Its Janene's Fault

Ok so I am bored and what did I do..... Well it is all Janene's fault. I started playing on the myspace thing and sent a hello to sona and to chris, who are people I know from my live band days in the late 80's early 90's days.
I am not into the myspace thing really so I was searching people and checking things out. Those of you that know Janene, know the story, those that don't, here it is. Janene and I know eachother from high school. We actually met during drill team try outs or something. Yep I tried out. Janene made it and I didn't. Probably would have put me in a totally different direction in life if I had. (I am sure you are amused to know this if you didn't already.) Anyway Janene and I were in photo together and who knows what else but we were really good friends, bad me.....we still are really good friends even though we live a state away from eachother. (Don't kill me Janene for the picture)

Certain friends will just be there forever and she is one of them, 23 years later holy crap!!! After high school, I got into the live rock bands, doing photography and actually was part owner of a magazine also. So I had a lot of friends I hung out with. I went out with this guy Chris when I was probably 20 I guess and at some point Janene met him also. She will know more of this story obviously than I do. Sometime in I dont know what year, Janene met Scott, through Chris. Scott is her husband and they have been together about 14 years I think. Back to the main point of the story. I was on Janene's my space page and saw some other blasts from the pasts, Chris and Sona. Sona was one of the gals that hung around the same bands I did. So anyway, then I went further and checked out Sona's profile or whatever the my space thing is called. Holy Crap, I saw the cry wolf reunion and well decided I have to go. http://myspace.com/crywolfthebandSo i bought 2 tickets. . Anyway it would be interesting to see some people from the past. Its all your fault Janene.

Now I am stuck and have to see who else I find on the myspace thing.

This Week- Jodie, J's, and whatever

So I have all the time in the world but I have not found the time to update this. Guess I have to be in the mood to do it.

Where to start.... Looking for a job and also working on the events and wedding business. Any referrals to anyone is greatly appreciated, weddings, corporate or whatever. For that matter job leads are good also. I have been using www.linkedIn.com and it is a pretty cool networking website and also helps with the job serch since there are jobs posted there. I have been trying to get people I know to link into mine profile. Have had some leads here and there for jobs and events/weddings so hopefully something works out. In the mean time, filed for unemployment and I have a wedding a month through October. Hoping I end up with more than that.

Here is the picture as requested by Tami. Doesn't have the same affect at all, I held it wrong. Oh well.......

Saturday night, I went with Jim to Dan's to see the smoking J's, yes they actually played together. I found out Jay is no longer with Notorious so that explains all the show booked coming up. We had a good time, well at least I did.

Ok, next would be Jodie. While went to visit her in the hospital I thought it was funny that she complained a little about the bruise on her arm for the blood work or IV. So I thought I would show this bruise. It was actually bigger and darker since this is at about a week old. This is from the injectease I keep using since I have this needle phobia. So there, I win. Ok so what else? Besides the fact that I am sure yu are thrilled to see my belly and bruises. The latest with the insulin pump is that I have it and it is attached as you see here this is how it gets attached. I am using with saline right now until I get used to it and how to use it. Monday I will start the insulin. It doesn't hurt and it is pretty simple to use. I just have to figure out what amount of insulin will work. The diabetes educator works with me on that thankfully. This is a good time to do it also since I am not working and stuff.

Now as for Jodie and cooper. Things are going ok. She posted pictures and stuff in her blog. I dont know how to attach the blog address becaus I tried earlier and it didn't work.

Here is a tiny picture. I can email you a link with other pictures, just ask.

Here is the latest on all

So here is the latest bit of info.
First is on Jodie. Jodie is doing as well as can be expected. She was released Wednesday from the hospital. She did have a c-section but is doing ok considering all that is going on. Child birth, baby needing surgery at 5 days old and so on. As for Cooper, he is doing "about middle of the road" as Jodie said. So this is good, not worse than expected and a little better than expected. Apparently Cooper had his surgery on Thursday. This was to move his internal organs to their rightful places and then to also close up the hernia I guess. Now I don't know any of this as well as Jodie and Mark since they are living it so don't give me a hard time for wrong information or terminology. Anyway, from what Jodie told me, Coopers "numbers" were the same before the surgery and after, so that is good. His left lung is at 50% which is better than expected, so that's also good, he has 150% of his lungs. It's nice to hear things are looking somewhat good. It's really not known how long he will be in UCSF or Kaiser once he is transferred, if transferred. Nothing is for sure right now but it is looking positive. Keep the positive thoughts going and that's all we can all ask for.

Now, here is the latest of wildlife at our house. Yes we had 6 wild turkeys in the backyard. Crazy!!! They were not there long, long enough to get a picture. Whats next, should I ask??

So the next thing I can tell you is regarding my job. I am now unemployed. Due to lack of work in the office I was in, I was going to be transferred to a Sunnyvale office. Then due to changes unknown to me, it was decided to eliminate my position and I am now unemployed. I figure everything happens for a reason so I will eventually find out what that reason is. Right now I will look for a new job and I will work on increasing the wedding and event business. Any leads for weddings or events or jobs in my area are greatly appreciated.

What else? mmmm, oh yes, I got the insulin pump approved and received in the mail. I will be given a training on that and then in about a week or so it goes "live" on me. Lets hope I don't freak out.

Spring is coming and great weather yipppeeee!!

