Wednesday, September 5, 2012
Well, That Didn't Go As Planned
I recently got news that I will be moving across the country. Alone. As in, Pepper is staying here. My only consolation at times is that Peggy will be here to make sure she gets her loves. Doesn't make me feel much better though. Poor pup knows something is wrong. Anyway, for obvious reasons this blog has lost its purpose. If you were here for the pup, I'm sorry, I won't be posting about her for probably two years at least. If you were here 'cause you like my writing (you are very weird for that) then check out my new blog: My Grand Alabama Adventure
Sunday, August 19, 2012
When You Hear the Whistle...
A few days ago Peggy's husband made me this super cool bracelet. It's braided para-cord (the stuff they use to tie parachutes to the backpack) which is blaze-orange with reflective thingies in it, and the buckle is a whistle. I decided to try to train Pepper to come when I blow the whistle, so I can get her to come back when she's too far away to hear my voice.
I thought I had a brilliant plan to train her. I grabbed a handful of treats and went out in the yard with her expecting her to run around exploring like she usually does. No such luck. She knew I had treats and therefore decided to not move more than two inches from me, in the hopes that she would get one. I tried to make the most of it by blowing the whistle softly to make sure it didn't scare her. Finally I was about to give up. I shoved the treats in my pocket and went to pick some strawberries. Apparently the backyard is much more interesting than the front because Pepper immediately wandered off. I periodically blew the whistle, followed with my regular "come" command, treating her when she listened. After I ran out of treats we called it a day.
I didn't really get another chance to work with her on whistle training for the rest of the week, and didn't really think about it much, until early this morning. One of our smoke detectors decided it's battery was low... at like 3am. It's incessant chirping wormed it's way into my sleepy brain and finally irritated me enough to force myself awake. When I went to sit up I found Pepper sitting patiently by my bed. Now this wouldn't have been surprising except that Pepper knows she is not allowed in the bedroom. I thought, this is weird, and shooed her out. She trotted out into the living room until the smoke detector chirruped again, and she came right back to me and sat expectantly. Due to the extreme hour, it took a few more rounds of this before I realized that the smoke detector's chirps sounded very like my whistle! Poor Pepper thought I kept calling her to me and shooing her away! Apparently Pepper is smart enough that just 5 minutes of training can teach her a completely new skill. Once we got the stupid smoke detector to shut up I had to go soothe my poor pup and try to explain that it wasn't me calling her and it was time to go back to bed. I hope today I'll get a chance to test her new skill in the "wild!"
I thought I had a brilliant plan to train her. I grabbed a handful of treats and went out in the yard with her expecting her to run around exploring like she usually does. No such luck. She knew I had treats and therefore decided to not move more than two inches from me, in the hopes that she would get one. I tried to make the most of it by blowing the whistle softly to make sure it didn't scare her. Finally I was about to give up. I shoved the treats in my pocket and went to pick some strawberries. Apparently the backyard is much more interesting than the front because Pepper immediately wandered off. I periodically blew the whistle, followed with my regular "come" command, treating her when she listened. After I ran out of treats we called it a day.
I didn't really get another chance to work with her on whistle training for the rest of the week, and didn't really think about it much, until early this morning. One of our smoke detectors decided it's battery was low... at like 3am. It's incessant chirping wormed it's way into my sleepy brain and finally irritated me enough to force myself awake. When I went to sit up I found Pepper sitting patiently by my bed. Now this wouldn't have been surprising except that Pepper knows she is not allowed in the bedroom. I thought, this is weird, and shooed her out. She trotted out into the living room until the smoke detector chirruped again, and she came right back to me and sat expectantly. Due to the extreme hour, it took a few more rounds of this before I realized that the smoke detector's chirps sounded very like my whistle! Poor Pepper thought I kept calling her to me and shooing her away! Apparently Pepper is smart enough that just 5 minutes of training can teach her a completely new skill. Once we got the stupid smoke detector to shut up I had to go soothe my poor pup and try to explain that it wasn't me calling her and it was time to go back to bed. I hope today I'll get a chance to test her new skill in the "wild!"
