1. The floor is stained and will be sealed tomorrow, I hope. I am tired of home improvement projects and cannot wait until we can take a break already. Also, I have learned that no project that Dave starts stays within budget. Did you know that polyurethane floor sealant costs $40 per gallon? I didn't either and by the time I picked myself up off the floor and recovered from that dead faint, Dave had already walked away and started cleaning up the rented sander to turn in tomorrow morning. Dave and his improvement projects are going to be the death of me yet. That brings me to...
2. Dave and I have been fighting today. About money. And I am sick and tired of it because it is literally the same fight we always have. I feel like I should say, "wait a minute; let me go find my script." After a lot of yelling, we are at an impasse. Until the next time, that is.
3. My friend, who I was all ready to give another chance after she about blew off our relationship, did not come to visit this weekend like she said she was going to. She did not call or email to say she was or was not coming, therefore I am guessing that she has made the choice I previously described as difficult much easier for me. I wish her the best of luck in all of her future endeavors as I wash my hands of her. Hopefully, she will eventually learn to treat people a little better.
4. I've been busy today with chores. I did the laundry, washed both dogs, cleaned and replaced the screens on all of our windows, straightened the house, and cooked dinner. For the rest of the day day I plan to do nothing more than read a book and drink some of my newly acquired Black Box wine that is both delicious and contains a convenient spout for easier dispensing. It is also vacuum sealed, so will last up to 4 weeks...though I will most likely have consumed it all by then, if my dealings with Dave continue to be as stressful as they were today.
5. I'm going to go and drink more wine now as I count down the minutes until bed time. I sure hope that next week is a lot easier on me than this one has been.
Uneasy like Sunday morning.
Bummed
Today has not been a good day. Between putting out fires at work and dealing with a not-so-pleasant trek to the DMV to take - oh, no sorry, make that fail - the motorcycle driving test, this day is kicking my butt.
Actually, this whole week could use a do-over. All I can say is, thank God it's Friday. And that it's 4:36, which means I get to leave work in 9 minutes. I plan to head straight home and indulge in a good sulk and a big bowl of Oreo cookies n cream ice cream.
Tiny Victories
I've been riding the bike to work lately on days when it does not look like rain. I rode it on Monday, but since the forecast called for rain on Tuesday, I decided not to risk it and drove my gas guzzling suv, instead. And the day turned out sunny and gorgeous. On Wednesday, the forecast again called for rain. Dave needed the suv so he could pick up his parents from the airport after work. So I decided to chance it and rode the bike.
It started to look overcast about the time I was leaving, but the rain held off. I said a little prayer in my head for it to please just wait until I made it home. Not two seconds after that thought had left my brain did the sky open up. And it didn't just rain; it poured. It was storming so hard that Dave later told me his parents' flight was delayed because the weather conditions would not permit them to land safely. They spent 50 minutes circling the airport. That was the 50 minutes it took me to get home on the bike.
I made it safely, despite the lightning and fallen (or falling) tree branches. And despite the deer that ran in front of me out of nowhere. I had to stop at one point because the lane was closed due to a fallen power line and wait for a police officer to direct traffic (me) around it. I had stayed relatively dry up until that point because I was moving. Once I stopped, it was all over.
I didn't want to stop and wait it out because I knew my in-laws would be at the house soon. So I pressed on and finally made it home. The power was out, so I had to park and walk through the house to manually open the garage door. I didn't know how to do that, but now (thanks to Dave) I do.
In a way, I consider my experience to be a series of tiny victories. I was worried about being caught in a downpour...scared that I wouldn't be able to handle myself on a motorcycle. I feared falling on slick roads. I feared that the bike would malfunction. I feared that I would be drenched in the spray of oncoming cars and lose control. I feared the unknown. Now, I know better. And I can finally say that I've had an experienced on a motorcycle that Dave has yet to have had. And that makes me feel a tiny bit triumphant.
It's all good
Happy Easter, everyone! Or Day-After-Easter, as the case may be. It has been a busy weekend and the good news is it isn't over yet. I am taking a mental health day (otherwise known as a sick day off from work when you are feeling perfectly fine) and the day is just full of endless possibilities. I think I'll do a little gardening and let my otherwise indoor cats run around outside for a little while. Dave is also home, so we are going to go register the motorcycles and maybe have a nice lunch together. I love three-day weekends, and I just don't get them anymore with this current job.
