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I'm down with the sickness

sickAll day Wednesday at work I had a nagging headache.  I’m not one to normally get headaches so it was really annoying but I didn’t think too much of it.

Thursday I woke up with a sore throat.  I didn’t feel *all* that bad, but our boss has a strict policy at work that you don’t go into work if you are sick, so I called in sick.  I spent most of the day on the couch eating soup and watching bad daytime tv.

By the end of the day my nose was both stuffed up and runny and I had gone through a box and a half of tissues.  I was pretty sure I had a fever that night but despite the fact that we own a million and one thermometers, I couldn’t find one to document this. 

This morning I woke when Rob got up to go to work.  He asked me if I would be going into work and I said no.  He then made fun of my “Kathleen Turner voice” and got ready to go to work.  I knew I wouldn’t be going into work so I fell back asleep briefly.  I woke up around eight to call in sick again and I felt like absolute ass.  I got up to go pee and was overcome with the chills and nausea.  I burrowed back under the covers and managed to fall back to sleep.

When I woke up again it was noon and I was drenched in sweat and I felt like I had turned a corner.  I got up and realized I was almost out of tissues so I got dressed and took Pappy out to the market.  It was only a mile away and the shopping was minimal but by the time I got home I was WIPED OUT! 

I heated up some chicken noodle soup and got about five bites down before I was overcome with another set of the chills that drove me back under the covers where I slept until Rob got home from work.  I woke up feeling like ass again so I took an advil and went back to bed.   Around six I finally got up and I was a big sweaty dripping mess.  I realized my fever was probably breaking but I couldn’t face getting back in bed.  I’d spent 80% of the day there and really wanted to see my husband.  I found a thermometer and registered my fever at 102.5.    I kept sweating and taking my temp and eventually the fever was down to 99.5 where it is now….where I am WIDE AWAKE.

Thankfully it is the weekend now and hopefully I will be okay to go back to work on Monday.  The bummer is that tonight was Megan’s Bachelorette party and I missed it. 

Not sure how long I will be up tonight since I slept most of the day away.

God I hate being sick.

Progress

Yesterday Paula and I did the Heart and Sole 5K walk in Salinas to benefit the Children’s Hospital.  Rob had forwarded me a link from his work a few weeks ago and since I am in training for the 10K run in July, I thought this would be a good thing to see how I have progressed as far as walking.

Being able to walk long distances is a huge thing for me.  I know that sounds dumb coming from someone who has never had a physical problem with the use of her legs but it really is significant to me.

When I weighed over 300 pounds, to walk longer than about two minutes would make my lower back seize up and put me in extreme pain.  Not to mention how out of breath it made me just to walk at a normal pace.  Rob and I would take Romie for a walk back in AZ and in just the short distance to the end of the street, there were times I thought of asking him to go get the car and come get pick me up to get me back home.

When I had lost a lot of the weight but was riddled with anxiety to walk in an open space was sheer torture.  To walk across the parking lot at work after most of the cars had left would make me want to cry.  I had this irrational fear that I was going to fall down.  I can’t really explain it but anyone who has ever had acute anxiety may know the feeling.  It feels like you get a little dizzy but it’s really just a panic attack starting in.  By the time you realize what is happening you are hunched over, lurching forward for your destination as fast as you can.  I can’t imagine what people must have thought seeing me walk like that.  It was not something I could control.  I would have to try and talk myself down and it rarely worked.

Shopping parking lots were alright as long as I had the shopping cart to hold onto.  A crowded parking lot was okay because the cars next to me would catch me if I were to suddenly fall over.  I know it sounds so incredibly stupid but I lived with this for a good year and a half to two years.

Now that I am somewhat back to being a normal human being in both weight and anxiety levels, being able to go for walks on my own is kinda a big deal to me.  Rob and I have done periodic 5K walks here and there since we moved to California.  His company encourages fitness and will pay for the fees to do the run/walks around our area.  I never really trained for any of them and was always really sore the next couple of days and my time had never really been under an hour.  At first it was more about being able to do it without any anxiety than about speed.