Friday, August 10, 2012
A Break, Ground and Refocus
Sorry for the lack of posts for a while. I realized I was doing more whining about work than sharing cute stories of training Pepper. I decided I needed to take a break to get my feet back on the ground so I could refocus and get back to where this blog was supposed to be. Yesterday I signed Pepper up for a Canine Good Citizen training class. It starts September 13th and goes for 8 weeks. At the end of the class they administer the real AKC test, so if all goes well Pepper will have her cert by November 1st. Next Friday has been dubbed "take care of Pepper" day. First we go to the vet for her "well pet" visit and possibly rabies shot (I lost track of when she needed it). Then I drop her off at the groomer and take the vet paperwork to the city office and get her license. Hopefully this will help me get back on track for what this blog is really supposed to be about. Thanks for being patient with me :)
Friday, July 20, 2012
Shake Things Up
Yesterday a lady from Employee Relations (a branch of HR) made me cry. Not teary-eyed sniffles, sobbing so hard I dripped snot on my keyboard... at work... surrounded by men. It was not a good day. All I asked was why I was being treated so poorly for a) needing to be on a "mind altering" medication and b) not wanting to have to submit paperwork twice. I followed the rules and it did me no good. I just wanted to know why. Instead I got a rather fanatical lecture that used the word "rules" more times in one breath than I normally hear in a month. It was so vehement I really had no idea how to respond. Indeed I was literally speechless. It took me several minutes and a lot of deep breathing to even manage to politely hang up. Why I couldn't rudely hang up, I don't know. My friends want me to file a complaint. I agree that the lady needs some lessons in human relations, but I don't think I'm the one to give them to her. I'm feeling rather... shattered. Maybe it's a combination of things, not the least of which my man being gone. I could use one of his hugs right about now. Pepper kept me company last night. She's a lot better at "sleeping" with me than the first time I tried. It's still not terribly restful, but it was cosy. Maybe the kitty will keep me company tonight, if she's not still sulking about me letting Pepper in her domain.
My man is gone for another 10 days still. My bank account is at an all-time low. I most likely have a "positive" drug test result in my file at work. And my Mommy is over 2,000 miles away. How did I get so far from my comfort zone?
My man is gone for another 10 days still. My bank account is at an all-time low. I most likely have a "positive" drug test result in my file at work. And my Mommy is over 2,000 miles away. How did I get so far from my comfort zone?
Wednesday, July 18, 2012
Roller Coaster
I don't know why I felt so up and down today, but it was probably a combination of things. Nothing went terribly my way and I'm still stuck in drug-test purgatory. The very end of the day I got in a good conversation with my coworker about the next stage of my project. He's helping me with Access 'cause I've never used it before. I'm getting excited for our end product, I really think it'll make a difference.
After work I picked up the little one, grabbed some snacks, and went to a softball field. Several of my friends from work are on a team, of which I am an honorary member (mainly 'cause I bought a shirt). So we went to watch them play. It was kind of sad, and I really had no idea what was going on, but it was fun. It actually wasn't too hot in the shade. It helped my mood immensely. I also got a few texts from my man, which helped too.
When I got home this little bite of joy was waiting for me:
Hard not to smile with the taste of sun-warmed strawberry in your mouth.
After work I picked up the little one, grabbed some snacks, and went to a softball field. Several of my friends from work are on a team, of which I am an honorary member (mainly 'cause I bought a shirt). So we went to watch them play. It was kind of sad, and I really had no idea what was going on, but it was fun. It actually wasn't too hot in the shade. It helped my mood immensely. I also got a few texts from my man, which helped too.
When I got home this little bite of joy was waiting for me:
Tuesday, July 17, 2012
Lonely Already
Work was fine today except the part where I got the run-around from Medical about my stupid prescription. See, apparently, despite turning my prescription into Medical as soon as I got it, and every time I get it refilled, I'm still expected to have my doctor fax it to the lab. Now, if I had NOT turned in my prescription to Medical and had tested positive, I would have been sent to town to work in the office for a week or whatever giving me time to "clean up" or produce my prescription and re-test. So basically I am in the EXACT same situation as if I had NOT done what they told me to, except doing the "right" thing I have spent a lot more of my time in Medical and even got to do a fun field sobriety test despite my medication being for the SOLE purpose of making me MORE alert and focused. To say that I am irritated is an understatement. Oh, and to make matters worse this is how I found out: got a message last night that said to call a number, I called the number, they told me to call another number, I called that number was told to leave a message. I left the message and was called back later. They told me, at that point, that I had to call my doctor and have her fax my script to this other number. Now my doc is out of town right now. And I really don't like calling places. So I called Medical to ask why the heck they hadn't sent my paperwork to the lab that is owned and operated by the same freaking company. The first lady gave me the phone equivalent of a blank stare and said "let me get you a nurse." Um, I thought everybody in Medical was a nurse, hence being in Medical. Anyway I got transferred to a nurse and got to explain my situation again. I got a slightly less blank "stare" and was told I needed to call the *other* medical office in town. So I called yet another person and explained my situation yet another time. This person really had nothing more to tell me except to insinuate that it was *my* company's policy to do it this way and therefore it was *my* fault/problem if I didn't like it. This is about when the only thing keeping me from screaming obscenities and slamming the phone down was that a certain somebody raised me to have better manners than that. So I said a rather terse "thank you" and hung up. Then I went to HR. My HR guy in town (he's technically my actual rep, not the lady at the site, but they don't mind for the most part) is pretty cool, I've gone to hear his band play at one of the local bars, and we're FB friends, 'cause that's totally relevant. Anywho, he agreed that having to make six phone calls about something when I was told I did the right thing in the first place was totally un-cool! So he's going to make some calls and try to figure out what the heck is going on. It probably won't amount to much, and I will probably have to figure out how to get my prescription faxed to the stupid lab in wherever the 401 area code is. But at least my frustration was validated.
