

We ate and cleaned up just in time for Dan to get home. He was too tired to eat so I saved his share for lunch. Around 9:30pm, Erin and family headed home. Morgan and Matt went to bed and Dan and I finally had a little time to work out some things for today. Oh, and I wrote the first episode of Digitally Challenged.

This morning at 9am, my sister Pauline showed up. She had just come from a job interview and needed a cuppa tea to relax. We all chatted and then I went with her to her house and picked up chairs and a desk. Daniel was suppose to go with her out to Mike’s to unload the bus, but friends of his kidnapped him to buck bales of hay. Pauline left about 30 minutes before they got here. I gave them directions and out they went. With three young men, it only took an hour to move everything. I even got two more chairs out of the deal. 🙂 Wow! We now have places to sit that aren’t desk chairs.

We are suppose to have a business meeting in about 15 minutes. Erin, Karen, Carlos, Dan and I. A first! 🙂

I also took pictures of our furbaby. Brandywine came home today from training. Wheeee!

More later!

Can I go home now? Oh wait….

Posted on May 14, 2008 by

I’m already there. It has been a busy week. The office still looks like a tornado hit it. Or, was it just a small grandson. Hmm… could be both.

Sunday was Mother’s Day. Daniel and John wished me Happy Mum’s day. Stefan had called me the night before since he had work and wasn’t sure he’d have time to call. I slept in a bit, then had to get up and start working on various projects. Laundry being the biggest. Does it ever end??? I came back upstairs and was going to cook some breakfast. That’s when I realized that there wasn’t a clean dish in sight. Nope! Not even going to do dishes on Mom’s day. So, I headed over to the office and started to dig it out. Ha! Dan needed to check out some stuff, and asked if I’d go with him. So, I packed up my book and off we went.

There is a tower nearby that we are thinking of buying for the business. While he was inspecting it, he saw a crow’s nest. Dan got some really good pictures of the babies.

I made him promise them some worms if he goes out there again. They were so sure he was a big crow! At least I got a wee bit of time by myself. On the way back, we stopped by and visited my mom to see how the work was going. It was nearly done, but Jimmer and Bill still had the back porch floor to do.

Monday was one of those hazy days. I was doing stuff, but didn’t seem like I got anything done. I was suppose to have a meeting of the Stragic Planning committee, but there were only three of us. I chatted with Chuck and Maria and then headed home.

Tuesday was hell on wheels. We woke up to cold and damp weather that just got worse as the day went on. I took the kids to school, showered, took my mom to Trinidad to catch the train, drove home and went straight to a meeting for the Celtic Music Festival in September. http://www.celticmusicfest.com/ Barbara Yule, the coordinator of the festival is trying to connect Huerfano County and Scotland through the common links of coal and mining for this year. I’m part of a group who are going to be telling stories and working the family histories of the area into the festival. I think it will be a lot of fun. I’ll probably work my arse off too, but that’s alright. I get to hear lots of good Celtic music.

I no sooner got back from that meeting than we were off to my mom’s to pick up her laundry, the roses she got for Mother’s day and the food out of her refrigerator. Dan and I barely got stuff done when it was time t to head up to Gardner. We found the weekly agenda for the school and discovered it was Academic Fair Night. Oh, and a school board meeting afterwards. Chuck wanted us to be there for support. The school board is messing around with his contract. grrrrrrr!

The Academic Fair was brilliant. We got to see all the kids work. Poetry, pottery, collages, all sorts of writing, wood work and more. The school board meeting was a bit of a write off. They tabled the section dealing with Chuck’s contract. Not a smart thing to do. Methinks heads will roll. On the way home, we could see that there was snow up on the mountains. It was very cold!

Afterwards, we dropped the kids home and Dan and I went to go check out some of the network equipment. When we got out of the car, we could see snowflakes in the headlights. Brrrrrr!!

We finally headed to bed around midnight, and I had to get up to put an extra blanket on the bed!

This morning started out fairly calm. I stepped out the door to the most beautiful sight! Snow on the Spanish Peaks! In May no less!

I got more pictures as I drove out to Badito. Daniel was outside waiting for me this morning, so I dropped him off and got to the office early. Dan was still asleep. Oh well… I got a cup of tea and started trying to make sense of my desk. hahahahaha!!! Foiled again! Carlos our business partner showed up, the phone rang off the wall and just as I tried again to work on the mess it was time to go to Pueblo.