New update on Jodie & Cooper

So Jodie seemed to or Cooper maybe, one of them decided on St. Patricks day to be Coopers birthday. Cooper was born at 12:36 Am on March 17. He is 19 1/2 inches long and unknown weight right now. They had to stabilize him and hook him to machines and such so they didn't have a weight yet. Apparently he is doing ok right now and they will be monitoring him. His body will have to adjust to his new environment and then the doctors can see how he is doing. Jodie was sent home Thursday after being in labor 2 days. Friday she was to come back and start again. I don't have the full story yet. All I know is her water did break Friday and she started having contractions on her own. So maybe Cooper was starting to think he was getting ready. Anyway, they did do a c-section. I will go tomorrow and see her and have more information and a picture then.
** Update on 3/18****
I talked to Jodie today. She was not up for visitors. She seemed to be doing ok and I think she has family there with her. I got some more information. So she was sent home on Thursday to rest and gain some strength back so she could be induced again Friday. Thursday she did however have contractions naturally. So Friday when she went in she was having contractions but they did give her something to help the process along, so some sort of inducing pill. Her water did break also on Friday. Later in the evening she was still only dilated to 6 or 7, she wasn't sure. Apparently Coopers heart rate started to drop so as they watched that, they did decide to do an "emergency c-section". She seems to be doing ok, but also on painkillers. As for Cooper, she said "all thing considered with things wrong, he is doing ok". He did not need to be on the big ventilator machine after all. (This is why she delivered at UCSF was because they had this large machine that her Kaiser did not) So that is a good sign for him. I guess now its just watching each day to see how the progress is with him.
I asked if there are any pictures she can get Mark to send out or something. I will contact her tomorrow and maybe go see her tomorrow or Tuesday. I asked about coming out and she was not up for that. I even asked if she needs something to eat and she said the hospital food is not all that bad. (She is drugged up so maybe that is influencing her hehehe)
I will send out a picture when I can. Oh and we was around 6 1/2 lbs. They didn't weight him due to that is another thing that will agitate him and doctors were avoiding that.

**Update** 3/15 Jodie and the new baby

Here is the update*** I got a call that Jodie was in labor 2 days and Cooper had other plans so he didn't come out. (Looks like maybe a ST Pattys day baby) So Jodie was sent away to rest and get some strength back. She goes back Friday 3/16 to be induced again. Poor girl

Well as you all know, the new baby has a name and he is Cooper Alexander Gerhardt. Jodie went in to be induced Tuesday and since it is Wednesday at 8:51 pm that mean she was induced 37 hours ago. So now baby yet and she has been in labor 37 hours. Lets all have good thoughts for Jodie to pop the little guy out real soon. Let's have even better thoughts for little Cooper, hah, mini Cooper, and hope he comes out and does well. As you probably know he has a diapramatic hernia http://fetus.ucsfmedicalcenter.org/cdh/ so he is probably having surgery when he is a week old or so. Sending you all positive thoughts Jodie and Mark and Cooper. Waiting to hear when he is born so I can tell people more.

Ice cream, cat teeth, people teeth and whatever

Not a lot to report, just little stuff here and there.
I have found out that the Safeway near my house carries much better ice cream then the Albertson's I usually go to. Now don't start giving me a hard time on eating ice cream. I can eat anything, in moderation. So here is the deal.... Dove makes the little miniatures they sell in a box (i don't know how many make a serving, i guess probably 2) but I haven't bought these, because I had not seen them in years, until last week. Then I found out our Safeway has them. Now, better than that, our Safeway carries these little individual size servings of Ben & Jerry's. Yep, that's right, individual size, even comes with a plastic spoon. (about the size of the taster spoon at Baskin Robbins) Not all the flavors, just like 4 (cherry Garcia and Chocolate fudge Brownie and 2 others) Better yet they on sale 10 for $10 dollars so we bought 4. Its perfect size!!!! Ok the big problem is this. At Albertson's they have self check out, so I don't have to stand in line and can just scan my stuff and its simple. At Safeway there is always a line, no matter what time of day I go. I hate that. So there is that and now the ones that read this are going to kill me for that info. Sorry but maybe you will luck out and your store wont carry it that way and you won't go buy it.
So, I think I posted something about the visit to the vet last week and Jasper on tranquilizers. Anyway, Shannon keeps saying the cat has "kitty breath" so I asked he vet for a quote on teeth cleaning. Hah, $425 to clean the freakin cats itty bitty teeth??? I don't think so. So I am trying to find a way to do it cheaper. Apparently its the sedating or putting them out that cost so much.
So... i found a non sedating way that it is done. Apparently the pets stores and grooming places do it for $45-100 and the reason is they don't put them out to do this. Now that would be great but........ I had to tranquilize the beast to take him to the vet, so I only wonder what would happen if I tried to take him for a teeth cleaning with out tranquilizers or putting him out first. Kinda makes me laugh to think about it. I guess I will need to call and ask the opinion of the places that do it. Can't wait to hear about it now can you?? Pancho would love my cat all tranquilized.
Ok so I went to the dentist myself. No big deal to me. However due to the change in jobs, I decided I didn't need to continue to drive to Walnut Creek to go to the dentist. So I looked up a San Ramon dentist on my coverage and called it and made an appointment. Then I had to find the letter they sent and call them and change the appointment. Now I found the letter and called and didn't really think anything about it. Then I thought I saw something on the letter and had to find it again. I noticed the name on the letter was Kristyn Woodson. Now Tami and Kristyn or Krystin her co-worker (i forget which way to spell it) and I are always commenting on the ways to spell Kristin (the correct way). Then I saw this and told Tami and thought it was funny to see it that way. I didn't even look at the last name. Now anyone reading this that has known me since high school or soon after is already knowing where this is going. I looked a second time and thought, this couldn't be Chris Woodson's wife could it? I hung out with Chris and a group of Monte Vista students in high school and after. So when I called the dentist office back, I asked if this was the same person, and sure enough given Danville is such a small (or was) a small area, it is the same person. So off to the dentist I go, yesterday. I had not seen Kristy (she goes by Kristy) in a few years, maybe 5. She looks great, the same and I would have totally recognized her in a second. She also had her daughter in the office with her. I think she is about 14-18 months and I forgot the name sorry. Wow I can not believe how much she looks like Chris, totally has his eyes and just looks like him. Pretty baby girl. So that was interesting and now I know Chris also works down the street so I will check in with him also. It doesn't surprise me too much to run into people I know, it used to happen way too often hardly at all anymore.
Ok what else? Well I know I am liking my job. I seem to check my email for it from home to make sure I have not missed anything (or screwed it up)
I just finally got the diabetes educator to order an insulin pump so that is progress towards my goal. (www.minimed.com) if you want to see what it is and how it works or whatever.
Then last part is that Pearl and Jim are moving, so we are getting some people together with them to go to dinner tomorrow night. After that, we are going to good old Dan's. Apparently one of my co-workers is in a band and he plays his first show with this band at Dan's tomorrow night. Hope it goes well. I will give a report on it if I can.

