Finally settling into a pattern at work in the new department. They started training me on the phones around the 18th of July, I had one week of training by sitting with someone while they took calls, and then by having them sit with me while I took calls. Then on Monday the 26th, I was left to my own devices with only a schedule to follow - Answer phones from 7am to 3:40pm, and take lunch at 11:30am. It was like being thrown to the sharks in a manner of speaking. Those sharks being angry customers whose dental benefits have not been paid due to some contract regulation they were never made aware of...allegedly. "Well, no one TOLD me I could only get a filling once every three years." Didja read your contract? No? Then shaddup.
Next week, the first week of August, I start my brand new schedule of working four 10-hour days with Mondays off. Three-day weekends every weekend? I can totally handle that. The 10-hour days? I'm not too sure about. I'll be working 'til 7pm every day except Fridays, when I'll be working 'til 6pm. I've been so used to getting off work at 3:30pm every day, this is going to be a huge change for me.
Home life is pretty uneventful right now. I definitely have some projects I want to work on around the house on Mondays while I'm off work, mostly to do with sewing or organizing. Aaron's parents are coming to town on Wednesday and staying through Sunday, so we're going to be pretty busy, along with a concert and a wedding to go to during that time, as well.
The weather's been very typical of summer lately - hot and muggy, with rain storms every few days. Grass is still growing like mad in the backyard, which is a good sign - means the sod they put in last summer is probably going to do well, I think. If only we could finally get gutters up on the house (we have estimates from three places, just need to call them) and have the tree trimmed down (the low-hanging branches are really close to the power wires that run to our house and the neighbor's house).
Last weekend I got a Barnes & Noble Nook, their e-reader, and I am loving it. I think it'll realy come in handy at work on breaks, and it allows me to multi-task - I can read my books and knit at the same time! I do have a ton of paperback books left to read, including the entire Dune series, and I need to finish off the last couple of books in the Ender's Game series.
Guess that's about it for now!
Saturday, July 31, 2010
Sunday, July 18, 2010
It takes a lot more effort to be miserable than it does to be happy
So over these past few months, I've done a lot of complaining about my job. Complaining that it was too hard to do both Disability and Dental in the same day and be expected to get anything done. Complaining that I had been switched do Dental for an indefinite amount of time. Complaining when I learned that my position in Disability had been eliminated, and that I was going to be transferred to the Dental office permanently. And complaining about the horrible hours I'm going to have to work starting in August when the call center is required to be open until 7pm.
And then on my way home from work on Friday, I realized that it has been taking me more time and energy to be upset and complain about this whole thing than it would to just suck it up and deal. I've been over in the Dental office now for two weeks. Everyone over there is really nice, really happy to have me over here. It's pretty quiet over there, as most of the employees work from home now, and only about a third work in the office. One of my friends from Disability is going to be moving over to Dental soon, and I'll have someone I know.
It takes a lot less of my energy, and let's face it, makes my husband a lot less miserable to hear about it, when I don't complain and whine about the current position I've been placed in. I have a job, I work with good people for a pretty good company. I still have benefits and health insurance, vacation, and the option for a more flexible schedule (I'll be working four 10-hour days beginning in August, with Mondays off, so I'll always have at least a three-day weekend). I have a wonderful husband, a roof over my head, a car to get me to and from work, and family who cares about us. I'd say I have it pretty good right now, even if it's not "perfect" as far as work is concerned.
But you know what? Even if it's not an ideal situation right now, I have plenty of time in my life to find something better, something that works for us, and something that makes me happy. This is only going to be a very small part of what goes on in our lives, and it probably won't last for that long. It'll be okay.
And then on my way home from work on Friday, I realized that it has been taking me more time and energy to be upset and complain about this whole thing than it would to just suck it up and deal. I've been over in the Dental office now for two weeks. Everyone over there is really nice, really happy to have me over here. It's pretty quiet over there, as most of the employees work from home now, and only about a third work in the office. One of my friends from Disability is going to be moving over to Dental soon, and I'll have someone I know.
It takes a lot less of my energy, and let's face it, makes my husband a lot less miserable to hear about it, when I don't complain and whine about the current position I've been placed in. I have a job, I work with good people for a pretty good company. I still have benefits and health insurance, vacation, and the option for a more flexible schedule (I'll be working four 10-hour days beginning in August, with Mondays off, so I'll always have at least a three-day weekend). I have a wonderful husband, a roof over my head, a car to get me to and from work, and family who cares about us. I'd say I have it pretty good right now, even if it's not "perfect" as far as work is concerned.
But you know what? Even if it's not an ideal situation right now, I have plenty of time in my life to find something better, something that works for us, and something that makes me happy. This is only going to be a very small part of what goes on in our lives, and it probably won't last for that long. It'll be okay.
Monday, July 05, 2010
Holiday Weekend & Then Some
So, they moved me over to the Dental office for work on Friday morning - I was informed of this on Thursday during a meeting with my new supervisor and office manager. A co-worker of mine in my former department is going to be transferred over the first of August, so I was hoping that they were going to keep me over on the Disability side of the department until they moved her over, too, that way we could move together and go through training together. But that will not be the case.
I got moved over Friday morning, bright and early, before a lot of people in Dental had arrived. It took three trips to get all of my stuff moved across the hall, four trips if you count my computer and whatnot that our IT person brought over for me to get set up. I put up all my decorations and bobblies and doo-dads right away, because 1) they would be all over my desk and in the way if I didn't, and 2), it just makes it feel more homey when it's all decorated.
My new desk is a little smaller, and has less storage space than the old one - fortunately across the hall, everything is done either electronically or by scanned image - there is not much actual paper that I will be working with, so no need for the bigger desk or more storage. Everyone seems really excited about us moving over to help out and whatnot, and everyone is really nice. They seem to have a really fun attitude over there, so I'm hoping that will help out during this whole transition. It's really overwhelming and kinda makes me nervous.
This weekend was really good. Three day weekends are awesome in two ways. First, THREE DAY WEEKEND, duh! Second, the next week at work is only four days! Doesn't get much better than that. On Saturday, we lazed about, got some stuff done as far as running errands and getting plans ready for the rest of the week.