So, let me fill you in on everything that has happened in the last few days!
1) I got to leave 40 whole minutes early on Friday so I could get a jump-start on my Easter weekend. Don't I work for a great company?! I came home and immediately practiced on the motorcycle all by myself for about an hour. My confidence has improved greatly and I am finally getting excited about going on an actual ride outside of the safety of my neighborhood.
2) We got up early on Saturday and packed up a bunch of Dave's tools and a wheelbarrow to go help with the Cabbagetown Community Cleanup. We got to the spot where we were supposed to meet-up with the organizers, and it was absolute chaos. There was no parking, so cars were parking along the streets, turning two-ways into one-ways, but the traffic was still coming from both directions. We ended up stuck a couple of times, we parked somewhere we were told we weren't allowed to park, and Dave didn't want to park a distance from the meeting place and walk because he was afraid his tools would get stolen. We kept circling until Dave finally ran over a hole in the road that ended up having screws in it which pierced his rear tire in two locations. At that point, I made the executive decision to abandon our attempt at volunteering, so we could go take care of the tire situation instead. Oh well, we tried!
3) The remainder of Saturday was spent cleaning house. Boring, but necessary. I kicked the cats outside while I swept the floors and at one point, my house was completely empty of all animals. Well, except for Dave.
4) Sunday was Easter and Dave volunteered us for two things. The first was a motorcycle ride to Lake Jackson (thirty miles away!) with my dad and the second was Easter dinner with my dad and his family. The motorcycle ride was going so well! We made it to the lake in about 40 minutes and I really felt like I knew what I was doing. Until the ride back. For some reason, Dad was pushing speed around some of the turns and I ended up dumping the bike...again. But this time, going kinda fast. The good news is I am fine! Not even a bruise, which I find highly disappointing. The bad news is, Stella did not fare as well, and she will now require a new set of handlebars, a new headlight, and a new left rear shock. Also, she is going to require some cosmetic surgery at some point. But not until I know what I am doing. Poor Stella. She is not quite so shiny anymore. She's tough, though. I was able to ride her home, even though she was banged up pretty bad.
(On a side not: my guardian angel should get a bonus this month. She didn't even get the Easter holiday off.)
Dinner at dad's went well, though it is that polite type of chit-chat that is typical of any event that includes my stepmother and stepsister. I feel so different than those two that I really don't ever know what to say. And my dad just sits there, letting them dominate the conversation. He is a lot more fun without them around. I remarked to Dave after dinner, that he would really have made a better big brother than a father. He is not very paternal. He acts like he has something to prove, like a big brother. He was driving too fast around that curve and I guess he didn't realize that stupid me was trying to keep up. He kept saying it was his fault I fell, and I kept saying, "no, it wasn't," but a tiny bit of me thinks that "yes, yes it was" since I had never been out of the neighborhood on a ride before today. I keep having to remind myself that I am Inexperienced. Obviously, I have to remind my dad, as well.
I just had a cat (Colin) crawl into my lap, so there goes typing. And, it is time to find something to eat.
The perfect day for lazy
It is raining today and it would be the perfect day to be lazy. Except that it is Friday. And I am at work. I have caught up on everything I had to do and I may just take a break and play on the internetz for the rest of the day. I wish I could read my book at my desk, but I think that would be a little too obvious.
If it keeps raining, I will not be able to practice riding the bike today. But I think I need a little break from Stella. She is probably mad at me, since I panicked on her yesterday and we ended up on the grass in a neighbor's yard. The grass was covered in just enough pine needles to make it slippery and we fell over. Oops! Stella is fine, but my leg is a little bit hurty today. I have the mother of all bruises and am quite proud of it. I have now gotten the falling out of my system, so things will only get progressively better from here. I think I hurt my pride more than anything, since two cars stopped and people got out and asked if I was okay, which is nice, but also slightly embarrassing. I got mad at Dave when he offered to ride my bike back across the street for me. I am all, "I can do it, DAMMIT!"