So.......who is reading this and did you all get the link to Jodie's blog?

Down South

So its off to hurricane country I go. This is the first time I have been to my Mom's since Hurricane Katrina hit.

I started with a flight from Oakland to Houston Hobby. The gal in line with me to board the Southwest Flight is picking something out of her zip up sweatshirt. Nope..... She is afraid of flying, lucky me! She is picking out her fingernails. She peeled them all off while waiting for this flight. The rest of the flying to Houston is uneventful. Then I go from Houston to New Orleans. Sat next to a normal gal from Mendocino. I gave her a ride to the hotel she was staying at. That worked out because it was a few blocks away from where Shannon was and she was able to read the directions while I drove.

I met Shannon at his hotel and we went out for a nice dinner. The day before was actually our 6 month wedding anniversary so we made it a nice dinner. We went to G.W. Fins and had a nice dinner. He had told them it was our 6 month anniversary and they made us a personalized menu and brought us an anniversary "plate" and decorated the table with glitter. We went and gambled at Harrah's for a while and after traveling all day, that was all I was up for. This is what they give you now instead of coins when you win. (since hurricane hit)

Thursday we went and ventured in to the French Quarter and checked out Cafe du Monde for some Beignets and coffee. Shannon had never been to New Orleans and I had not been in a long time so it was a fun day to just wander and check out some things. Next time we will go on the tours. I want to go on a swamp tour! Alligators, yay. We checked out the touristy things like Jackson square, Bourbon street (of course) and actually had to pick up something for a co-worker so it gave us a mission. We had a great lunch at the Gumbo Shop and had Gumbo and Jambalaya. Yummmm. Later we headed to my moms house. We have to drive across that I-10 bridge and it got torn apart from the hurricane. It had just opened in January of this year. While driving we saw the HUGE cemetary. (Sorry Tami, I didn't go check it out. I will wait until you go with me and we can go on the Haunted tours and stuff) On the drive we saw a huge amount of hurricane damage before crossing the bridge. The pictures did not come out very good of this. (i was in the car) The houses were structures still standing, looked like houses, no doors or windows and just a mess. The water had just been pushed through. There were FEMA trailers through some of the neighborhoods. Some places are starting to rebuild, others have nothing to really come back to. It looks like a war zone.

My mom's house is coming together. There are only a few things that are left and noticable that there were any problems. (no pictures) Friday we spent the day with my Mom. She came up with a great idea that Shannon loved. We went to the Stennis Space Center. This is where NASA tests all the rocket engines. Its about 15 minutes from my mom's house. We saw pieces of the moon, huge rocket engines, rocket testing platforms and all sorts of stuff. If Shannon tells you, it would be more technical so that is the best I can do.

We also went to Silver Slipper Casino. We had lunch and gambled a little. Lunch was great and the gambling was.... not so good. This is a new casino that went up in the fall of 2006. It is labeled as Lakeshore MS. It is right on the Bay Saint Louis. This is an area that is basically wiped out from the hurricane. I was looking out in the bay after driving in the area and wondering how many washers and dryers and refridgerators were out in the water, amongst everything else. All that remains of these homes is the cement foundation. Its that way by my mom's also. Last time I was there she showed me the houses with the little airplanes in the yards and boats and such, over by the bay. This time there is a cement foundation and actually there are still clothes in the trees, flipped over boats in the trees and furniture. There is nothing to go back to and the Mississippi side is not getting covered by Insurance. Don't get me started on that, its another story. I didn't take pictures here as my mom was with me and we didn't stop. It is hard on her and actually really overwhelming to see.

Saturday we went back to New Orleans, just Shannon and I. We went to the Sculpture garden and then attempted to get into the Museum of modern art. On the way there, I noticed we were right by where one of the levee breaks were in New Orleans. (its marked on a map) So we went over to check it out. So here is the levee and the wall that has been rebuilt and the neighborhood.

Most the homes are just ruins and then right in the middle of all this would be someone rebuilding. It just blows me away to see it. I don't know how someone must feel mentally to come back and rebuild right in the middle of this.

The sculpture garden was kind of neat to see. The weather was just beautiful that day.

We tried to go the the Modern Art museum but it was a members only viewing and we didn't want to pay that fee to get in.

We did a driving tour through New Orleans next. Its marked on the map and takes you through the college/university areas (Tulane and Loyola (or something)) then through the Garden district and back to the French Quarter. We went back for more beignets and had more beignets and spicy cajun foods for lunch.

After that we went back to Diamondhead (where mom lives) took her and Randy for a nice dinner and that was it. Up early Sunday (5 am) to get to the airport. We had to go home since the kitties were missing us.

Work, Jasper and Jodie

So the latest things going on here. Not too much exciting or even interesting things to report.

