Tag: postaday2011

Dealing With January

~ JodiLea

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PenguinPush

That’s me. The unsuspecting one, waddling towards doom. The tall one? That’s January.

I hate January.

It’s cold, gray, wet, gloomy and depressing. If I am curled up in my “Huddler” (a 49er blanket with sleeves), by the wood burning stove, reading a great book, then January isn’t so bad. But those 3 days out of 31 aren’t enough to get over January.

I know I am being a big baby. We spoiled Californians just can’t do without the sun for more than 2 days in a row. We get squirrelly. We get irritable. It is a volatile situation, especially in the work place. A group of squirrelly and irritable co-workers do not make a happy productive team. I stay in my little office in January. I communicate via emails.

This year I am determined to make the most of January. I scheduled a trip home to see my granddaughters and have a nice long conjugal visit with my husband. I am going to get my broken tooth fixed. Get lab tests done for my doctor. Visit some good friends I have not seen since the summer. Oh, and I will get to work in my own office. At work for a change.

I made an appointment with my hairdresser for a highlight. I think I want to be a bit of a redhead for a while. I don’t even know if my hubby likes redheads (he wouldn’t dare tell me if he did – I get jealous). I’ll keep you posted on that.

I have been wanting to clean out old non-used crap at my mother’s house, but restraining myself because it will probably hurt her feelings. I will wait on that. So, when I am home and confronted with my own old non-used crap, I plan to recycle it. It goes to a charity or the dump, depending on just how crappy it really is. If I get lucky, my hubby will allow me to get rid of some of his crap. He is the one with the most crap in my opinion.

When I fly back to mom’s there will be only 1 more day of left of January. I believe I can get through this.


How I Stay Focused?

~ JodiLea

Blurry GirlWell, to answer the question – about as good as my camera does.

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Some photos are crisp and balanced. Some photos look like they were taken during an earthquake. My granddaughter is even gorgeous during an earthquake, don’t you think?

I can usually focus on a task in my office at work. Ask Ed, whose office is down the hall from mine. It’s like I have blinders on. People pass by my office, break time comes and goes, I forget to eat, I lose all track of time. Ed laughs at me. For some reason my “stress mode” as he calls it, is entertaining. Whatever.

Most of the time any distraction whatsoever will derail my train of thought and I have to wait for the next one. Trying to post every day has been a challenge and I should write in the morning instead of at 11:00pm when I am worn out and ready for bed. I am a morning person. Even if I am up watching movies with my mom because she can’t sleep and needs company until 3:00am I am awake by 7:00am. It sucks on days I want to sleep in.

Working at home (actually my mother’s home) has been an experience. Basically, if I can’t fit in my days work before mom wakes up, not much will get done. Constant focus interruptuss, if you will. So, because my employer is paying me to work I do that in the morning and I run out of time to blog. Until late in the evening when my brain is practically useless. Yawn. I will try to focus on a solution to this problem.

In the morning.

The Interview From Hell – Part II

~ JodiLea

Previously in Part I . . .

I felt confident and excited as I approached the Operations Center where my interview would take place. I was also terrified. What if a more tech-y person wanted the job? What if they laughed at my grunt computer skills?

I opened the heavy metal door and entered the Operations Center. The entire Staff was sitting around the table, waiting. All 15 of them. Oh man! It was going to be a gang interview.

I could not tell you all that happened. The hour and 1/2 is a blur now. Only 2 questions I remember being asked, and I remember them because they were so strange.

1) “Do you have an aversion to food?”  I thought this a dumb question to ask someone who was over-weight. Of course I answered “No”.  It was obvious I loved food.

2) “Would you be willing to join our  softball team?  This struck me as a trick question, and I had to ponder this a bit. Flash backs of high school gym class and hating softball because no one ever wanted the “Queen of Fouls” on their team. Being made fun of because when I whacked the ball I would take off running, never quite getting what made a foul ball a foul ball.

I had to be honest with these people. “Well,” I said. ” It would probably be in the best interest of  your  team  if I joined a different one.”

A day went by. Then two days.  I did not hear anything from the Ops Center or my supervisor. Was the “gang” still interviewing people? For MY job? I managed to wait until a week after the interview to call and speak with the woman who would be the supervisor for MY job. She told me that they had finished the interview process and would be making a decision soon.

Three days later, I called and asked if I was still in the running. Panic was starting to set in. What was taking so long? Why must they torture me? What level of Hell is this?

It took 2 more weeks (and descending to deeper levels of Hell) for them to finally decide. My supervisor called me that evening at home to tell me the outcome. She knew I was having a break down over this and she told me she did not want me to have to wait until morning for the news. I am sure she was relieved to get me off her back.

I was officially offered  MY job. The best decision they and I ever made! I still work for the Ops Center. After I completed my Computer Science degree I moved into a technical position for them. This June I will have been with the “gang” 17 years.

It will take a very large crow-bar to remove me from here.