I now try to walk at least every other day on my lunch hour at work.  My anxiety over the years has lessened by leaps and bounds and I am happy to say that I finally feel normal.

waiting for the race to start

Yesterday Paula and I braved high temps(for where we live) and sunburns and walked theone mile mark! 5K in Salinas.  It was mostly flat and was a nice walk around pretty neighborhoods.  There was a light breeze and good conversation.  We shaved about 13 minutes off our time for the last 5K we both did together in September and finished at 53 minutes.  My back never hurt.  I never had anything close to a panic attack.  And I am not sore today except for one blister on the bottom of my foot.  To say I am very proud of this would be a severe understatement.  Dare I say, I even had fun?

After the race we rewarded ourselves with a lovely breakfast of biscuits and gravy at the Toro Park Cafe.  0516090953

It was a wonderful day but there was one casualty.  Paula’s cell phone.  Since she had no pockets in her sweatpants, she took a page from our friend Jenn and placed her cell phone in her bra, right between her boobs.  Well, I guess the combination of the hot day and the sweat from her skin was a little too much for the phone to handle…And while Verizon replaced the phone, she lost all her pictures and contacts.  Lesson learned.  😉

The Library

It has taken me until the age of 34 years old to discover the joys of a little thing called a Library.

Rob has been telling me for several years that I really needed to get a library card. Mostly because I have a tendency to go into a book store and drop an alarming amount of cash. Every time I hit a Borders, he reminds me again that a library card is free.

A couple of weekends ago I had just taken the dog to get his nails trimmed so I was only a block away from the local library here in the village. I decided to drive by and if there were cars in the parking lot, that I would stop in. There were so I did.

The familiar, slightly musty smell reminded me of the local library that we brought the kids to when I was in my teens and worked for a preschool. Back then it was torture to have to hang out there for three hours when I could be home watching TV, but I was getting paid so that made it okay. Now I was seeing this place with the adult eyes of an avid reader and I was instantly in love.

Granted the town I live in is pretty small and the selection was limited but I was able to pick up a good mystery and a CSS instructional book. As I signed up for my card and checked out my books I discovered that libraries have come a LONG way since I was a kid.

The woman handed me some paperwork and explained that there was a website that connected all of the libraries in Monterey County and I could search for whatever book/audio book/DVD that I want and request it. If it was available, they would ship it to my local branch and then call me when it was there so I could come in and pick it up.

Today alone I have saved over 100 bucks when I picked up two audio books and two more mystery novels, and I have season 3 of LOST requested(it is back ordered). ALL FOR FREE!!!!

Now, I am the type to reread books so if I am a HUGE fan of the book I will probably still buy it, but this still saves me mucho bucks on the novels that I just read to fill the time on a rainy day. And Rob and I are really big on listening to audio books on road trips so now I have two cued up in my IPOD right now for our August trip to Vegas.

I can’t believe I have waited so long to discover the wonderfulness that is The Public Library.

When dealing with Customer Service…

I am in the customer service industry. Thankfully I am only in the customer service industry over the phone. I’ve done the face to face bit and there is nothing worse. At least I can mute the phone and give out a primal scream if the need should arise.
At any rate, over the last three years I’ve dealt with my share of mean and nasty customers. To be fair I have also had the pleasure of dealing with many funny and wonderful customers that put a smile on my face and make me realize that my job isn’t all that bad.
I thought I would put together some of my favorite gems that customers use…and by favorite I mean the things that you say that make me secretly laugh at you and then mock you once I have you off the phone.

So here is a sort of “what not to do when dealing with customer service” list:

When you are calling a corporation never accuse the person who answers the phone of doing something. Example: “You shipped my order to the wrong location!” “You overcharged me!” No, I can assure you that I did not do that. It’s very likely that I didn’t even take your order in the first place. I just get the pleasure of picking up the phone and getting yelled at for something I didn’t do. The same goes for referring to You People. In fact I would prefer being falsely accused than hearing the phrase You People. My people are from Ireland and I’m pretty sure they had nothing to do with your order either.

Do not use a term of endearment when referring to me. I am not your baby, sweetie, doll, hon or cutie pie. While I may be all of these things to my husband, I am NOT to you. I am a human being and deserve to be shown the same respect you would want someone to show your daughter or your mother.

I realize that you are angry when something has not gone your way. However, you should realize that my desire to help you resolve the situation gets greatly reduced when I am being berated and yelled at. I am fully aware that a trained monkey can do my job, but telling me that does not exactly make me want to bend over backwards to help you…and I don’t think the monkey would either.