At work, we had the company we are working in take our recruiting team, the i-Hire people and Cognizant recruiting people out to dinner. The treated us well and took us to Vik Stewarts. So here is the group of people I work with. It was fun. Its a good group of people to work with. Hmmm what else happened this week....... Oh that's right

We won a coffee break at the office with KKIQ. They brought in all the pastries, yougurt parfaits, fruit and coffee. Hey, it was free and people I work with showed up before 10 to take part in the festivities. (They usually wander in around 10, but were in about 9) So now that I have sort of figured out how to attach pictures, here is another picture of us. (Fed ex guy happened to come in to deliver something, so we just had him join in. )

Saturday was exciting, at least Shannon found it exciting. I had to take the sweet cat I have to the vet. My cat is so sweet........... I can not even begin to tell you how sweet he is. He actually is very sweet with Shannon. He is like a lap cat with him. Anyway, the vet asked us to tranquilize the sweet cat before we bring him. Ok truth be told, he tends to think he is a mountain lion at the vet and attacks. So I shoved a pill down his throat and 10 minutes later......viola- drunk drugged kitty. It was actually kinda sad to watch him walking around. The drugs really hit him. Took him to the vet and that was pretty fast. Took maybe an hour. The rest of the day we did this and that. Poor cat (probably one of few times I feel sorry for him) he seemed to be paranoid all day. He could sleep for maybe 2 minutes and then had to get up and walk well.... stumble around. I don't know if he couldn't get comfortable or it just messed with his head. Kitty walking backwards and stuff. He never ever does that. Plus he normally sleeps about 18 hours a day. Nope not today, he slept about 2. That was the extent of our excitement on Saturday.

Sunday I took Shannon to the airport. He went to a conference in New Orleans. I fly in and join him Wednesday and we go to my moms Thursday. Then I came home and did a few things. Jodie's baby shower was that day. So I went to pick her up and take her. Since I will be out of town the weekend she is having her "friends" shower, I went to her shower with co-workers. (She has 4 showers total or is it 5? co-worker/friends, work, friends, family I think thats it) So that was fun. The baby is a boy as you know and the name has been a secret, but I know it now. Yep I know it and I am not going to tell.... Sorry. (Tami, either Jodie will post it in the comments or you have to wait until the shower) A clue, well it doesn't start with G. Hah, how is that??

Wow this was a pretty boring update. I thought of things twice to put in here over the last few days. Things I though might be entertaining or interesting, but of course I can not remember what they were.

So maybe if you are lucky, Jodie (who is now on maternity leave) might post a comment and share the name.

Oh I know what I forgot. We finally got a bike for me. So now I actually can ride the diabetes bike ride. Care to join us? It is in Napa. If not, I will take a dollar or more if you want to sponsor me. :)

Is this necessary?

So Pancho asked about a description of the bathrooms at work. He said I didn't describe it. There are 2 restrooms on each floor on opposites sides of the building. The one I usually use is of course the one that seems closer to our office. I walk in the door labeled restroom and I always seem to see a paper towel or 2 or 3 or 4 crumpled just inside the main door. (I kept wondering where this was coming from and why? Every day I would see one or more on the floor as the day progressed.) Then there is an enterance to the women's and a few steps further is the men's.
So, the other day, as I approached the main door labeled restrooms, it was sort of just being opened from the other side. This guy props the door open holding it just barely open with his knee. A second or two pass and it opens and he throws down a paper towel in the corner and then exits. Hah, he has been caught. I just was amazed someone has to use a paper towel to get out of the bathroom doors, yet apparently it is not necessary to use to get back in his office door. I guess by that time peoples germs are gone and he isn't worried about it.
My question is why can't these people just carry a stupid paper towel with them back to the office and throw it away, or throw it away somewhere???? Throw it on the floor? How rude and what a freaking litter bug.
So today I go in there and I guess someone said something or the janitor people just caught on because there was a little garbage can there now. (and it was 1/2 full!!!!!) Either way, why do people have to just throw a little paper towel down like that??? Just carry it to your office and throw it away. GGGGGEEEEEEZZZZZZ

Been tagged

Okay - everyone (myself included) can blame Tami for this one. She tagged me. (Don't worry, it didn't hurt.) So, get ready for some interesting reading...Rules: Each player of this game starts with the 6 weird things/habits about you. People who get tagged need to write a blog of their own 6 weird habits/things as well as state this rule clearly. In the end, you need to choose 6 people to be tagged and list their names. Don't forget to leave a comment that says "you are tagged" in their comments and tell them to read your blog.

This is hard for me to come up with anythig about myself, darn you Tami. So I need to find 6 weird things/habits about myself huh??!!
1) Ok one thing that seems to happen is I get a feeling about someone or something and then it tends to happen. Sometimes this is good. However if I meet someone or get a feeling about someone I tend to speak up about it. If it is just something bad that I am afraid will happen I may not say anything and just hope it doesn't happen. (Examples may be knowing when my friend Amy was pregnant before she realized that was what it was- I had a dream about it) I bet you guys can come up with other examples.

2) I am upfront and outspoken (to a point..... well maybe) and I will usually tell it like it is. This can be about just about anything. You guys know me so you know what I am talking about.

3) I am friendly, social and outgoing, however if I am around new people, believe it or not, I will clam up and get shy.

4) I am afraid of heights. I can not stand too close to the edge of things. This will be an example and a few of you know this. Say I am at the top of the Stratosphere in Vegas. I can go outside and stand there no problem. Its not a straight drop because there is a ledge below that goes out a ways. However, inside just below there are windows and nothing below that, I can not get too close to that, it gives me the hibbie gibbies. Make sense?

5) I have never gone to a movie or retaurant and eaten by myself. ( I consider a restaurant a place with a server, not fast food) I don't count watching a few minutes of a movie in the theater at my break time when I worked there, going to a movie alone. Can you tell I don't like to do things alone?

6) I like to go fishing and I have no problem cleaning the fish. I enjoyed getting Janene to clean the fish when we were in high school up at the cabin.

7) I like shoes and keep wanting to buy more. I tend to look at the same ones I have or very similar.

8) Until recently, I would not eat hardly any green veggies. Yuck

Ooops thats more than 6.

So there, I came up with some things. Want to add some more weird things about me??? I am sure there are more.