Wow, that turned into a WAY longer rant than I expected/planned. Oh well.
After work I went to pick the little one up, ran home to sell my desk and let her pack to spend the night with her cousin. I got $40 for my desk, which we promptly took grocery shopping. Where we played the grocery shopping game. The game is played thus: carefully write a grocery list, go to the grocery store leaving the list on the kitchen counter, buy groceries, when you get home check the groceries you bought against your list. You get a point for each item you remembered, subtract a point for each item that wasn't on the list, bonus points for getting everything you needed. For the first time ever, I won!! I bought everything on the list, and nothing extra! And I even had cash left over! How awesome is that?! How sad is it that I'm excited about this? Anyway, on the way back from the store I dropped the little one off at her cousin's house.
When I came home I put away the groceries and harvested a HUGE cucumber from the garden. I sliced cucumbers, cooked up some quinoa, ran the dishwasher (forgetting to put my lunch dishes in it first), and put meatballs in the crock-pot with sweet & sour sauce and pineapple chunks for lunch tomorrow. I then cleaned up the kitchen a bit. I checked my food diary for the day and decided I had enough calories left for some Fiber One cereal and a scoop of ice cream cake, so I put those items in my diary and went to get my cereal. When I looked in the cereal box I saw that there was about one and a half servings left, so I poured it all in my bowl, added a little extra milk and decided to call it even. I finished my cereal, set up the coffee pot, and deleted the ice cream from my diary. Then I brushed my teeth and here I sit. Alone. *sigh* Despite how often I wish for the house to myself, now that I have it, I don't want it. At least last night the little one and her friends where here, so it wasn't *that* bad. Ah well, time for bed. By myself. Good thing I have lots of pillows...
Wow, that turned into a WAY longer rant than I expected/planned. Oh well.
After work I went to pick the little one up, ran home to sell my desk and let her pack to spend the night with her cousin. I got $40 for my desk, which we promptly took grocery shopping. Where we played the grocery shopping game. The game is played thus: carefully write a grocery list, go to the grocery store leaving the list on the kitchen counter, buy groceries, when you get home check the groceries you bought against your list. You get a point for each item you remembered, subtract a point for each item that wasn't on the list, bonus points for getting everything you needed. For the first time ever, I won!! I bought everything on the list, and nothing extra! And I even had cash left over! How awesome is that?! How sad is it that I'm excited about this? Anyway, on the way back from the store I dropped the little one off at her cousin's house.
When I came home I put away the groceries and harvested a HUGE cucumber from the garden. I sliced cucumbers, cooked up some quinoa, ran the dishwasher (forgetting to put my lunch dishes in it first), and put meatballs in the crock-pot with sweet & sour sauce and pineapple chunks for lunch tomorrow. I then cleaned up the kitchen a bit. I checked my food diary for the day and decided I had enough calories left for some Fiber One cereal and a scoop of ice cream cake, so I put those items in my diary and went to get my cereal. When I looked in the cereal box I saw that there was about one and a half servings left, so I poured it all in my bowl, added a little extra milk and decided to call it even. I finished my cereal, set up the coffee pot, and deleted the ice cream from my diary. Then I brushed my teeth and here I sit. Alone. *sigh* Despite how often I wish for the house to myself, now that I have it, I don't want it. At least last night the little one and her friends where here, so it wasn't *that* bad. Ah well, time for bed. By myself. Good thing I have lots of pillows...
Monday, July 16, 2012
[insert witty title here]
Saturday brought an awesome, dare I say Epic? birthday party. Plenty of food, friends, and good times. And booze. Don't forget the booze. While the daytime BBQ portion of my party with friends and family was great, I think the "after party" with my closest girlfriends was even better. We had some seriously deep conversation for how drunk we all were. And I think we all came out more balanced and feeling less... alone. All in all it was quite fantastic. Up until the spending half the night on the bathroom floor party. But even that wasn't as bad as it could be. My bathroom floor seems to have been made to doze of too much drink.
