Friday, December 26, 2008

Merry "Technologically Enhanced" Christmas

first i hope everyone had an absolutely lovely christmas holiday with lots of food and family and laughing and of course wine.
this was my first christmas as a "wife" and sorta kinda a "mom" (chaz..the dog) my husband and i weren't in a position to travel this year for christmas, what with us moving next month and trying to afford it and a place for the dog and blah blah blah...so our solution was to have a "skype" christmas with his family in IL. if you don't know what skype is, it's a webcam service that let's you communicate via webcam with people wherever they might be. it was pretty cool. the next best thing to actually being there. we had a great time, we took turns opening gifts and telling stories. it was a great way to spend the holiday.

more news on the homefront...it's official we ARE going to greece. we got the orders on the 23rd. we leave the shithole that is VA sometime next month, probably around the end of it. then we'll spend four months in IL, him in Chicago(during the week) and me in southern with his family. we'll do weekenders between and maybe some in Indi, that's where his sister lives. and we get to have our big reception in may before we leave. YAY!! then at the end of june we'll hop a verrrry long flight to greece and be there for atleast two years. S-T-O-K-E-D is the only way to describe it.

well that's all for now, i need to wander to look productive.
kristy J

Sunday, December 14, 2008

All Bitching Aside, I Really Am Very Happy!

I feel, although this is my blog and I can bitch if I want to, I have been bitching entirely too much. I think it might be stress and the control freak in me not being in control of my situation but anyway I think I should do a happy post. I do have a ton of things in my life that make me happy and even more things that I am joyously thankful for. Also the things day to day that make laugh, and seeing as how it’s Sunday and I am at work, I need a pick me up so here we go:

1) My husband is super awesome. We have a blast together, not even really doing anything. We can sit around and laugh and joke and it’s the best time ever. We’re about to travel all the way to Greece together and I could not be happier that he is the person I am going with. It’s me and him all the way. He does sweet romantic things just for no reason. He puts up with the whole bag o crazy that is me and enjoys it all, always telling me how much he loves me. He does this voice, it's suposed to be me when I have my over the top moments, it's way high pitched and overly dramatic and probably the funniest thing I have ever heard(it has diffused a lot of "arguments"). And above all he knows when in doubt just get me some wine and I'll be fine :-)

2) Chaz Michael Michaels…the sweetest fluffiest goofiest drooliest dog ever! He’s so wonderful. He’s giant and knocks me over from time to time but only out of excitement to see me. He always knows how to cheer me up if I’m down about something. If I cry he makes sure to lick the tears away and in the process soak my face. His love of sticks is something to be admired, to find so much joy in something so simple is a quality we should all posses. He’s probably a little on the dramatic side but it makes for laughs between my husband and I. (Chaz and husband are both awesome but husband gets mad when I pet him or try to rub his belly )

3) My big giant wonderful family (in laws). At any given time there are always at least 15 people who want to talk and joke and laugh and tell stories and wondering how the hell you’re doing. The most accepting and loving people you could ever hope to meet.

4) The fact that I am getting out of shithole VA one way or another. We’re either jumping a plane to Greece or we’re going down to Florida to see how this business venture pans out.

5) My friends…there are few but they are great. They stick with me through all the craziness and drunken adventures.

6) The blogs I read(don’t judge me)…they are entertaining and funny and in some weird way insight into how to deal with situations that I have no experience in. The women who write those blogs seem like very smart strong women and that’s something I didn’t see a lot of growing up.

I know there’s more but there’s a furnace with a leak that’s calling my name(not really, the fatty who is here today is barking order in which I must oblige)

Kristy J

Friday, December 12, 2008

Just Crush My Hopes and Dreams USN

so a few blog posts ago i made mention that my husband got orders to greece and how incredibly excited i was and blah blah blah...well the orders were supposedly "written" and we were just waiting for them to "post" so then we would have our hard copy, i could quit my shitty job that i LOATHE, we could pack, and all would be right with my perfect little world.
well it's a MONTH and a HALF later and still no posted hard copy orders for my to put in my hand, husband spoke with the detailer a week ago and he said "yep they are written and should post in FOUR business days" this was december 2nd. so i've been hounding him everyday "did you call the detailer?" "did you talk to the detailer" "did your orders post" god love him he doesen't hit me. this afternoon when i spoke with husband i asked again "did you talk to the detailier" and instead of his normal response of no [insert lame reason here] he said "no, and today when i called and got his voicemail it says he's NO longer a detailer" **hangs head** "OH SHIT!!"
so now we have NO idea what's going on with these orders. apparently they aren't available anymore so that's a plus. another down side: if he doesn't get the orders soon then he's making the first leg of this deployment to spain and leaving me here all alone to PACK EVERYTHING and transition EVERYTHING to IL where we will be for a few months before greece. i WILL light someone on fire if this happens.
if we don't get the orders then who knows what's going to happen, i know that i don't want to stay at this job any longer than i have to.
and i am done for now.
kristy