Okay, now I am supposed to tag people. Well I dont know anyone else to have a blog except Tami. So.... what I will do is tag these people and they have to either create a blog or respond in mine. Pancho, Janene, Jodie, Kanika, Angel and Pousumi (since you may read this and have a blog) and someone that is reading this that I don't know is reading this- surprise me whoever it is. (apparently there are others reading and you people dont comment)

Have fun, I am looking forward to comments or new blogs or something

Work, cheese, people and whatever

Ok I am going to work on this post. I came into work this morning and found the refrigerator stocked, with cheese and well not sure what else, didn't pay attention. Yay!!! I have more to update but no time right now. Stay tuned for more.......
Ok so I am back here to update this. Now you guys comment on stuff the less I put in. Anyway nothing interesting or exciting I can really put in here. I probably had more to update when I started this but dont know what it was now.
Its beautiful outside and supposed to be about 76 so I am going outside to enjoy the weather and plant stuff and be in the sun. Sorry its not updated. I will think of something more exciting.

Ok 2/19. For those of you that noticed, I left out something in the work description. Here it is.....We are in an office building with 2 bathrooms on each floor. The bathroom is just as plain as can be and very very clean. However, the freaking bathroom smells like a fruity christmas tree due to the weird scented air stuff in there. Its it both bathrooms on the floor. Ugh!!!

So I have a new job!!

After 6 years and 10 months I finally left Firemans Fund. I have taken a new job with www.i-Hire.com as a staffing coordinator. This is a great opportunity for me and I am very excited about it. I am supporting 4 recruiters in an office. I don't know a lot yet about the job since its only my 3rd day and as with any new job, I don't have a computer yet or employee ID or other stuff, whatever that stuff may be. Here is my experience so far.
Monday I went in and the vice-president of i-Hire was there to meet me and to get me set up with the i-hire sign on and email and review the job I will be doing with me. I didn't get much else or progress much further than that really. We had a conference call meeting with the i-Hire staff and the owner of I-Hire. Then eventually lunch came around. Well it was a late lunch. On Mondays the Sr. Recruiter, Darren takes the entire team out to lunch. That is the i-Hire people and the Cognizant people. The company I am working in is Cognizant. There were 13 of us and we went to Pasta Primevara. This was a great introduction to people and a nice social non work time. (team building)
We are in an office in Bishop Ranch. I am pretty sure I used to work across the courtyard from there. I am trying to find that out from Pancho, but I sort of think Provident Funding was in the building across the way. Anyway.... its a nice building with 2 others near it and a water fountain in the center of the courtyard. There are Canadian geese which is sort of ok as long as they leave me alone. (I have been chased by them near the building my cousin Amy works at, they are crazy and mean) There is also a beautiful fountain inside out building. Its a nice clean building with lots of plants and trees inside and lots of grass, flowers and trees outside. OH and there is a Cactus Cafe in the building next to us. (My co-workers from FFIC will laugh at that if they read this) You see, we had a Cactus Cafe in out building where FFIC is. I had a habit of getting a breakfast sandwich over there a little too often. It was all that was decent prices and they didnt screw it up. The seemed to screw a lot of things up in there. Anyway, I seemed to have this thought in my head about starting this new job. I figured I would be able to save money since I wouldn't have to pay parking, or much gas since it is 1.3 miles from home. I also figured maybe being closer to home I would be able to eat at home for lunch and breakfast and save money there and eat healthier. Well I guess we will have to see what happens on that. So far I have not gone in there and the co-workers in the office have not said anything good about Cactus Cafe. Maybe that will keep me away. I never really started going there while at FFIC until I moved further away and was eating out more rather than taking lunch. Ok so what else? The people are great. There are about 13 of us that will be working together. They are all really friendly and outgoing and helpful. The 2 guys that sit close to me are well uh.... loud. They are on the phone all the time since they are recruiters. The one on the other side of the cubicle from me is a big guy. He is like my friend at FFIC, Rosanne. He is always shaking, like a habit and I can feel it. Ok now the little office info: Well there are about 13 people there all the time and another 6 that come and go. (They work remote and do sales or something) This office has a little break room. The breakroom has no vending machines and is my worst nightmare. The office manager chick keeps this refridgerator stocked with Pepsi and diet, Coke and diet, diet ginger ale, Lipton brisk tea in a can, Arizona teas (those huge cans), snapples, regulars and diets, V-8 and v-8 fruit juice (or something) orange juice and bottled water. I might have missed something. Then there is a water cooler with hot and cold water. Ok now if i turn around in the little break room there are cupboards and it is like a kitchen with a microwave, sink and dishwasher and cupboards. IN the cupboard is: utensils, excederin and tylenol, lipton cup of soup packets (3 flavors) top ramen and cup of noodles and the typical coffee supplies for the coffee machine and stuff. Probably more and I forgot. ON the counter is tea varieties, splenda, equal, sugar, hot cocoa and all that stuff. Then the other end of the counter the evil woman has 3 jars, one with the bags of dried fruits you get at costco, one with pistachios (I can eat that) and one with mini snickers, and little hershey bars. Then there is also this freaking m&m dispenser. OK then there is 2 tables, one has little bags of Doritos and Sunchips and Cheetos and all these chips. The other has mini reeses peanut butter cups and packets of famous amos cookies and snackwell cookies and Grandmas brand cookies and something else (I forget what) Now, this is all just kept stocked and she tells me, just let her know what I need and she will get it. She is planning on starting to stock fresh fruit, thankfully. Good lord and I thought I wont eat?? So far I have done good and not really touched anything, just the pistachios and a few m&m's and I do mean a few. But HOly Crap! So the office is well stocked. The people are great and it is pretty relaxed in terms of hours and anything. I think it may be good in terms of all that. Now I just need to get more introduced into the job.
I am sure there is more I can tell you but not sure what would make sense. I guess I will report more as it happens. I am looking forward to seeing what the job is like and get started. I will keep you updated.