We were busiest on Sunday. We had a baseball game to go to at Target Field at 1pm, Twins versus the Rays. It was the LONGEST game evar in only nine innings. Three hours and 10 minutes. So it probably wasn't the longest game evar, but things stopped going well for the Twins in the 5th inning, and all the innings were incredibly long. It was a warm day, but we were in a shaded area, and it was cloudy for most of the day. Somehow, I still managed to get a sunburn...yeah, that's how white I am.
Afterwards, we ran back home to rest up before the fireworks. We went to St. Louis Park with Nathan and Megan. The fireworks were about 40 minutes long, and pretty good, we were RIGHT under them. Lots of fun, minus the ridiculous people to our right who were loud and obnoxious on purpose. On the way back to my car, there were mobs and mobs of people walking back to their cars, as well. Somehow, Nathan found a cell phone on the sidewalk and picked it up. This was the biggest mistake ever. The phone rang right away, and it was the owner, hoping to find us among the crowd. She had no idea where anything was as far as streets, so trying to find her in the neighborhood was not going to work. We agreed to meet at the nearby Knollwood Mall in front of Kohls. She called another couple of times, saying, "Uh, there's a lot of traffic here, can you just stop and we'll come find you?" Nope, not doin' it. Not turning around, not stopping, not parking. We'll meet you at Kohl's as planned. We ended up taking a wrong turn and had to loop around in the traffic-clogged streets again before getting out of the neighborhood to the mall. We still ended up waiting around for the girl and her boyfriend for about 10 minutes once we'd parked. She called the phone several times, and texted it a few more, although I think the last text was from her boyfriend, because it was rather coherent and thanked us for all of our help. We'd seriously considered leaving the phone somewhere and sending them a text message saying where it was, but we followed through, and she got her phone back before the night was over. Nathan will never pick up another stray phone again.
Today was fairly relaxing, we ran some more errands and got the lawn mowed finally - it had been about two weeks since we last mowed, and it was starting to look jungely again. Odin has been sitting outside on his leash most days while we're home because it makes him so happy that he gets to sit outside in the sun, watch the birds, and eat the grass. We set him outside after mowing the lawn, and he looked around, then looked at us like, "Hey! Where'd all my grass go?!"
It's been SO HOT out here this weekend that Aaron and I haven't been able to go take any walks. We were doing really well last week, walking about every other day, 3-4 miles each walk. Feels good to get out of the house and go do something good for us, that doesn't cost anything. Except it might cost me a new pair of shoes, my feet get pretty tender near the last mile or so.
Tomorrow I start my contract training at work, and then I will start training on the phones. It's basically a call center for members or dentist's offices to ask questions about what their plan covers and why was this or that denied. Phones aren't my favorite things. I'd really just rather process the claims and not do phones, but I know that's not an option because they need phone coverage. Starting the first of August, the phones have to be covered from 7am to 7pm, and I will have to be on the schedule until 7pm. That really really sucks. I am currently working 7am to 3:30pm, and LOVE getting off work early and having the rest of the day to go do stuff or stay at home, or whatever. Seems as though that's not going to be an option anymore, which seems really unfair to me. But I know that they had to have several people in the Dental office re-arrange their schedules so that the phones were covered until 7pm, because previously, they were only covered until 5:30pm, so there was no need for anyone to stay later. It just sucks.
One of the things that I always did in the Disability department was to put up a bit of trivia or "this day in history" on this company whiteboard that was hanging up on someone's cube wall, but never being used. I've been doing this for over a year, and people at work look forward to reading it every day. I'll have to come over at lunch or at the end of each day and put up some trivia for them so they know I'm still around :). I also bought myself a fancy schmancy dry erase board to go up on my desk at work so I can put up trivia over in Dental, too :) That made me feel a lot better about this whole transition.
So, that's that. Tomorrow is a new day!
I got moved over Friday morning, bright and early, before a lot of people in Dental had arrived. It took three trips to get all of my stuff moved across the hall, four trips if you count my computer and whatnot that our IT person brought over for me to get set up. I put up all my decorations and bobblies and doo-dads right away, because 1) they would be all over my desk and in the way if I didn't, and 2), it just makes it feel more homey when it's all decorated.
My new desk is a little smaller, and has less storage space than the old one - fortunately across the hall, everything is done either electronically or by scanned image - there is not much actual paper that I will be working with, so no need for the bigger desk or more storage. Everyone seems really excited about us moving over to help out and whatnot, and everyone is really nice. They seem to have a really fun attitude over there, so I'm hoping that will help out during this whole transition. It's really overwhelming and kinda makes me nervous.
This weekend was really good. Three day weekends are awesome in two ways. First, THREE DAY WEEKEND, duh! Second, the next week at work is only four days! Doesn't get much better than that. On Saturday, we lazed about, got some stuff done as far as running errands and getting plans ready for the rest of the week.
We were busiest on Sunday. We had a baseball game to go to at Target Field at 1pm, Twins versus the Rays. It was the LONGEST game evar in only nine innings. Three hours and 10 minutes. So it probably wasn't the longest game evar, but things stopped going well for the Twins in the 5th inning, and all the innings were incredibly long. It was a warm day, but we were in a shaded area, and it was cloudy for most of the day. Somehow, I still managed to get a sunburn...yeah, that's how white I am.
Afterwards, we ran back home to rest up before the fireworks. We went to St. Louis Park with Nathan and Megan. The fireworks were about 40 minutes long, and pretty good, we were RIGHT under them. Lots of fun, minus the ridiculous people to our right who were loud and obnoxious on purpose. On the way back to my car, there were mobs and mobs of people walking back to their cars, as well. Somehow, Nathan found a cell phone on the sidewalk and picked it up. This was the biggest mistake ever. The phone rang right away, and it was the owner, hoping to find us among the crowd. She had no idea where anything was as far as streets, so trying to find her in the neighborhood was not going to work. We agreed to meet at the nearby Knollwood Mall in front of Kohls. She called another couple of times, saying, "Uh, there's a lot of traffic here, can you just stop and we'll come find you?" Nope, not doin' it. Not turning around, not stopping, not parking. We'll meet you at Kohl's as planned. We ended up taking a wrong turn and had to loop around in the traffic-clogged streets again before getting out of the neighborhood to the mall. We still ended up waiting around for the girl and her boyfriend for about 10 minutes once we'd parked. She called the phone several times, and texted it a few more, although I think the last text was from her boyfriend, because it was rather coherent and thanked us for all of our help. We'd seriously considered leaving the phone somewhere and sending them a text message saying where it was, but we followed through, and she got her phone back before the night was over. Nathan will never pick up another stray phone again.