In the same vein, swearing is NOT an option. I may cuss like a sailor in my every day life but I do not get paid enough to hear you cursing into my headset. The occasional “damn, I forgot to get my credit card.” aside, I will give you one warning and if you continue to swear at me I will disconnect the call. There is a fine line between being a good customer service representative and taking abuse and since all my calls are recorded, it only makes you look like an ass if you call back and try to get me in trouble.

Do you really think I am interested in hearing your jokes? I’m not. I will listen politely and give you a fake chuckle when you deliver the unfunny punchline but when we hang up I will make fun of you to my co-workers so I can have a real laugh at your expense. Since you fancy yourself a comedian, I don’t figure that you would mind.

Yes, we value our customers, but you are NOT any more important than any other customer. I’m sure in your world, you hold a lot of clout but in mine…not so much. Asking me if I know who I am talking to will result in me reading off your name and address from my computer screen, not make me bow and scrape because you are in fact “kind of a big deal.” If you were that big of a deal with our company, I can assure you that I, a lowly customer service representative would not be taking the phone call.

Do NOT try and engage me in a conversation about religion or politics. I am not being paid to discuss my views on such subjects and chances are, you wouldn’t agree with them anyway, so it’s best we just don’t go down that route. Telling me “God bless you.” if I sneeze is fine but asking me if I have accepted jesus christ as my personal savior is not.  Yes, I realize the economy is in the crapper but that has nothing to do with whether you want expedited shipping on your order or not.

We are not friends. My goal is to get you off the phone, hopefully satisfied with the transaction, as fast as possible. I do not need to know, nor do I care that your sister’s friend’s cousin’s hairdresser once visited Monterey and found it to be just lovely. I know what this story is…it is a gateway story and it will lead to harder and more powerful stories. It is best just to not tell any stories at all. If you don’t start, you don’t have to go through the pain of quitting cold turkey.

I realize that you are lonely but there is probably a reason your family stopped talking to you. You are boring. Now if you will excuse me I have to take another call. Have a wonderful day.

Of Course I did.

Okay so it’s now less than three weeks away from a quickie girls weekend in Vegas that Paula and I just put together(allegiant air rules!)

It’s going to be awesome, we’re staying in a suite at the Venetian and we have tickets for Thunder from Down Under at the Excalibur(Front row thankyouverymuch).  I just can’t wait!

Well, last night I ordered this arm extender thing for my camera.  It basically makes it so that you can take a picture of you and whoever you are with in front of something without having to ask someone to do it or to look like it’s just your faces in the shot.  This is very exciting to me.  Not just for this upcoming trips but hell, I’m going to carry that thing everywhere!  You know how I am about my camera and taking pictures right?  Now I can actually  be in some of the pictures I take!!

Soooooooooooo….

This afternoon I tarted myself up because I was bored and I thought I would take pictures of a couple of different shirts that I was considering wearing in Vegas…you know cleavage bearing shirts and all that.  I was going to send the pics to Paula to see what she thought(she is much more fashion minded than I).

Can you guess what happened?

Instead of using the tripod that I bought months ago and have never taken out of the box, I propped the camera up on the big screen TV.  I’ve done this many times when I have taken a picture of myself with no problems.

Not today kid!  After a couple of shots, I turned it on it’s side to get a lengthwise view and set the timer.  As I posed I watched the camera tumble to the carpet.  I laughed, picked it up and tried again.

This time the camera just beeped at me.  I picked it up and looked at it.  Wait, the lens isn’t supposed to slant off to the side is it?

Yup, I broke the fucking camera!

I’ll say that one more time:  I BROKE THE FUCKING CAMERA!!!

The thing I use almost daily.  I broke it because I was being vain and taking pictures of myself.  I broke it because I was being lazy and didn’t want to set up the tripod.  I broke it THREE WEEKS before my big girls weekend in Vegas!  I broke it less than 24 hours after ordering a really cool accessory for it!

How stupid do I feel?

I fessed up to Rob and surprisingly he isn’t upset.  He said he was never sold on this camera and he is going to take it as a blessing in disguise.

So today we are going to research cameras online and tomorrow, after Rob is done playing the farmers market in Salinas, we will head over to Best Buy and see about picking up a new one.