I am not getting older

So yes, February 1 was my birthday. I also share my birthday with my grandmother, though she is now living in Texas, so we were not able to celebrate together.
I took a different approach to my birthday this year. I didn't plan anything, didn't try to get people together for dinner or anything, no evites sent out (so nobody had to ignore them or not reply or say they would do something and not do it) I did not involve others at all. I really didn't want to try and plan something, get my hopes up that people would join in and then not make it.
So I had a really nice day. It was the first time I have had my birthday off of work in probably 15 years. This year, January 31 was my last day at a job and I didn't start the new one until February 5th. It was actually kind of funny. The day after my last day I had to go back to FFIC and pick up a check. I also did not know what to do with myself since it was my birthday. I didn't want to spend the day alone, so I had lunch with friends/co-workers at FFIC. It was really nice to do that. The best of the gifts I got for my birthday was to have Jodie tell me the baby's heart was strong. (She had a test done that day to check his heart and that was great news considering some of the other news)
I had phone calls all day long and email messages from friends I have had forever and the newer ones also. It seems nobody really forgot my birthday. All the cards I got and messages really were nice and made me feel great. So thanks to all of you!!
When Shannon got home from work, he was looking around the house funny and asked if something had been delivered. Nope, nothing was delivered but now I wanted to know what was supposed to be here. Of course he would not tell me. Hmmmm cookies, flowers, gifts..... now I had to wait.
Shannon and I went to dinner and went to Outback. We don't go there very often so it was a nice treat. We were going to Hungry Hunter, however we got to the one in Pleasanton and well it isn't there anymore. Oh well at least now I know where Tommy T's opened. So Outback it was and it was a nice dinner.
Friday I also had off and while at home some beautiful flowers were delivered, from Shannon. Wow, that was nice and a surprise since he has never sent flowers before. Friday and Saturday were pretty non eventful.
Sunday was superbowl Sunday. I was invited to Pancho and Laura's. (Yay pancho and laura, thank you for the invite) I can not say how excited I was to be doing something social. Tami went with me. Shannon went to deliver the glider to get worked on so he didn't go. We got to Pancho's place in Alameda. It is across from the beach and has a great view. He had birthday balloons for me. I thought that was really nice. I had taken some dip and veggies and Tami took cake. There were about 10 of us total. I never thought anything of the fact that Tami took cake other than that was her contribution. So when I asked if we can cut it, she said not, not until the 3rd quarter or something. When the time came, she had candles and they all sang. I didn't know that was the plan at all. I was actually pretty clueless until just about then. Anyway that was really nice also. So the superbowl party included a little of my birthday. You can check out Tami's blog to see the cake. As for the superbowl, it was all a bit disappointing. Of course because it was not a Bay Area team or any other team I like. Also, the commercials and half time were all disappointing. Not much I recall on the commercials except the coke machine one. Prince was not too exciting. Pancho does have a huge tv so that was nice. The food was fabulous also so that was great too.
So I have a nice birthday just low key and I guess I am uh....26.

Uncle Harry

Well my great Uncle, Harry passed away Sunday. He was a great strong man and what a character. Some of you may remember him as the 85 year old with under wear on his head and a bra around his neck at my brothers wedding. There are so many things people can say about him and all are good. He played golf with everyone, except the alligators. When the babies took his golf ball he just let them have it, since the mama was around nearby. Anyway, lots of wonderful memories of Uncle Harry. Here is a picture of Harry dressed up for Halloween in 2004.

This was by Martin at Pine Island Golf Course:

MY FRIEND HAIRY

HERES TO HAIRY, MY GRAND OLD FRIEND
HE ENJOYED LIFE, RIGHT TO THE END

WHEN GIVEN A CHOICE, A FEW YEARS BACK---BETWEEN SMOKING OR DRINKING
HE CRIED---GIVE ME MY “JACK!”

SO GO HAVE A CIGAR, ENJOY THE SMOKE
MAKE SURE THAT JACK IS WITH WATER, NEVER WITH COKE!

THE NAME MARTIN WE SHARED, MOSTLY IN FROLIC AND FUN
BUT IT WOULD HAVE SERVED ME AS PROUD, IF I HAD BEEN YOUR SON

BE HAPPY MY FRIEND, AT LAST YOU WILL REST
GET AWAY FROM THE GRIND, YOU’VE SURELY PASSED THE TEST

SO OFF TO THAT GOLF COURSE, WAY UP IN THE SKY
I’LL JOIN YOU AND POP LATER, AT PINE ISLAND UP HIGH

I’VE MENTIONED SOME CLOSE FRIENDS, BUT SO MANY YOU KNEW
REST ASSURED, THEY ALL LOVED YOU TOO

WELL BACK TO THE LINKS, YOU AND THE “GNAT”
AND BE SURE TO WATCH NASCAR, I KNOW YOU LOVED THAT!

MAKE SURE TO CALL OLE KARKLIN, AND ASK HIM TO PLAY
ADD JIM DENYER---YOU’LL NEVER SEE ANOTHER BAD DAY

GO TAKE A DRIVE IN A CAR, NO MAILBOXES TO HIT
SWING LIKE A PRO, NO HOOK WOULD DARE GIVE YOU A FIT!