Today was fairly relaxing, we ran some more errands and got the lawn mowed finally - it had been about two weeks since we last mowed, and it was starting to look jungely again. Odin has been sitting outside on his leash most days while we're home because it makes him so happy that he gets to sit outside in the sun, watch the birds, and eat the grass. We set him outside after mowing the lawn, and he looked around, then looked at us like, "Hey! Where'd all my grass go?!"
It's been SO HOT out here this weekend that Aaron and I haven't been able to go take any walks. We were doing really well last week, walking about every other day, 3-4 miles each walk. Feels good to get out of the house and go do something good for us, that doesn't cost anything. Except it might cost me a new pair of shoes, my feet get pretty tender near the last mile or so.
Tomorrow I start my contract training at work, and then I will start training on the phones. It's basically a call center for members or dentist's offices to ask questions about what their plan covers and why was this or that denied. Phones aren't my favorite things. I'd really just rather process the claims and not do phones, but I know that's not an option because they need phone coverage. Starting the first of August, the phones have to be covered from 7am to 7pm, and I will have to be on the schedule until 7pm. That really really sucks. I am currently working 7am to 3:30pm, and LOVE getting off work early and having the rest of the day to go do stuff or stay at home, or whatever. Seems as though that's not going to be an option anymore, which seems really unfair to me. But I know that they had to have several people in the Dental office re-arrange their schedules so that the phones were covered until 7pm, because previously, they were only covered until 5:30pm, so there was no need for anyone to stay later. It just sucks.
One of the things that I always did in the Disability department was to put up a bit of trivia or "this day in history" on this company whiteboard that was hanging up on someone's cube wall, but never being used. I've been doing this for over a year, and people at work look forward to reading it every day. I'll have to come over at lunch or at the end of each day and put up some trivia for them so they know I'm still around :). I also bought myself a fancy schmancy dry erase board to go up on my desk at work so I can put up trivia over in Dental, too :) That made me feel a lot better about this whole transition.
So, that's that. Tomorrow is a new day!
Sunday, June 27, 2010
Summer Time
Summer has officially arrived, and we have been some busy bees lately! During the middle of June, my mom, dad, and sister came out for a visit - they hadn't been up to see us since the wedding in October last year. It was really great to see everyone again, and we were pretty busy the entire trip. The family showed up Sunday night after a 12-hour drive across South Dakota and most of Minnesota. Monday was the Mall of America for Mom, Ashley, and I, while Aaron and Dad stayed home to do some manly stuff and get supplies for brewing beer. Aaron got a fruit wine started, which is fermenting (or whatever wines do) under the kitchen sink. Ashley and Mom bought tons of shoes at the mall, and I found a cool billfold from Fossil to replace my old wallet.
It should probably be mentioned that when the folks were coming to visit, they had barelyenough room left over in the Subaru for an additional passenger - this room was necessary, because at the end of the week, Mom's sister was flying in from Florida to Minneapolis, and would drive back to Wyoming with them on Saturday morning. The purchase of additional shoes put the vehicle on the verge of being too full. This was to be dealt with later in the week.
We also had a BBQ on Monday, and met up with Randy and Joan, who drove in separately from my family. We had bought tickets to three MN Twins games for this week, and wanted to hand off the tickets to Randy and Joan, as we were pretty sure we wouldn't see them except during games.
Tuesday was fairly relaxing if I recall, and there was a late start to the day. We wanted to get to Target Field early on Tuesday because it was the first of three games, and the first time anyone but Aaron and I had been to the new field. We even got to see some batting practice from the opposing team, the Colorado Rockies. I stood in the Home Run Porch bleachers, hoping for a ball, but none came my way. Maybe next time!
On Wednesday, Mom, Ashley, and I headed off to ValleyFair for some roller coaster action. I made the mistake of letting Mom and Ashley spray me down with sunscreen, as I ended up fairly burnt by the end of the day, but had a great time otherwise! While us girls were gone, Aaron and Dad went in search of a luggage rack to stick on top of the Subaru, because they probably weren't going to be able to fit everyone and their luggage in after a few days of shopping. Dad and Aaron also patched up the hole in the roof where water's been leaking in during really heavy rains, and put a cap on our chimney.
We had our 2nd baseball game of the week that evening, as well. When Aaron and I got back to my car, the key fob wouldn't unlock the car. Had to unlock it manually, and the lock switch on my door wouldn't work. This is the first time I've had a car with so many electronic features, my two previous cars had to be unlocked with the key, and the passenger doors were unlocked manually, as well. It took me a while to realize that I'd left the lights on in the car (it was really loud in the parking garage, and I didn't hear the dummy buzzer dinging at me to tell me I'd left them on), and the battery died. Had to call Mom and Dad to rescue us. They didn't have jumper cables, but Randy and Joan did - fortunately, the four of them had parked close to each other, and it was easy for Mom and Dad to get the jumper cables from Randy and Joan. The next part was not so easy, as they were on the floor below us. They had to exit the parking garage, get back on the Interstate, loop around, and get back in. Took quite a while for them to get back to us, but fortunately, the car started up right away with the first turn of the key.
On Thursday, the baseball game was during the day, and we had seats in the sun for the whole game. I ended up burning the tops of my knees because I didn't put sunscreen on them, and the right one is FINALLY starting to feel better - I could hardly walk on it earlier this week. After the game, we headed home to shower and change clothes, and then headed up to Maple Grove to have dinner at The Claddaugh Irish Pub. Every Thursday night, they have team trivia at 7:30, with the first three places winning gift certificates to the restaurant. We ended up in 2nd place, winning a $25 gift certificate - It was a ton of fun.
Friday was pretty laid back, also. Ashley wanted to do some yarn shopping to find some super soft yard to crochet a new blanket. We went to a few "luxury" yarn stores, but everything was either too expensive, not soft enough, or not the colors she was hoping for. We ended up going to JoAnn Fabrics, which is where I like to get my yarn when I'm on a budget. Afterwards, we killed some time at the nearby mall, then headed to the airport to pick up Mom's sister. While we were out, Dad and Aaron fixed the loose tiles in the bathroom floor.