Sunday was a total downer. While I didn't have a hangover per-say, I really could have done with not having to get up. Let alone get up to take my man to the airport. He's off to another project for two weeks to help them with a major computer overhaul. This will be the longest we've been apart since we started dating. I think the previous longest was 5 days. This will be a full 14. My bed is horribly big and empty without him. I'm hoping to stay busy while at home so I don't think about missing him too much. I also want to do something fun just the little one and me. We'll see how it goes.
Today started off ok, if slowly. Got to work a little late, but whatever. Everything was going fine 'til my douche canoe of a boss called me in his "office" to inform me that somebody had taken exception to my shirt. Now our dress code states that out at the site shirt sleeves must be a minimum of 4" but it doesn't say where that 4" is measured from. I was wearing a shirt of which style I have several and have worn to work on many occasions. I argued that the sleeves on said shirt were 5" and thus acceptable. My boss, and unfortunately HR, disagreed. I finally gave up but said that the dress code is very ambiguous and open to interpretation and should clearly state where measurements are made from as obviously my definition of "sleeve" is different than theirs. The dress code also mentions "business casual" which is seriously the most ambiguous dress term ever, and "mini or micro skirts" which I'm sure means a WHOLE lot of different depending on who you ask. Anyway, as it was too hot to wear a coat, I went to town. Where my lovely man had put my profile on my new computer so I didn't have to redo all my settings!
I putzed around with my work for a while 'til I got horribly distracted with being REALLY hungry. Or maybe I was bored. At any rate I wanted to stuff my face with anything and everything I could get my hands on, which, unfortunately, was not much. So I spent most of the afternoon feeling sorry for my empty tum-tum. I did managed to convince myself to eat something healthy when I got home instead of taking my leftover ice cream birthday cake straight into my room with a serving spoon to shovel it in. I went to my last appointment with Brian the sadist, which apparently he had forgotten about. We did a quick workout ending with him promising to e-mail me some workouts I can do on my own while my bank account recovers from my compulsive shopping.
On that note, does anybody have any ideas for more "positive" activities I can try to do when the compulsion to shop hits me?
Oh, did I mention that my man got me an AWESOME construction toy set for my birthday?? 'cause he did and I love it and him SO much! And my friend Red got me a Galileo thermometer and barometer. These things are going on my new desk in town :) AWESOME
Sunday was a total downer. While I didn't have a hangover per-say, I really could have done with not having to get up. Let alone get up to take my man to the airport. He's off to another project for two weeks to help them with a major computer overhaul. This will be the longest we've been apart since we started dating. I think the previous longest was 5 days. This will be a full 14. My bed is horribly big and empty without him. I'm hoping to stay busy while at home so I don't think about missing him too much. I also want to do something fun just the little one and me. We'll see how it goes.
Today started off ok, if slowly. Got to work a little late, but whatever. Everything was going fine 'til my douche canoe of a boss called me in his "office" to inform me that somebody had taken exception to my shirt. Now our dress code states that out at the site shirt sleeves must be a minimum of 4" but it doesn't say where that 4" is measured from. I was wearing a shirt of which style I have several and have worn to work on many occasions. I argued that the sleeves on said shirt were 5" and thus acceptable. My boss, and unfortunately HR, disagreed. I finally gave up but said that the dress code is very ambiguous and open to interpretation and should clearly state where measurements are made from as obviously my definition of "sleeve" is different than theirs. The dress code also mentions "business casual" which is seriously the most ambiguous dress term ever, and "mini or micro skirts" which I'm sure means a WHOLE lot of different depending on who you ask. Anyway, as it was too hot to wear a coat, I went to town. Where my lovely man had put my profile on my new computer so I didn't have to redo all my settings!
I putzed around with my work for a while 'til I got horribly distracted with being REALLY hungry. Or maybe I was bored. At any rate I wanted to stuff my face with anything and everything I could get my hands on, which, unfortunately, was not much. So I spent most of the afternoon feeling sorry for my empty tum-tum. I did managed to convince myself to eat something healthy when I got home instead of taking my leftover ice cream birthday cake straight into my room with a serving spoon to shovel it in. I went to my last appointment with Brian the sadist, which apparently he had forgotten about. We did a quick workout ending with him promising to e-mail me some workouts I can do on my own while my bank account recovers from my compulsive shopping.
On that note, does anybody have any ideas for more "positive" activities I can try to do when the compulsion to shop hits me?
Oh, did I mention that my man got me an AWESOME construction toy set for my birthday?? 'cause he did and I love it and him SO much! And my friend Red got me a Galileo thermometer and barometer. These things are going on my new desk in town :) AWESOME
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)