We headed up for a new microwave, toner for Dan’s printer, a few groceries and car parts for my car. Managed everything except the car parts. They will be shipped to us as the parts dealer messed up the order and had to redo it. grrrr…..

We got back to Badito just in time to pick up the kids and head home. I made steak pot pie for dinner. Very good! Tomorrow the kids go to Pueblo for an all school roller skating party. 🙂 Wheee….

Maybe, just maybe I’ll get something done!

Another Saturday night and I ain’t got my work done…

Posted on May 10, 2008 by

And I probably won’t get caught up till Monday.

Tuesday was hectic, as was Wednesday. It was big Morgan’s birthday. Then there was Thursday.

I had the asthma attack from hell. Don’t know what set it off, but about 3am, I started coughing. I remember feeling really cold, and then coughing more. Finally fell asleep, and the alarm went off. I tried to get up and dressed, and all I could do was cough. Not too much wheezing, just coughing. Finally ended up on the floor half dressed coughing. Crumpled. Next thing I know, Dan is asking me where my inhaler is. Gods… hadn’t used it in a year or more. Remembered that it was in my handbag, and Dan went for it.

Does anyone have any idea of who the sick sadistic bastard is/was that invented an inhaler for asthma? There is nothing harder than trying to suck in meds from an inhaler and then hold your breath while you are coughing and wheezing. It took three hits before I could breathe. Dan helped me up off the floor and then he went to take the kids to school. I crawled back into bed, used my inhaler once more and then fell asleep.
After that, my day consisted of:

Dan bringing me a cup of tea,
me drinking it cold
having another cup of tea accompanied by aspirin and toast
Falling back asleep when what I really wanted to do was get up or talk or anything…

I finally got a bath because I couldn’t stand myself. Erin, Morgan and Logan dropping by to visit and I managed not to fall asleep while they were here. Morgan did work on my back which helped. She does massage. Later on, I was falling asleep mid sentence when Dan was trying to talk to me. Gads. He has this talent for putting me to sleep faster than I can say “wait!”. The man is magical when it comes to sleepy vibes. I found out about this not long after they moved in with us. I’m not the best of patients in the world. In fact, I’m a nuisance as I wander. Even though my body is out sick, the mind still tries to function. When that happens, I try to get up and have a normal day. Baddddddd combo! Especially when I have a migraine.

I went to bed early on Thursday, and slept late Friday. So, no work done. Friday wasn’t much better. I wasn’t coughing, but I felt like a wrung out noodle. Daniel came over with Oscar. I couldn’t cope with Oscar, so he went and picked up Brandy. She is a sweet puppy and much easier to deal with than Oscar. 25 pounds vs 85 pounds. We went to the hardware store and got the stuff to finish up the fence. The yard at 520 is now dog safe. Wheee….. which means I am one step closer to having Brandy here full time. We also went by and saw my mom. Brandy loves her. Later that afternoon, Dan and I went out to Gardner to pick Little Morgan. She was on a school field trip. Morgan was also upset because Carol was leaving Gardner school. Carol is moving with her mom to Trinidad.

Friday was suppose to be an early night, but Erin and Morgan wanted to go to the brew pub in Trinidad. They brought Logan over and luckily, he slept most of the time they were gone. He is such a sweetie and kept pointing to my office and saying “Nan! Nan! Nan!” because in his mind, that’s where I live. They finally picked him up around midnight. I think I stayed up 10 minutes after they left.

Today I actually slept in and even got a back rub! Little Morgan and I went over to my mom’s house after breakfast. I took the camera and got a few pictures of everyone painting and repairing the house.

My sister Lori and her husband came down to help Mom. Bill was very polite. Lori was just plain rude. Barely gave me the time of day and actually left the room when I came in. What a pain in the ass she was. I was trying to be nice as Mom had requested it. I did my part. Oh well. At least I got a picture of her best side.

After I got back, Dan and I had to head to Pueblo. We had to get some parts for a tower assembly. Had Taco Bell for dinner. After I get this written, I get to head off to 203 where laundry awaits. Wheee…..