Everyone left super early on Saturday morning, and that left Aaron and I with the weekend to ourselves to relax and wind down before going back to work again on Monday.
This week's been pretty interesting, as well. We've had a couple of big rain storms come through, and during the first one, we had a power outage. Power wasn't anticipated to be restored until nearly 9pm, so we went out in search of food. We stopped by this new little diner called Granny's Kitchen in New Hope, MN, not too far from where we live. It was really quiet in there, with one other table sat to eat, and a lot of staff wandering around. The other table left, and then it was just me and Aaron, and the diner was closing up, but we hadn't gotten our food yet, as Aaron had ordered steak, and everything was cooked to order. It was well worth the wait, though, as both of our meals were delicious. You could tell they put a lot of work into the meals.
Over their speakers, they were playing a CD called "Punk Goes Pop" - a compilation of pop songs covered by punk groups. The first song was a Backstreet Boys song, then Michelle Branch, some Madonna, etc. It was fairly awesome, and as we were being rung up at the register, I said to the guy, "Man, I really kinda want this CD!" And he says "Oh yeah? Hang on, I'll be right back." He goes back into the kitchen, takes the CD out of the player, comes back, and hands it to me. I mean, seriously, how cool is that? It was a burned CD, not the original, but still. Very awesome. I think the next time we go back there, I'm going to burn them a copy of my Punk Tribute to Weezer CD - I'm sure they would enjoy that!
One last thing before I sign off for the next month or so. In my last post, I'd talked about work and being switched from Disability to Dental for an indefinite amount of time - well, that has officially been changed to me moving to Dental permanently. I'm not sure when I'll be moving across the hall to that department, but I should know more this coming week. It's not ideal, but maybe in a few months, I'll be able to work from home, then I won't have to bother with the commute anymore.
So I guess that's it for now. Until next time!
It should probably be mentioned that when the folks were coming to visit, they had barelyenough room left over in the Subaru for an additional passenger - this room was necessary, because at the end of the week, Mom's sister was flying in from Florida to Minneapolis, and would drive back to Wyoming with them on Saturday morning. The purchase of additional shoes put the vehicle on the verge of being too full. This was to be dealt with later in the week.
We also had a BBQ on Monday, and met up with Randy and Joan, who drove in separately from my family. We had bought tickets to three MN Twins games for this week, and wanted to hand off the tickets to Randy and Joan, as we were pretty sure we wouldn't see them except during games.
Tuesday was fairly relaxing if I recall, and there was a late start to the day. We wanted to get to Target Field early on Tuesday because it was the first of three games, and the first time anyone but Aaron and I had been to the new field. We even got to see some batting practice from the opposing team, the Colorado Rockies. I stood in the Home Run Porch bleachers, hoping for a ball, but none came my way. Maybe next time!
On Wednesday, Mom, Ashley, and I headed off to ValleyFair for some roller coaster action. I made the mistake of letting Mom and Ashley spray me down with sunscreen, as I ended up fairly burnt by the end of the day, but had a great time otherwise! While us girls were gone, Aaron and Dad went in search of a luggage rack to stick on top of the Subaru, because they probably weren't going to be able to fit everyone and their luggage in after a few days of shopping. Dad and Aaron also patched up the hole in the roof where water's been leaking in during really heavy rains, and put a cap on our chimney.
We had our 2nd baseball game of the week that evening, as well. When Aaron and I got back to my car, the key fob wouldn't unlock the car. Had to unlock it manually, and the lock switch on my door wouldn't work. This is the first time I've had a car with so many electronic features, my two previous cars had to be unlocked with the key, and the passenger doors were unlocked manually, as well. It took me a while to realize that I'd left the lights on in the car (it was really loud in the parking garage, and I didn't hear the dummy buzzer dinging at me to tell me I'd left them on), and the battery died. Had to call Mom and Dad to rescue us. They didn't have jumper cables, but Randy and Joan did - fortunately, the four of them had parked close to each other, and it was easy for Mom and Dad to get the jumper cables from Randy and Joan. The next part was not so easy, as they were on the floor below us. They had to exit the parking garage, get back on the Interstate, loop around, and get back in. Took quite a while for them to get back to us, but fortunately, the car started up right away with the first turn of the key.
On Thursday, the baseball game was during the day, and we had seats in the sun for the whole game. I ended up burning the tops of my knees because I didn't put sunscreen on them, and the right one is FINALLY starting to feel better - I could hardly walk on it earlier this week. After the game, we headed home to shower and change clothes, and then headed up to Maple Grove to have dinner at The Claddaugh Irish Pub. Every Thursday night, they have team trivia at 7:30, with the first three places winning gift certificates to the restaurant. We ended up in 2nd place, winning a $25 gift certificate - It was a ton of fun.
Friday was pretty laid back, also. Ashley wanted to do some yarn shopping to find some super soft yard to crochet a new blanket. We went to a few "luxury" yarn stores, but everything was either too expensive, not soft enough, or not the colors she was hoping for. We ended up going to JoAnn Fabrics, which is where I like to get my yarn when I'm on a budget. Afterwards, we killed some time at the nearby mall, then headed to the airport to pick up Mom's sister. While we were out, Dad and Aaron fixed the loose tiles in the bathroom floor.
Everyone left super early on Saturday morning, and that left Aaron and I with the weekend to ourselves to relax and wind down before going back to work again on Monday.
This week's been pretty interesting, as well. We've had a couple of big rain storms come through, and during the first one, we had a power outage. Power wasn't anticipated to be restored until nearly 9pm, so we went out in search of food. We stopped by this new little diner called Granny's Kitchen in New Hope, MN, not too far from where we live. It was really quiet in there, with one other table sat to eat, and a lot of staff wandering around. The other table left, and then it was just me and Aaron, and the diner was closing up, but we hadn't gotten our food yet, as Aaron had ordered steak, and everything was cooked to order. It was well worth the wait, though, as both of our meals were delicious. You could tell they put a lot of work into the meals.