I’VE HAD MANY FRIENDS, BUT FEW LIKE YOU
GOOD TIMES OR BAD, YOU WERE THERE THRU & THRU

COULDN’T MAKE IT BACK TO SEE YOU, EVEN THO I TRIED
DROVE THAT LAST 200 MILES---EYES FULL OF TEARS AS I CRIED

BUT I WON’T BE ALONE, CAUSE THOSE THAT YOU KNEW
WILL SOON BE GATHERED---FOR A BIG TOAST TO YOU

JUST COULDN’T GO TO CASTAWAYS---WHERE THEY GAVE YOU THAT TOAST
IT WOULD SURELY BE A CRYING CONTEST, TO SEE WHO COULD CRY THE MOST

SO I HELD A SECRET MEETING, WITH ME, GOD & YOU
& ASK HIM TO PLEASE REMEMBER, ALL THE GOOD I’VE SEEN YOU DO

THE COUNTLESS LITTLE GESTURES, YOU NEVER WOULD TELL
THE KINDNESS & GOODNESS, IN YOUR HEART YOU HELD

NOW, DON’T RUSH TO TAKE A JOB---WAIT A YEAR OR TWO
MAYBE WE’LL GET BACK TOGETHER, POP & ME & YOU!

MY MAN, YOU WERE “REALLY EXTRAORDINARY”
THANK YOU GOD, FOR MY FRIEND HAIRY!

Obituary for Harry C. Martin

Harry C. Martin, 85, a long-time resident of Ocean Springs, died on Sunday, January 28th, 2007, at the Providence Hospital in Mobile, Alabama. He was born in Richmond, California and moved to Ocean Springs in 1964 to help start the Pascagoula Refinery with Chevron.

After serving his Country in WWII, He went to work for Standard Oil of California, where he remained employed until he was recalled to active duty for the Korean War. He retired after 37 years as an employee of Chevron. Harry was indeed a patriotic American.

He was preceded in death by his wife Helen, and his daughter, Kathleen. He is survived by two Grandsons, Kyle Moxley of Ronan, Montana and Kristian Moxley of Memphis, Tennessee.

After retirement, “Hairy”, as he was affectionately known, spent his time at Pine Island Golf Course in Ocean Springs, where he volunteered to work in the Golf Shop until the course sold in 1998. Although “Hairy” donated many hours and dollars to Jr. Golf, he wanted his contributions kept “under the radar.” After Pine Island sold, “Hairy” couldn’t stay away from a golfing environment---he volunteered to be a “Player Assistant” at St. Andrews Golf Club in Ocean Springs, where he was still active until the time of his death.

In keeping with his tradition of supporting Jr. Golf, and his love for the game, the family requests any donations be mailed to: Gulf Coast Golf Foundation
PO Box 1413
Biloxi, MS 39533

There will be no services.

Miss you Harry

Something Janene sent so I will see who does it

Go to your favorite search engine (mine is google).
Type in your first name, then type "needs" next to it (EX: Janene needs) then hit search.
The FIRST thing that comes up - copy it and paste it and send it on! I'll do it for my whole family. It just turned out SO FUNNY!

Janene:
Janene needs to know which MATPRA members will be staying overnight (okay... I have NO idea WHO the "MATPRA" group IS!) - my second one was so funny I thought I would add that as well

Janene is four now and she nursed until just after her 4th birthday (ewww....don't THINK so!)

Scott:
Scott needs NUDE MODELS (OHhh......this is SO typical! Could that fit any better!!??!?)

Isabella:
Isabella NEEDS Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy (what IS that???? And can we afford it?? Heee heee)
Izzy needs a dog (not until Hell freezes over!!! Nice try!)

Xander:
Xander needs a good wash (WHEW! I'm glad I gave him a bath tonight!!!! TOO FUNNY!)

So.....try this with your name - or your whole family and be sure to send it on and remember to send it to the person who sent this to you (so we can see too!) Have fun!

So I did it on Google also and here is the results

Kristin
1- came up as Kristen so I didnt count that (says Kristen needs to wash her socks)


2- 5.10 Introduction to Repetition
So far, in all of our examples, when we ask a robot to move from one point to another, we have known exactly how far it would move. There are many situations, however, in which this is not true. Suppose, for example, that a robot named Kristin is standing at the origin facing east, and suppose that there is a beeper somewhere along 1st Street. We want Kristin to go to the beeper and pick it up and return to the origin.

3- Kristin Cavallari Needs To Sex It Up

Shannon (of course refers to a female in this)

1- Shannon Elizabeth Needs To Get Naked In Film Real Soon · Shannon Elizabeth Poker

2- Will Good happen In Life Shannon needs help Please Donate financial invest future children love cash charity humanity depression suicide give gives giving ...

Finally...

Well, finally after 6 years and 10 months, today was my last day at Fireman's fund Insurance. Yes it is true I found something new to try. Hopefully it works out. It was strange to leave people I have worked with for nearly 7 years but I am very excited about a new opportunity. I did make a few friends that I will keep in touch with and do things outside the company. I also will just keep in touch with some people. I even have given them this address to check out for the heck of it. (maybe I will actually get some comments!!!)

I start on Feb 5 at I-hire. (www.i-Hire.com) this is a company that does Human Resources outsourcing. I will work for I-Hire but in another company. I am very excited about this opportunity. Usually to get into Human Resources you need a masters in Human Resources. It is a smaller company but I think that will be good for me. When the new job and old job were compared, they balanced out almost. That just told me to take the risk and go for a great new opportunity.

Now I have 4 days off until I start this new job. I will have keep up to date on how it goes. Yay for me.

Full Moon?