We were on our way to Publix for dinner groceries. It was my first real outing. I got scared by all of the traffic and after falling, told Dave to go on without me. I zipped back home, like a poor scolded little puppy with its tail between its legs. I told Dave later that I should have been doing the "Eiw, Eiw, Eiw" dog cry on my way home. I DID manage the driveway bump all by myself and parked Stella in the garage. So progress is being made. I just have to remind myself to take smaller steps, and that sometimes, it is okay to feel like a girl.
Plans for this weekend include:
- Going out with the girls in the office (there are only 5 of us) for drinks after work.
- Cleaning house tomorrow. I really need to work on putting away the laundry after I fold it. My job is to fold and put away the clean laundry after Dave throws it all on the bed in our guest room, and lately I have been folding it and just leaving it there as our closet / dresser combo. So lazy! But I have a friend that may need the room tomorrow and she would not appreciate us coming in to pick out our clothes while she is still sleeping.
- Going out with a friend who will be celebrating her 26th birthday tomorrow. She wants to go downtown and check out some clubs. Totally not my scene, but I will go to support her and to act as DD / shuttle bus driver.
- Not sure what we are doing Sunday. It is Dave's birthday, so it will be up to him. I am going to make him a cake! Who am I kidding? I am not a baker so I may end up buying one from our wonderful Publix bakery. But I will be driving there in a car, most definitely.
Oh, on a side note: Dave would make a great blogger. After I fell, he came up and said, "I wish I had a camera. I could document this moment and call it Chelle's first fall...like a little kid." Um, thanks, honey. I love you too.
My will to work is missing
I seem to have misplaced my will to work this week. I am not very motivated and would really like to go home, curl up on my couch with a comfy blanket over my lap, a cup of coffee on the table beside me, and a really good book and maybe a cat or two to keep me company. It is raining outside and that just makes my idea all the more perfect.
I'm not sure that it is just the weather that is making me feel so under motivated. I really think it might have more to do with the fact that I am very much, without a doubt, over this job. My review a few months ago was ridiculous -- the biggest complaint per my supervisor? I go to lunch too often with one of my male coworkers and it "doesn't look right and people might talk." So now I am no longer allowed to go to trade shows with this person. We're talking once or twice a week and usually it was in an effort to conserve gas, not because we were going to rent a room for an hour at the Hampton Inn down the street. And I work in a department with all guys, so go figure (with the exception of my new assistant who was hired after my review).
I have also not been given a raise, though I was told during my review that the paperwork was on the CEO's desk for approval. I guess that's kind of like the saying "the check is in the mail." Plus, after discovering I make a lot less than my male predecessor and that the inexperienced new sales associate is making about 20k more than me, I made the mistake of confiding my feelings about all of that to someone who did not keep what I told him confident. Another reason why it is time to move on.
I love change and I have a feeling that bigger and better things are just around the corner!
Whew, what a day
It has been one of those days. I spent the day trying to figure out why my email software client was being blocked by the servers of some of the customers that are on our email newsletter list at work. After scratching my head for several hours, I finally called my brother, Mike, who is a computer networking administrator and Unix / Linux expert. He was able to diagnose the problem pretty quickly. 1) our IP address had been blacklisted with www.spamhaus.com and 2) stupid me had been sending out my email newsletter without a throttle, meaning WAY too many emails were being pushed through a Cbeyond SMTP server WAY too quickly. I was essentially making myself look like a spammer.
One of the ways to resolve the issue was to use a different SMTP server to send the messages. Which required a phone call to my company's web hosting company. Whose customer service is less than stellar. The guy I talked to treated me like a stupid female who was wasting his time by asking all these technical questions that he felt didn't pertain to the real issue. So he decided to grill me about how my brother and I had reached the conclusions we had. He was a real a--hole, and after taking his shit for a few minutes, I finally decided to start flinging it right back. I hate to fight fire with fire, but sometimes it works.
Anyway, I finally got what I needed from Mr. Helpful, and I think the problem is resolved. For now, anyway.
In other news, I am SO EXCITED about my pending trip to San Jose. A group of us are getting together to help a friend celebrate her birthday and I think we're all going to have a blast. I'm also going to get to see my other brother, Chris. And ride on his motorcycle for the first time ever. Here's hoping he drives safely!