Over their speakers, they were playing a CD called "Punk Goes Pop" - a compilation of pop songs covered by punk groups. The first song was a Backstreet Boys song, then Michelle Branch, some Madonna, etc. It was fairly awesome, and as we were being rung up at the register, I said to the guy, "Man, I really kinda want this CD!" And he says "Oh yeah? Hang on, I'll be right back." He goes back into the kitchen, takes the CD out of the player, comes back, and hands it to me. I mean, seriously, how cool is that? It was a burned CD, not the original, but still. Very awesome. I think the next time we go back there, I'm going to burn them a copy of my Punk Tribute to Weezer CD - I'm sure they would enjoy that!
One last thing before I sign off for the next month or so. In my last post, I'd talked about work and being switched from Disability to Dental for an indefinite amount of time - well, that has officially been changed to me moving to Dental permanently. I'm not sure when I'll be moving across the hall to that department, but I should know more this coming week. It's not ideal, but maybe in a few months, I'll be able to work from home, then I won't have to bother with the commute anymore.
So I guess that's it for now. Until next time!
Thursday, April 29, 2010
I thought this was supposed to be temporary?
Last year our company decided to use our available employees in Disability Claims to work Dental Claims for the first quarter of the year. I had volunteered, thinking it would be interesting to see another side of the company, and to change things up a bit with my work. I wasn't picked last year because I was too "green" at my current job, and my supervisor wanted me to focus on my Disability work.
The reason they did this was because at the beginning of each year, there is an influx of Dental claims, and instead of hiring new or temporary employees for the three or so months that there are too many claims, and not enough Dental employees. Instead, someone determined that the Disability department was overstaffed, and pulled two people to work half days on Dental from Disability. At the end of March, those two people were done.
This year was the same story. They needed two people to work half days from January through March. I volunteered again, even though the people who did that volunteer work last year had complained about it and how unorganized the whole thing was. I thought they were exaggerating. Turns out they weren't exaggerating, not even a teeny bit.
Training started off rocky, when we were set loose on our own, we had more questions than it seemed were possible, and it was tough. But we managed. And just when we finally got used to that, they changed the work we were doing, and it all started over.
Then they announced (with only two days of warning), that we would no longer be doing Dental half days - they were so far behind, that they would need us to do Dental full days, and it wasn't just through March anymore, it was through April, as well. Then we would go back to doing Disability claims again, just like normal.
Then today, with one more day left on my countdown calendar, which I'd been carefully "X"ing off each day that passed, a bomb was dropped on me. I was called into my supervisor's office, expecting to hear something about "thanks for all your hard work in Dental these past four months, here's how things are going to go on Monday when you start doing Disability again." Instead, it was more like, "So, your last day of Dental will not be tomorrow."
Me: You're joking, right?
Supv: No, I'm afraid I'm not.
Me: This is a REALLY bad joke.
Supv: I wish it was a joke, I'm sorry.
So not only is my last day of Dental not tomorrow, but the duration of Dental is indefinite. The Dental department is currently understaffed and not hiring, and the Disability department is currently overstaffed - so of course it makes sense to take people from the overstaffed department and have them work in the understaffed department, especially if they're already trained to do the work.
I suppose I should mention that this is mind-numbingly boring work, and the constant data-entry (about 5x more than when doing Disability) is wreaking havoc on my shoulder due to repetitive motion strain. I am getting an ergonomic chair at work and a slide out keyboard tray, which should help out. Since I don't know how long I'll be doing this now, I'm working on keeping the pain to a minimum. Before, it was "oh, I'll be done in two months, so I'll just suffer through it, and it'll go away when I start Disability again."
We'd planned a Happy Hour at one of the local bars tomorrow. It's still on, even though it could be considered an Un-Happy Hour. Either way, I'm drinkin'.
Yeah, this was a big bitch-fest, but I needed to get it off my chest and complain about it. Because there's nothing I can do that's going to change it, aside from finding a new job at this point, and I'm just not ready to do that right now. I just have to hope that it doesn't last too much longer, and deal with it.
The reason they did this was because at the beginning of each year, there is an influx of Dental claims, and instead of hiring new or temporary employees for the three or so months that there are too many claims, and not enough Dental employees. Instead, someone determined that the Disability department was overstaffed, and pulled two people to work half days on Dental from Disability. At the end of March, those two people were done.
This year was the same story. They needed two people to work half days from January through March. I volunteered again, even though the people who did that volunteer work last year had complained about it and how unorganized the whole thing was. I thought they were exaggerating. Turns out they weren't exaggerating, not even a teeny bit.
Training started off rocky, when we were set loose on our own, we had more questions than it seemed were possible, and it was tough. But we managed. And just when we finally got used to that, they changed the work we were doing, and it all started over.
Then they announced (with only two days of warning), that we would no longer be doing Dental half days - they were so far behind, that they would need us to do Dental full days, and it wasn't just through March anymore, it was through April, as well. Then we would go back to doing Disability claims again, just like normal.
Then today, with one more day left on my countdown calendar, which I'd been carefully "X"ing off each day that passed, a bomb was dropped on me. I was called into my supervisor's office, expecting to hear something about "thanks for all your hard work in Dental these past four months, here's how things are going to go on Monday when you start doing Disability again." Instead, it was more like, "So, your last day of Dental will not be tomorrow."
Me: You're joking, right?
Supv: No, I'm afraid I'm not.
Me: This is a REALLY bad joke.
Supv: I wish it was a joke, I'm sorry.
So not only is my last day of Dental not tomorrow, but the duration of Dental is indefinite. The Dental department is currently understaffed and not hiring, and the Disability department is currently overstaffed - so of course it makes sense to take people from the overstaffed department and have them work in the understaffed department, especially if they're already trained to do the work.
I suppose I should mention that this is mind-numbingly boring work, and the constant data-entry (about 5x more than when doing Disability) is wreaking havoc on my shoulder due to repetitive motion strain. I am getting an ergonomic chair at work and a slide out keyboard tray, which should help out. Since I don't know how long I'll be doing this now, I'm working on keeping the pain to a minimum. Before, it was "oh, I'll be done in two months, so I'll just suffer through it, and it'll go away when I start Disability again."
We'd planned a Happy Hour at one of the local bars tomorrow. It's still on, even though it could be considered an Un-Happy Hour. Either way, I'm drinkin'.
Yeah, this was a big bitch-fest, but I needed to get it off my chest and complain about it. Because there's nothing I can do that's going to change it, aside from finding a new job at this point, and I'm just not ready to do that right now. I just have to hope that it doesn't last too much longer, and deal with it.
