Friday, February 29, 2008

Minor update

Ok - pup is still not doing well. He SEEMS ok, though a bit lethargic, but his poops are still liquid after a week of a diet of rice and chicken as well as meds. So off he goes to the vet tomorrow - again. One nice thing, he's not dehydrated.

Dad went through surgery on Wednesday night. He's doing much better, says the pain went down from an 11 (on a 1-10 scale) to about a 3-4. He has a plate that was installed to support a bone broken in multiple spots, and a screw in another bone to add support. He'll be getting around (once he can) via a 3-legged/wheeled thingy that he'll be kneeling on with his left leg - instead of crutches. He actually seems kinda excited about it. The doc may let him out of the hospital sometime this weekend - mainly because his dog really misses him. No word yet on how long the recovery will take. Oh, and the doc was worried because it turns out my dad has really soft bones....gotta increase that calcium intake big-time!

Me - leg's still broke.

Tuesday, February 26, 2008

oh, ye GODS...!!

Ok, somehow I've pissed off a deity or something. That's the only thing I can figure with the string of luck that's found me.

FIRST - I break my leg (or rather, my dog breaks it for me) and am stuck at home for the past 7 weeks, with potentially 4-5 more to go.

SECOND - The dog gets sick. Hubby is off at the emergency vet (regular vet had it's own emergencies, so...) and I'm waiting to hear. It's probably just a bug or something. Gomez hasn't eaten much over the past few days - even with the enticement of rice and chicken - and has lost weight. Last night he threw up what little he HAD eaten, and wasn't interested in drinking anything this morning, so off to the vet he goes.

THIRD - My wonderful, 78-year-old dad slips on the ice up in Michigan and breaks TWO bones in his left ankle. He's in a lot of pain, and facing surgery. He too, lives in a multi-story home.

Yeesh.

Monday, February 25, 2008

a bit better today

Ok, so I buckled under and bought an exercise bike. It's a nice one - a Nautilus/Schwinn with 8 programs and a rather comfy seat. Tonight will be the inauguration of it...starting at 10 minutes a day, per doc orders.

Now I just gotta get working on getting a new job, get back to playing my flute, start beading again, and try my hand at quilting....

Goals - ya gotta have 'em.

Friday, February 22, 2008

and so it continues

Well. It's been 47 days since the great "dog-vs-knee" event. I'm happy to say that I no longer have to wear the knee immobilizer, but I'm still stuck with the crutches - for another 4 to 6 WEEKS. I'm told NO WALKING for at least that long. While I really don't mind not going back to the office I loath, being stuck as an invalid still really sucks.

And now I have to figure out how to get my hands (and the rest of me) on an exercise bike. Those buggers aren't cheap. And I really wish I didn't have to buy one - but the only one I could find to rent was so costly, it'd be cheaper to buy one!! I was going to put the rented one in the living room, but if I have to buy my own, then it'll probably have to go up in my office/craft room.

AND...once I get my leg up and running via the exercise bike, I was planning on buying a real bike - but those TOO are not cheap. And there are so many things we need to have done to the house....

Sorry. It's gonna be a long(er) road to recovery, and I probably won't be very gracious about it. Oh well.

Saturday, February 16, 2008

Trying...

Ambition. It's something many people have, but often in a wide variety of levels or strengths. I have a lot of low-level ambition I think. What I mean is - there are quite a few things I want to do, things I want to be good at, but the effort is off-putting to me. I know - the only way I can get good at something is to try, practice, work at it, keep working at it, polishing it, attempting it, starting out at the beginning/bottom and work up to the top/finale. There is NO SUCH THING as immediate success, no such thing as a quick fix, no such thing as "get rich quick"...

everything

in

life

takes

effort.

It's up to me to make the sufficient amount of effort to become successful at what I am attempting. I am the only one to blame if I cannot get to be the best-I-can-be at whatever I want to be. Yes, it's true, I may not be professional/expert/best in the world at what I want, but I CAN be the absolute best I can be - but only if I try, try, and try again. And practice, attempt, experiment, work hard.

And have ambition.

Sunday, February 10, 2008

Staffing "Experts"?????

This is probably a touch overdue, but it just dawned on me today....In my attempt to gain new employment I have approached TWO Staffing agencies. I'm going to use names, because I am so incredibly UN-impressed with them that I don't care if they hear about this, and I want others to know what they might run into if they deal with these companies.

The first one is a one-man deal. It's called Brainstorm Creative Resources. I met with the guy (we'll call him Dan) way back in mid July and it seemed to be a very good meeting. Dan seemed interested and impressed and encouraging. He did warn me that he wouldn't be able to place me right away (since I was - and am - looking only for permanent placement, no temp stuff) but he'd be working hard and let me know how things are going. I followed up the meeting with an email, asking a couple of questions and just saying "thanks, I look forward to working with you." And then I waited. And waited. I sent another email asking a simple question and touching base, but again heard nothing. . . . I actually heard from him only once - he sent me a christmas card...but it wasn't a personal card, just a generic one he sent to all of his clients.

So that was a waste.

Next I tried The Boss Group. I met with "Sam" in late November. I spent 4 hours in the office, taking tests to help them (and me) know my strengths and weaknesses. I also met 2-3 other "agents" while I was there, so they could see me and start trying to help place me. It was very encouraging and I looked forward to hearing about my results. Sam said he'd call me and discuss the results, and the next day I did get a call - from the secretary. Ok, well, at least I heard from them, and the results were a bit surprising (I was better than I thought!). I also sent an email to Sam to say thank you. And then I waited. I did follow through on Sam' suggestion to investigate the various Associations in the area (boy there are a lot of them!!), but instead of sending them a list as they requested I sent them another email asking them a couple of questions...and I've never heard from them again.

So. Even though I went looking for help to try and improve my chances, all I got were empty assurances and then oblivion. It really makes me wonder. Oh, and I realized today - Boss Group has my social security number on file! That actually makes me uncomfortable, so I'm going to call them this coming week and ask them to close my file and shred my personal info.

I thought these places were genius - a second person/group with many more contacts which would raise my chances a lot!! Boy, have I been disappointed.

Saturday, February 2, 2008

Friends

I wanted to be in on the Blog Poetry Slam, but the only poem I could think of right away was one I found in a sci-fi book I read many many years ago...

"One and One is always Two
Each alone, here's me, there's you

Mathematics of the heart
Add together what's apart

The sum of being friends is done
To prove that one and one make One."

Go and hug a friend, ok?

Friday, February 1, 2008

Irritants

Things that really get on my nerves:

People who sit in their cars out on the street with their radio WAY up.

Barking dogs.

People who seem to think that someone on crutches should be the one to give way when walking down a sidewalk/hallway.

Honking repeatedly for someone to come out of a house - at 6AM!!!

People who talk on their cell phones in a movie theater - so what if it's only the previews!?

Please, please, please - just SHUT UP, HANG UP, AND PAY ATTENTION WHEN YOU DRIVE. The life you save COULD be your own!

Children in restaurants whose parents haven't taught them that sitting quietly is the proper behavior. Letting your child run around other peoples' tables is NOT acceptable.

Pedestrians who think that they can cross the street any-bloody-where they want too. Crosswalks are there for a REASON.

......and probably many other things...gimme some time to think.

:-/