Thursday, December 4, 2008

Things That Make Me Say 'Are YEW Serious?!"

so the past few days there has been a tremendous amount of shit (<--mostly work) happen that i have just stood there and squinted my eyes, cocked my head to one side, and with the most disdain possible in my voice said "are yew serious?!" and rather than rant and rave and make 546846 different blog entries i'll just make a list, i do luuuurve lists.
Ahem and on we go:

1)my schedule rotates, this week is my short week, love my short weeks, two 12 hour shifts then a gloorrrrrious three day weekend. i come in wednesday in a pretty good mood, made it through my drive without falling asleep, i'm informed there's a communication meeting in the auditorium. (usually these meetings are bullshit and it gives me a few extra minutes to prepare myself for the laziness of my coworkers or to giggle to myself that so many people don't own mirrors and if they do they are obviously not using them before they leave their house) as i'm walking to this meeting i'm hearing the whispers, the norm...bankruptcy, lay offs, new coffee shop, blah blah...i get into the meeting and we are abruptly informed that we as a company are broke, and in an effort to save our pathetic german ass everyone in support of 300 MM will be taking one mandatory UNPAID day off PER pay period for the next EIGHT pay period or SIXTEEN weeks. WTF?! it will only affect me for about 7 weeks but STILL! this is cutting my overtime, my 401K and my BONUS! "Are yew serious?!"

2) fast forward two hours, i'm checking my work email and deleting all the bullshit i get on a daily basis(people around here don't communicate face to face, they would rather fill up my inbox with emails from their blackberry) and i get the company newsletter, basically a worthless email that i delete, not this one this time though. i read it and got to one sentence that almost made me wet my pants, pause for a moment, here's the deal with this job i don't like it but it pays the bills so i can deal and i don't have to work here forever, just while my hubby is still stationed here, but to be at a job i hate that doesn't pay the bills, i'm not so much down with that or to lose it before i'm ready also not down with that, ok back to the story, the sentence in the email that almost made me wet my pants went something like this...if the company doesn't find an investor or stumble on a mountain of cash by the 14th of DECEMBER (<--as in ten days) liquidation will be necessary! "Are yew serious?!"

3) like i said before my schedule rotates on what is called a 5 and 2(one week i work five days mon, tues, fri, sat, sun, and the next week i work wed thurs) we have 4 shifts( 2 day shifts 2 night shifts) i recently got voluntold to switch the second day shift(was on the first day shift) the way the holidays fell this year was the first day shift(D1) had to work all the major holidays excluding new years(my FAVE) then when i switched to the second day shift(D2) i got those off excluding new years (BOO!) so when talking to my supervisor about switching i told him my concerns about having new years off bc on the other shift i wasn't going to have to use PTO and with coming to the new shift was i still going to be able to have it off, everyone else has had the opportunity to save the PTO up and i haven't blah blah blah. he said yes you should be fine no worries. so the first day he changed my status so i could apply for those days off, i did. there was already one person requesting both days off, his request was in waaaay before mine was, no biggie; APPROVED! so the supervisor approves new year's eve and then denies new years day!!! then come to find out approves it for some schmuck who put his request in almost A MONTH after i put mine in! "Are yew serious?!"
***UPDATE***i wrote the supe an email telling him that we already spoke of this situation and with all due respect i put my request in BEFORE the other guy and if he wouldn't give me vacation i'll take it without pay... he wrote me back telling me that i was right in recalling that we had ALREADY talked about it, and i was told i could have it off. so now i don't know what's going to happen. he'll either approve it or deny it and i'll take it without day.

4) i had a class this morning at 10am, i went down fifteen before hand, and when the class ended at 11am i went to lunch for an hour and 15, so i was gone from 945am to 1215ishpm, the agenda for today was two quarterly PMs, they take about an hour to an hour and a half to do. there were two OTHER people who are EXPERTS at these machines up here for that time period, so i was figuring cool i just finish up whatever is left and it will make for an easy afternoon...WRONG! i get up here after being gone for TWO and A HALF only to discover that NOT ONE DAMN THING has been done!!! "Are yew serious?!"

5) apparently around here it is customary that when you walk past someone's chair to grab the top of it, move it around and keep walking. this has happened somewhere between 45 times today. if it happens again i'm pretty sure i'm going to punch someone in the face. seriously stop touching my fuckin chair! (ohk not an are yew serious but along the same lines)

so now i'm done bitching for the moment and i need to go and complete these PMs that the experts couldn't handle.
i'm out