Monday, April 19, 2010
Wrong Number
My phone rarely rings. I don't even know why I have a phone most of the time. If I could have something that just sends out text and picture messages and surf the internet, I'd be fairly happy, I think.
So when my phone does ring, I usually need to answer it, and it's usually someone I know. That's why normally I don't answer my phone if I don't recognize the number.
This weekend I had a missed call from a St. Paul area code - they didn't leave a message, so I didn't call back. Today, while I was waiting for my car to get its tires rotated and oil changed at the dealership, I got a call from that same number, so I answered it. Some kid, who asked, "Uhh, who is this?" Well, you called me, kid, you should probably have a good idea of who you're calling.
Then I get another call tonight from an unrecognized, but local number. What the heck? I'll answer it, it could be something important, right? Nope.
Me: Hello?
Kid: Mom?
Me: Nope, you've got the wrong number, sorry.
So, do I go back to only answering my phone if the person calling is in my phonebook, and therefore, a recognized number? Or do I answer the phone every single time, when 90% of my incoming calls are wrong numbers because people forget that there are more than two area codes in the Twin Cities?
So when my phone does ring, I usually need to answer it, and it's usually someone I know. That's why normally I don't answer my phone if I don't recognize the number.
This weekend I had a missed call from a St. Paul area code - they didn't leave a message, so I didn't call back. Today, while I was waiting for my car to get its tires rotated and oil changed at the dealership, I got a call from that same number, so I answered it. Some kid, who asked, "Uhh, who is this?" Well, you called me, kid, you should probably have a good idea of who you're calling.
Then I get another call tonight from an unrecognized, but local number. What the heck? I'll answer it, it could be something important, right? Nope.
Me: Hello?
Kid: Mom?
Me: Nope, you've got the wrong number, sorry.
So, do I go back to only answering my phone if the person calling is in my phonebook, and therefore, a recognized number? Or do I answer the phone every single time, when 90% of my incoming calls are wrong numbers because people forget that there are more than two area codes in the Twin Cities?
Sunday, April 18, 2010
April Showers
Quite a bit has happened since I last logged in here. We'd had an issue with our youngest cat, Skadi, the weekend before Easter. She'd been throwing up Sunday afternoon, all day Monday, and Tuesday morning. I made an appointment to take her to the vet Tuesday morning, and after doing some x-rays, they found that she had eaten several of my ponytail holders. The doctor recommended surgery right away to get those out, as they were obviously impairing her ability to eat. She'd lost a pound in the last couple of months, so she wasn't getting enough food. Unfortunately, my vet's office didn't have a surgeon available for Tuesday, and since all the ponytail holders were currently in Skadi's stomach, and not trying to float their way down her intestines, the vet suggested that I go to an emergency / referral vet about 20 minutes away.
So Skadi and I went down to the emergency vet and waited around about 2 hours before they took her in, as there were other animals in surgery at the time. The surgeon only had to do a scope to get everything out of Skadi's stomach, and didn't have to open her up (thank goodness, because that would have cost 2x as much), and they were able to get everything out of her stomach.
I felt so terrible, because I know this was my fault. I try to be really good about putting away my ponytail holders after I've taken them out of my hair, but apparently I wasn't. So I promptly got a hair cut that weekend which is easier to manage when I wear it down, but I can still pull it back in a ponytail if need be, like on the weekends when we're painting.
Since we spent a small fortune on Skadi that week, it was hard to justify spending more money going to Kansas City to see the Twins play at Kaufmann Stadium, so we canceled the trip and got our deposit back. Next weekend will just be another 3-day weekend for us so we can get more painting done. We've finished nearly everything upstairs now - the bedroom, bathroom, Aaron's office, and guest room are complete, along with the kitchen. The dining room is ALMOST done, save for half a wall that needs to be smoothed out yet before we paint it. Aaron's still working on that part.
On Easter weekend, we had that Friday off, which was the Twins vs Cardinals exhibition game at the new Target Field. Aaron and I went to that game, which was fun, even though the Twins lost. We'd already been to the stadium once before, so we knew where everything was, and didn't have to spend too much time lollygagging around, like most everyone else there did. One of the great things about the new stadium is that you can bring your own food and drink in, as long as you don't take it to any of the food-serving establishments. Which is great - bring an empty water bottle and fill it up at the drinking fountain, or bring your own peanuts, sunflower seeds, or sandwiches, and don't spend a fortune on concessions. Of course, there is some great food at Target Field to try out, but once the novelty has worn off, bringing your own food in is awesome.
We're going to a game this coming Wednesday, Twins vs Indians - should be fun. Our seats aren't awesomely close or anything like that, but there really are no bad seats, anyway.
For Saturday and Sunday of Easter weekend, Aaron and I headed to Brookings, SD, to spend Easter with Aaron's brother Eric, and Eric's son. Aaron's folks came out as well, and we had a really nice time. I loved the fact that Eric lived a few miles out of town on the country roads, so it was nice and quiet, you could see the stars, and kinda remember what it was like to be back home.
We're finally getting around to doing some yard work, as it's been consistently warm recently. Aaron's working on getting some grass seed down on some bare spots on the front lawn, and I planted some flowers via seed roll in front of the house. It's a hummingbird / butterfly mix, so I hope they come up - the flowers all looked really pretty on the packaging.
Went to the doctor's on Friday this week for a routine physical / check up, and ended up getting a tetanus shot while I was there. I guess you get a booster every 10 years, and the last time I'd had a shot was about 10 years ago, give or take a year on either end, when I'd stepped on a nail and had to go in to the ER to have it cleaned. Now my arm is super sore, and feels like someone wailed on it with their fists or a hammer or something. Ugh, no fun.
Otherwise, cats are good, family's good, everything's good. Just waiting for summer to get into full swing, and to be done working on the house so we can start enjoying these weekends!
So Skadi and I went down to the emergency vet and waited around about 2 hours before they took her in, as there were other animals in surgery at the time. The surgeon only had to do a scope to get everything out of Skadi's stomach, and didn't have to open her up (thank goodness, because that would have cost 2x as much), and they were able to get everything out of her stomach.
I felt so terrible, because I know this was my fault. I try to be really good about putting away my ponytail holders after I've taken them out of my hair, but apparently I wasn't. So I promptly got a hair cut that weekend which is easier to manage when I wear it down, but I can still pull it back in a ponytail if need be, like on the weekends when we're painting.