But seriously…only me!

EDITED TO ADD:

Oh yeah, and I just broke my temporary crown on my tooth too. Goooo me!

Annual Year in Review 2007

January:
The month started with us adopting a new dog, Pappy, and adjusting to all that it meant.  Jim got shipped back to Iraq and my mom broke her arm.

February:
My MIL had major back surgery and Renee’, James and I met in Reno for another gambling visit!

March:
We enrolled and started Pappy in some training classes.

April:
I hate to say but I didn’t blog in April so I have no idea what I was up to.

May:
Both Rob and mines birthdays were in May, but more important we flew to Phoenix for Brian and Stephs wedding and then got to catch up with DD and Alan.

June:
Didn’t blog in June and am not sure.

July:
My finger infection acted up again…We went to Monterey Pride for the first time and we saw Die Hard 4 in the theatre, and I had issues about my computer at work.  Also I get tendenitis of my ankle.

August:
I wished on the lottery and lost, We go to the Watsonville races and Pappy gets a nasty spider bite near his peepee.
We had a week in Vegas with my Mommy where we didn’t win but Rob and I both got new hair.

September:
We headed up to Sac-town to go to Renee’s going away party, and we also go see a local band Rob is friends with in San Jose.

October:
Pappy dresses up like a Pimp Daddy and gets in the local paper.  Also I launch my youtube cooking show.

November:
We head up to San Jose and spend the night at Rudy and Jades.  We spend Thanksgiving with my inlaws and Pappy loves it!

December:
Xmas at our house is nothing special but we have a pot luck at work and go to my inlaws at Xmas where Pappy loves it again!  🙂

Last Thursday as we were driving to work we heard an advertisement for the car races in Watsonville. Every now and again I had heard Rob mention them and say it’s something we should do some night but I never put much thought into it. After the commercial was over I asked Rob if that was something he was interested in and he said: “Yeah, only for the last two years.” So it was decided we would head out after work on Friday, which we did.

It wasn’t bad. My only prior experience to attending a racing event was a NASCAR race that a friend of Rob’s had gotten us tickets to for a wedding present. Picture it:  I’m over 300 pounds, it’s over 100 degrees out and we have to walk about two miles to get to the speedway. Our seats are pretty high up and I’m afraid of heights. And oh yeah,  I’m on my period.

Yeah, not the best day of my life.  So when I say it wasn’t bad I mean that it was pretty freaking good in comparison.

It’s all done on a very small scale at the Santa Cruz fairgrounds. Very low key, you show up you get your grub and you climb the metal bleachers to a seat where you won’t get mud flung on you(unless of course that is your thing. In that case–have a ball!) and sit. They kept everything moving along quite well with no delays so that was favorable. Rob was truly loving it and I was loving the corn dog and the out of this world French fries.

My only complaint was that is was a bit long and I didn’t bring a sweatshirt along with my jacket because it got quite cold after eight or so. I got really tired and so we left when there were two races left to run. Overall, a fun night out with the husband doing something he actually wanted to do for a change.

Saturday we were up early to go get the Mustang from the shop. Oh yeah, did I mention we finally took the car in after running it for a year on a Mickey moused hose? Yup–to the tune of $2000.00! Yay for stupidity!

Anyway, I dropped Rob off and once he rescued the car I headed out to Petsmart and got some stuff for Pappy’s sore(it’s doing so much better!) along with some dog food.

Don’t you hate when you go into a store knowing pretty much what you want and then get accosted by the store employees? I mean, I’m all for having people available if you have questions but I was standing there in the dog food aisle trying to determine which bag had the small kibble and the big kibble when this lady who was roughly 108 years old comes up in a petsmart apron and asks if I need help.  I smile kindly and tell her I’m just looking for dog food for our two dogs. She immediately says: “You know you have to feed them separately right??”

I nod and smile as dismissively as I can before going back to looking at the food. She asks what kinds of dogs so I tell her and she then launches into this five minute monolog on how I have to get two different kinds of dog foods and blah blah blah. Finally to appease her I hefted the 40 lb bag of food for medium sized dogs(the kind I was going to get anyway) into the cart and put a small bag of food for larger dogs on top. Thanked her and walked away.