So over the last week there has been a few things going on. I finally was offered a job and its a great opportunity so I am able to take it . Yay and I get to leave my job of 6 years and 9 months, which I have not been happy with for about 6 years. I am excited and anxious and not to sure about leaving and starting fresh but it will be a good thing. I start on Monday Feb 5th so for the first time in years and years I will be off on my birthday. My last day at Fireman's Fund is Jan 31. Thats exciting news to me.
Talked to my brother in Nashville for the first time in a month or so. Neither of us had much exciting news. I told him about the racoons and other stuff. Asked whats up with him. I guess Maleah is behaving in school now. She has not been picking fights with 8 year old boys (she is 5) or fights in the bathroom at school anymore. Well recently, you never know what she will do next. She did get poked in the eye by a boy and had to go to the doctor on it or emergency room or something but it was just scratched. She is going to be playing soccer and it starts soon. That will be good for her, she has a lot of energy.
Bobby's exciting news was about where he lives now, which is out in the woods I guess. That's what he and my dad said. So apparently his girlfriend Jade was outside the other night and they had like a pit fire going out there or something and a helicopter was shining its spotlight on her. They thought this was weird. So today I see this on msnbc.com http://tinyurl.com/2q8zsu I asked him about it and this was it. Weird.
So here is another weird thing. Many of you know how independent I am and that I have been working jobs forever. I started working as lots of kids, babysitting. At 11 years old, I started babysitting in the neighborhood. I made a lot of money doing this and people booked me a year in advance for new years. Anyway, today I pulled up the local news online on cbs5.com and find this. http://tinyurl.com/2jvmbr This was just so strange and gave me chills. The Lemke family lived down the street from me, next to my friend Lisa. I babysit these kids when the youngest one, Jonathan, was probably just a young baby or around 1. My brother went to school with the older kid Jerehmiah. There were 3 or 4 boys in the family total. So that was just creepy and weird.
Hmmmm what else? I spoke to someone that has a cabin on our road and found out, of all things, he has a webcam in the second story window and you can see how much snow there is and stuff. Yep, something else that was exciting to me. www.livingstoncabin.com. I thought it was pretty neat to see, since the cabin is not really winterized. Once there is enough snow, they close the road at town and you have to have a snow mobile to go further. Apparently we have not had that snow this year, yet. He said he was there New Years and if you look on the webcam, you see the path he made to get into his cabin. There has been no snow since before new years so right now you can still drive to our road or probably nearly to the damn. This is something I have wanted to do for years, go up to at least the town (La Porte) and see the snow. Maybe since there hasn't been snow, we will do it in the next few weeks.
I know there have been a few other weird things going on. I guess I think of them when driving but forget by the time I get home.
Looking at the calender, there is another week before the full moon so not sure whats up.

Curious

So, I am curious. Does anyone read this, besides tami? Seems she is the only one that puts comments in. I know its boring and all and hers is entertaining but just wondering

Racoons and wildlife

I want to shoot the racoons. Anyone who has been at our little cottage knows that we are in a little area with wildlife. The racoons have driven me crazy off and on over the year and a half I have been there. Last summer they opened 20 cans out of 24 cans of cat food and littered the front part of the house with the cans and lids. To top that off, they only ate 4 or 5 of the cans and left the rest so now i have to throw them away anyway. They are just a pain. Fortunately they don't dump the garbage cans. (yet) We have chased them with a bat and all sorts of stuff. They freaked me out once when one reached out under the deck at me when I was walking outside on the deck. Sometimes we hear them chattering under the house or they bump something and we hear it. All this, fine, I will deal with it. The deer eat everything also. So far no skunks under the house this winter. Fortunately I only have seen a bat one time and never again. Its nice to hear the owls. The outdoor cat that is the property stray just watches the animals walk by. Shannon came home the other night and a racoon was eating the cats food and the cat was sitting at the end of the porch watching it.
The latest problem with the racoons has made me crazy. They are apparently climbing up the wall between the bathtub and hall. I hear them scratching, loud. They have huge nails!!! The other morning when I heard them, Shannon climbed up in the attic crawl space and apparently there is a hole. Hopefully a hole to small for these huge obese racoons to fit through. He looked down the hole and there is a racoon looking up at him in the wall. THey are tearing up the insulation in the wall and sort of building a nest or racoon city under our house or in our wall. Then I start having more weird dreams. They just freak me out, I can not explain why. I am ready to get a gun though. GGGRRRRRRR whats next?

Kristin learns to shot herself

So in November I was given the opportunity to switch to a different insulin. The problem has been that I have not been able to give myself the injections, Shannon has had to do it. I have been really dependent on him due to this. I have cancelled dinners, rearranged appointments and been late to work. It still makes me cringed to think about the injections, seriously, even as I type this. You would laugh if you saw how tiny these needles are. Either way, I have not been able to do it myself. At this appointment, the doctor gave me some syringes, a vial (with saline in it) and a injectease contraption to practice. This hides the needle. Its sort of like the thing I use to check my blood sugar on my finger and I know a lot of you have seen that. So this is all kind of amusing. The first thing I have to be able to do is stick the syringe needle into the vial. I would get so close and could not do it. So I practiced and finally was able to do that. Next I tried the next step, sticking the needle in something. I had a little squishy stress ball to practice sticking it into.
I told a family friend that is a nurse, just how much trouble I am having with this. She says she will show me how to do it. I would not say its showing me how to do it, its getting over my fear of it or something. Anyway, I met up with my family friend, Robyn. So I meet Robyn at her house after work one day. I took everything I had to her. We sat there for nearly 3 hours. This is sort of hard to type out but it was a bit traumatic for me and funny also. She was seeing how hard it was for me to comfortably just pick up the needle and stick it in the vial. We started with that and she gave me some pointers on that. There were little steps to get me to the point of using the injectease. Eventually she had me holding the needle to her with the injectease and sticking her with it. Keep in mind, she was pushing my hand because I could not do this. It was funny too, now that I think about it. She was swearing at me and telling me she would never talk to me again if I didnt stick her and things. So eventually I was being "forced" to hold it against me and inject it in me. 3 hours later, I had been able to do this. (Yay, I was hungry and wanted to go home and eat.)
I got to call Meaghan and tell her I could do this, finally. So my next appointment, she gave me the insulin to start using. Now I am doing the injections myself, unfortunately I am eating more and probably gaining more weight too. The only problem now is the little bruises I get. I will find out more on my next appointment, this friday.
By the way, the starting on insulin is not due to diabetes being worse. It is to have better control of my diabetes and blood sugar mainly