Since we spent a small fortune on Skadi that week, it was hard to justify spending more money going to Kansas City to see the Twins play at Kaufmann Stadium, so we canceled the trip and got our deposit back. Next weekend will just be another 3-day weekend for us so we can get more painting done. We've finished nearly everything upstairs now - the bedroom, bathroom, Aaron's office, and guest room are complete, along with the kitchen. The dining room is ALMOST done, save for half a wall that needs to be smoothed out yet before we paint it. Aaron's still working on that part.
On Easter weekend, we had that Friday off, which was the Twins vs Cardinals exhibition game at the new Target Field. Aaron and I went to that game, which was fun, even though the Twins lost. We'd already been to the stadium once before, so we knew where everything was, and didn't have to spend too much time lollygagging around, like most everyone else there did. One of the great things about the new stadium is that you can bring your own food and drink in, as long as you don't take it to any of the food-serving establishments. Which is great - bring an empty water bottle and fill it up at the drinking fountain, or bring your own peanuts, sunflower seeds, or sandwiches, and don't spend a fortune on concessions. Of course, there is some great food at Target Field to try out, but once the novelty has worn off, bringing your own food in is awesome.
We're going to a game this coming Wednesday, Twins vs Indians - should be fun. Our seats aren't awesomely close or anything like that, but there really are no bad seats, anyway.
For Saturday and Sunday of Easter weekend, Aaron and I headed to Brookings, SD, to spend Easter with Aaron's brother Eric, and Eric's son. Aaron's folks came out as well, and we had a really nice time. I loved the fact that Eric lived a few miles out of town on the country roads, so it was nice and quiet, you could see the stars, and kinda remember what it was like to be back home.
We're finally getting around to doing some yard work, as it's been consistently warm recently. Aaron's working on getting some grass seed down on some bare spots on the front lawn, and I planted some flowers via seed roll in front of the house. It's a hummingbird / butterfly mix, so I hope they come up - the flowers all looked really pretty on the packaging.
Went to the doctor's on Friday this week for a routine physical / check up, and ended up getting a tetanus shot while I was there. I guess you get a booster every 10 years, and the last time I'd had a shot was about 10 years ago, give or take a year on either end, when I'd stepped on a nail and had to go in to the ER to have it cleaned. Now my arm is super sore, and feels like someone wailed on it with their fists or a hammer or something. Ugh, no fun.
Otherwise, cats are good, family's good, everything's good. Just waiting for summer to get into full swing, and to be done working on the house so we can start enjoying these weekends!
Sunday, March 28, 2010
Baseball!
Hooray, it's almost time for regular-season baseball! Aaron and I have been gearing up for this season, and are really excited for it to start. We managed to get tickets to the exhibition game on Friday, April 2nd, where the Twins will play the St. Louis Cardinals, and we've got two other games to go to in April and May at the new Target Field.
Aaron and I showed up to Target Field the weekend before last when single-game tickets went on sale. We'd already bought out tickets for single games at home, rather than standing in line outside in the cold, but we went after the crowds died down to check it out. You couldn't go into the stadium, but you could see all the concessions that they had, go into the gear shop to check out shirts, hoodies, hats, etc, and that was about it. It was fun, but you couldn't even see the field from the closed gates.
This June, my folks and some family friends are coming out, and we're going to see the 3-game series of Twins versus Rockies. I'm super excited for all those games, and we have seats in a lot of different places in the stadium.
This weekend, we got to go inside the stadium and check out the whole thing. The MN Gophers played LA Tech Bulldogs, as the first game in Target Field. The game didn't start 'til 1pm, but gates opened at 9am, letting anyone who bought tickets, just $2 each, a chance to check out the entire stadium, including club houses, and other rooms that only certain members would normally be privileged to, such as season ticket holders, and Legends Club members.
It was a really cool experience. We went into every club room, checked out all the pubs and bars and concession stand that there was. We sat in all of our seats that we'll be sitting in for future games this season, to see what our views would be like. I can tell you this: there is not a bad seat in the house. The stadium is so much better than the Metrodome because it is MADE for baseball. All of the seats angle in towards home plate, there are so many different levels, and you feel close to the field no matter where you are sitting. It is amazing that the new Target Field holds less seats than the old Metrodome, and yet it seem so much larger.
A few days ago, Target Field said that they had already sold 2.5 million tickets for the 2010 season, compared to the 2.4 million tickets that were sold for all of 2009. This is going to be a great year, I'm so excited!
So that's kinda what we've been up to lately, along with more painting. We got the front entry finished (green), and the kitchen finished (orange) this weekend. We still have the office and the bathroom to accomplish upstairs, as well as the stairwell and wall leading downstairs, and all of the basement to finish. We're making pretty good progress, and we have a couple of 3-day weekends to work on it. We'd taken four 3-day weekends off in March and April, but for two of them, we won't be home. Over Easter weekend, we are going to Brookings, SD to visit Aaron's brother, and his folks are going to be there, as well. Then, the last weekend in April that we have a 3-day weekend, we are going to Kansas City, MO to see the Twins play the KC Royals on a bus tour with a bunch of others.
That's it for me this time!
Aaron and I showed up to Target Field the weekend before last when single-game tickets went on sale. We'd already bought out tickets for single games at home, rather than standing in line outside in the cold, but we went after the crowds died down to check it out. You couldn't go into the stadium, but you could see all the concessions that they had, go into the gear shop to check out shirts, hoodies, hats, etc, and that was about it. It was fun, but you couldn't even see the field from the closed gates.
This June, my folks and some family friends are coming out, and we're going to see the 3-game series of Twins versus Rockies. I'm super excited for all those games, and we have seats in a lot of different places in the stadium.
This weekend, we got to go inside the stadium and check out the whole thing. The MN Gophers played LA Tech Bulldogs, as the first game in Target Field. The game didn't start 'til 1pm, but gates opened at 9am, letting anyone who bought tickets, just $2 each, a chance to check out the entire stadium, including club houses, and other rooms that only certain members would normally be privileged to, such as season ticket holders, and Legends Club members.