I made into the flea and tick aisle where I was about to ditch the smaller bag when she comes up behind me and says: “And on to your next endeavor, what are you looking for now?”

‘Tell her you’re just looking!’ my brain pleaded with me but my mouth didn’t listen. “I need some sort of salve to put on a sore area that my dog won’t stop licking.”

Her eyes lit up. “Where is the sore?”

“On his inner leg.” I didn’t want to say right beside his wiener.

“You need to get a collar.” She runs in front of me and actually grabs the front of my cart to make me follow her.

“Actually, I’m just looking for some cream or something…”

“He’ll just lick it off.” She gleefully replies as she guides my cart with amazing strength for a senior citizen to an endcap full of those horrible cone collars.

That is where I had to draw the line. I may joke about how funny it would be to put my dogs in one of those but I am not putting Pappy in one of those just because he likes to lick his wiener!

“I just need some cream.” I stand firm.

She pauses and then frowns before leading me over to the next aisle where she randomly grabs some cream for itching which is not Pappy’s problem and hands it to me.

“You really should consider getting a collar.” She starts wringing her hands worriedly and I begin to think there is some sort of special commission on selling cone collars.

“Thank you so much for your help, I’m just going to keep looking around now.” I raise my eyebrows and stare her down.

Obviously disappointed she nods her head and turns to walk slowly down the aisle and disappears around the corner.

I quickly locate the cream I need for Pappy and put it in the cart as a gentleman steps up next to me and starts perusing the supplements.

Out of nowhere granny-stalker runs up and starts interrogating him as I hightail it out of the aisle and quietly go ditch the other bag of food before practically running to the checkout for fear of being harassed any more.

She was scary!

After that I headed over to Circuit City and picked up a new set of headphones(thanks Pappy!) and my new Sims Life game before hitting Mickie D’s for some chicken nuggets because I was starving. Yeah, diet’s not going so good.

Eaaarrrrthhhquaaaakkkeeee!!!!!!

So, I’ve been in California almost two years now.  When I tell people back home that I live in California they automatically picture Los Angeles or some other such big city.  They ask isn’t it hard to live there because of the fast pace?  The truth is, it’s been paradise.  Perfect temps, Maine-like scenery, laid back atmosphere.  Very much what the doctor ordered after the high stress life in Phoenix.  Where I live in California is nothing like what they perceive it to be.  It’s very small town and I like it that way.

Having said that, this afternoon as we were finishing up our lunch break, I stood up to put something in the garbage and felt something very odd.  Almost like a rolling sensation underneath my shoes.   I turned to Paula and Jenn and they both looked at each other and casually said: “Oh hey, an earthquake.”

I’m pretty sure at that point I resembled a deer in the headlights.  I was frozen in mid rise from the table where I was when the the rumbling started.  They looked at me and started to look panicked yet reassuring.  Like they wanted to talk me down.

“Kel, it’s okay.”

“Yeah it’s just going to last a second.”

“If it gets any worse we’ll go under the table.”

WHAT????

It lasted less than 30 seconds but that was all it took for me to start to panic and freak out.  Jenn saw the panic and tears in my eyes right away started to talk to me like her daughter:  “It’s okay Kel, it’s going to be over in just a second, it’s not that bad.  You’re okay.”

It wasn’t the earthquake that bothered me really.  It was the IDEA of the earthquake.  The fact that I lived somewhere that had these things so often that my co-workers treated it like it was old hat.  The fact that I lived somewhere that had earthquakes PERIOD!

Once it ended we all went outside for some air and then went back to our desks.  I composed myself the best I could since I had to cover the front desk and then called Rob.  I asked him if he felt it and he said: “felt what?”  Damn.

Looking back, it wasn’t a lot it was just a very weird feeling of the ground moving under my feet, especially when I’m not so steady on my feet in the first place due to my anxiety.

I guess it was a 4.8 on the scale.  They said it was pretty big to what they have had recently, but not that big.

I guess why I’m really freaked out is that in my sheltered little life, the only time I’ve heard about earthquakes is when there was some huge disaster or a movie that portrays the worst case scenario.  So in my head, earthquake = huge deal.  I guess that is not always the case.

It won’t stop me from being a paranoid fool though.  It’s what I do.

16 Days

It’s not like me to just pick up and go, but in 16 days, I’ll be moving to California.

