08/09/2009

This has been a rather peculiar summer. (weather wise) August started out in the 60’s. SO not summer weather. This weekend we’ve been blessed with ample rain and more reason to stay indoors. What I like to do indoors . . . play on the computer isn’t enjoyable at the moment either. Practically all summer I’ve been fighting with my PC. It was invaded by a bad Trojan which prompted me to call a tech repairman. Long story short, $400 and a full reformat later, problems are still aplenty. The repairman (IMHO) took me to the cleaners leaving me to find another way to solve this problem. I found someone I trust now, and we’re “troubleshooting.” He’s willing to stick with me, and COMMUNICATE. For $50 an hour, (previous tech guy) I appreciate a little communication. But he’s mid 20’s and knows what’s best for me and my PC. ***bah***

I don’t usually sugarcoat the facts. It may appear that I’m not having a good day/week/summer. While there have been several negatives in my life recently, I’m still plugging along and happy to do so. And I’m patiently waiting for better days. Life can’t be all lollipops and rainbows.

One of the plus’s – my girlfriends and I have been having a few more Friday afternoon lunch dates. I love the time I spend with friends. Our lunches last no less than 2 hours, and sometimes more. Sometimes Bridget will bring her teen son and or daughter. They’re more than welcome. They just know that what goes on at lunch stays at lunch. They’re great kids.

On the minus side – Maggie and Vin have been having a few problems. I thought I was going to lose Vin about a month ago. He had a tumor in his mouth. According to the vet, this meant almost certainly that he had cancer. He was even talking about euthanizing him. I can’t imagine having to do that. At his age (16) I expected to come home from work one day and find he had passed away in his sleep. After surgery I was told that the tumor did not look cancerous. We escaped death and I couldn’t be happier about it. It dawned on me that we needed to make some memories so Annie and I went to the park so she could take some pictures of us. Afterwards, we went to the ice cream stand and Vin and I shared a 1 scoop of vanilla cone. If that grosses anyone out . . . . It really doesn’t matter does it? At the risk of offending and if anyone knows and loves dogs, they already understand that dogs are the most loyal friends a person can have. I’d sooner share my cone with Vin than any people person I know. Vin has been with me through think and thin.

As for Maggie – she’s no spring chicken either. This summer she turned 11. I found out that she’s been having seizures. Seeing the first one scared the stuffing’s out of me and again I was afraid of losing a companion. They cannot be replaced. Literally. When I got them I wasn’t working 12-hour shifts, but that has been my life now for at least 5 years. I wouldn’t do that to another pet. It’s too hard on them, and I feel guilty for not being there far too often.

And me. As I said, I just keep plugging along. I get overheated on and off every day now. Is it hormones, or is it Leukemia? My next visit to the Oncologist is in September, and I’ll submit my questions to him. Likely not much will be done either way. It is what it is. Job wise there is a big crackdown. We’re not producing like we should for various reasons, and they’re really coming down on people in production. I came to the lab because it was much less stressful and I thought I’d last longer. Now I’m being pressured to do A LOT more. I clipped on a pedometer at work a couple of weeks ago and found that I put on 5-6 miles a day. That’s just the back and forth part of it, not to mention the rest of my duties. I can’t complain and I can’t reason with them by saying, look . . . when I say I’m tired you have no clue how tired I am. My gut feeling is that it would be a quick ticket to unemployment. People get fired there like you can’t believe. And there have been quite a few new hires that have quit, which also says a lot. I just keep on keeping on. No choice really until one day it’s my turn to face the firing squad. Management is unbelievably young and eager. And ruthless. Bad bad combinations especially for an old timer like me.

Gee wiz, I think I’m depressing myself. Maybe an entry wasn’t such a good idea today. Maybe I’ll see if I have any vanilla ice cream in the freezer. 😉