It was a really cool experience. We went into every club room, checked out all the pubs and bars and concession stand that there was. We sat in all of our seats that we'll be sitting in for future games this season, to see what our views would be like. I can tell you this: there is not a bad seat in the house. The stadium is so much better than the Metrodome because it is MADE for baseball. All of the seats angle in towards home plate, there are so many different levels, and you feel close to the field no matter where you are sitting. It is amazing that the new Target Field holds less seats than the old Metrodome, and yet it seem so much larger.
A few days ago, Target Field said that they had already sold 2.5 million tickets for the 2010 season, compared to the 2.4 million tickets that were sold for all of 2009. This is going to be a great year, I'm so excited!
So that's kinda what we've been up to lately, along with more painting. We got the front entry finished (green), and the kitchen finished (orange) this weekend. We still have the office and the bathroom to accomplish upstairs, as well as the stairwell and wall leading downstairs, and all of the basement to finish. We're making pretty good progress, and we have a couple of 3-day weekends to work on it. We'd taken four 3-day weekends off in March and April, but for two of them, we won't be home. Over Easter weekend, we are going to Brookings, SD to visit Aaron's brother, and his folks are going to be there, as well. Then, the last weekend in April that we have a 3-day weekend, we are going to Kansas City, MO to see the Twins play the KC Royals on a bus tour with a bunch of others.
That's it for me this time!
Sunday, February 28, 2010
February Update
Well, we've finally started painting in the house! We finished the guest bedroom, a very nice shade of blue, and the dining room is almost finished - one accent wall with a deep purple color, and a sage green on the rest of the walls. We even bought curtain rods for all of the windows, and as soon as we finish each room, the rods go up, and I make curtain panels for them.
I'm not very good at it yet, and am not even finished with the first panel because I messed up (again), and need to rip out some seams. Currently, bedsheets are going to have to work for now until I get this thing figured out.
We're working on painting the bedroom right now, but ran out of paint to get all of the coats up, so we stopped today after one coat and will pick up more paint this week.
Jill is coming up for her first visit since the wedding, so that should be fun. Not quite sure what we're going to do yet, other than do some shopping at eat Thai food, as Jill's never had any before! Guess that's what happens when you live in North Dakota for too long :).
The weather is finally warming up around here - hoping for it to do so slowly, so all of the snow melting doesn't come pouring into our house through the basement window and behind the fuse box. I'll just be happy that the ruts in the alley will be gone so I can finally get into the garage with some ease.
Needless to say, we've been really busy over the weekends with moving furniture, priming, and painting everything. We finally got to go over to some friends' house this weekend, so it was nice to get out of the house for a bit. Had some great lasagna, played some Rock Band, and managed to get out of their place before 1am. Aaron had a wicked craving for some White Castle, which is on the way home, so we picked up some sliders and a chicken ring (think onion ring, but chicken...) sandwich. It was the first time I'd had White Castle, and while it was OK, I can see how it would be super awesome when you are drunk.
We've got a jam-packed spring and summer coming up - going to baseball games in April and June, one of them will be a bus trip to Kansas City, Missouri, and a Barenaked Ladies concert in May. We're hoping to get tickets to the season opener and the exhibition game. I know it's going to be damn cold, but new baseball field!!! That's exciting enough to keep me warm for a few hours.
So that's what's been going on this month. Until next time!
I'm not very good at it yet, and am not even finished with the first panel because I messed up (again), and need to rip out some seams. Currently, bedsheets are going to have to work for now until I get this thing figured out.
We're working on painting the bedroom right now, but ran out of paint to get all of the coats up, so we stopped today after one coat and will pick up more paint this week.
Jill is coming up for her first visit since the wedding, so that should be fun. Not quite sure what we're going to do yet, other than do some shopping at eat Thai food, as Jill's never had any before! Guess that's what happens when you live in North Dakota for too long :).
The weather is finally warming up around here - hoping for it to do so slowly, so all of the snow melting doesn't come pouring into our house through the basement window and behind the fuse box. I'll just be happy that the ruts in the alley will be gone so I can finally get into the garage with some ease.
Needless to say, we've been really busy over the weekends with moving furniture, priming, and painting everything. We finally got to go over to some friends' house this weekend, so it was nice to get out of the house for a bit. Had some great lasagna, played some Rock Band, and managed to get out of their place before 1am. Aaron had a wicked craving for some White Castle, which is on the way home, so we picked up some sliders and a chicken ring (think onion ring, but chicken...) sandwich. It was the first time I'd had White Castle, and while it was OK, I can see how it would be super awesome when you are drunk.
We've got a jam-packed spring and summer coming up - going to baseball games in April and June, one of them will be a bus trip to Kansas City, Missouri, and a Barenaked Ladies concert in May. We're hoping to get tickets to the season opener and the exhibition game. I know it's going to be damn cold, but new baseball field!!! That's exciting enough to keep me warm for a few hours.
So that's what's been going on this month. Until next time!
Friday, January 15, 2010
I'm Bad At This
Here we go again, almost another month where I haven't blogged. I used to do this almost daily, then weekly, now monthly. Just been busy. And some days, it just feels like there's nothing to blog about now that there's Facebook and Twitter. When something happens, I get it on the internet right away, as it's happening, in under 140 characters.
Been pretty busy around here. We've had friends over for dinner parties, we'll have friends over this weekend to help us out with some painting / design ideas - we'd like to start painting rooms in the house this winter - Aaron thinks it will be a good winter-time project. Me? Not so sure, but I am tired of tan walls and tan carpet, so a change is good.
Got Aaron to go to a movie theater a few weeks ago, we saw Sherlock Holmes in this new theater with VIP seating, 21+ only, full bar and restaurant. Very awesome, and I think we'll be going to more movies. before noon, in the regular seating, for any movie, only $5.00. Can't go wrong there!
I've pretty much run out of things to say...
Been pretty busy around here. We've had friends over for dinner parties, we'll have friends over this weekend to help us out with some painting / design ideas - we'd like to start painting rooms in the house this winter - Aaron thinks it will be a good winter-time project. Me? Not so sure, but I am tired of tan walls and tan carpet, so a change is good.
Got Aaron to go to a movie theater a few weeks ago, we saw Sherlock Holmes in this new theater with VIP seating, 21+ only, full bar and restaurant. Very awesome, and I think we'll be going to more movies. before noon, in the regular seating, for any movie, only $5.00. Can't go wrong there!
I've pretty much run out of things to say...
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