The reasons behind the move are simple.  Rob hates his job.  He had already given his notice before we even decided to move to Cali.  Last month when we visited Rob’s parents to attend his 20 year high school reunion he voiced this to his parents.  They asked if he would think about relocating, he said sure.  They said would you want to rent out G’pa’s cabin and that was all she wrote.  We are packing up the PT and hitting the road on August 1st.

We listed our house on Friday and on Monday night we accepted a bid that was 10,000 dollars higher than what we listed at.  We will close on the 28th.  The movers are coming on the 26th to get all our crap and move it.  My last day is the 29th so we are going to camp out in a dog friendly hotel for two days before we head out.  Works for me since there is a swimming pool.

Rob’s last day is this Friday.  The girls that he works with are being total bitches about it too.  Really mature stuff like just ignoring him.  You would think that after working together for 12 years his boss would be able to rise above it and be happy for him but no.  I can’t wait til he’s done with that place!!

We managed to pack up our whole house over the three day weekend.  We gave away our couch and most of our furniture.  Our living room has one recliner that we will leave behind, my laptop stand and the big screen TV.  That’s it.

The hallway and front room are filled with boxes.  It’s very weird being at my house right now.

Romie’s ear doesn’t appear to be any better. The infection itself is but that ear filled with blood thing is just as full as ever. Rob took him back to the vet because we can’t stop him from shaking his head.  The doc said just keep doing what we are doing. The only other option would be for him to lance it and for it to bleed out over time all over the place, put Romie in a cone and that means that he can’t get in or  out of the doggie door. So we wait.


I got a disturbing message from K on my answering machine the weekend before last. It was after I had gone to bed and I didn’t even realize the message was there until Wednesday that week. It starts out with her crying and saying “Please [her son’s name] please!” and you can hear him yelling in the background. His voice gets  closer and then he finally takes the phone (I assume) and he yells  something that I can’t understand and the phone is banged into something  several times (I’m guessing the table) and then the line goes dead.

What. The. Fuck?????

Is that not scary? I have no idea what it means. She called me the other night while I was online and said she would get online so I set up my yahoo messenger and waited for a couple hours but she never came on.

I called her this weekend but didn’t get an answer. I’m not sure what the hell is going on there. I’m afraid to find out.


I thought I would get out of bill close this month being in training and all…yeah, should have known better. We have been released from training today, tomorrow and Wednesday. Everyone else is calling on meters but I am working on billing. Which I don’t mind in the least. I have no problem helping out U and R…there is however one person on my team, we’ll call him D, that I will be very upset if I end up staying late on Tues and Wed to clean up his work. I have checked his reports every day and he has done next to nothing. He’s had all month to clean it up like R does and I did when I had my own type, but he HASN’T! R said he has seen him over at his desk drawing tattoos and reading magazines. As if that isn’t bad enough, he is a smart ass and gets on my case like I don’t know anything. Hello? I’m still very new and I’m finally getting training but at least I know how to have a successful bill close with my reports!!!!! It’s called actually working all month long instead of sitting there with your thumb up your ass.

Right before I went into training I pulled D’s reports and was going to work them because I knew that we’d be stuck at end of month doing his work after hours if I didn’t. R told me not to. He told me that they are keeping a record of every ones daily reports and looking at what goes up and what goes down and supposedly he’s going to shoot himself in the foot by not doing anything. I don’t know about all that but if it doesn’t get recognized I’m gonna have a fit. R said he already talked to our manager about it so she is supposed to be keeping an eye on it.

Who knows? But you can bet you’ll be hearing a rip-roaring rant this week if I have to stay very late to work on his shit!

Whew. Now that that is out of the way…

The traffic after work has gotten so much worse. I can only imagine it is coming from the fact that we have hired so many more people but damn! It takes me about fifteen minutes to get from my building to the end of the street (this would probably equal to be an eighth of a mile). There are days when we are in training that our trainer lets us out five or ten minutes early and it is pure heaven! Zip-zip and I’m on my way! I’m hoping that once school lets out it will make a bit of a difference. I know it will on the way to work but I’m not sure about home.

About Me

 

I am a 40 something married woman living in California.
I enjoy knitting and crocheting, watching crap movies, snuggling with my two adorable dogs and trying to be a good person.

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