The Ramblings of a Boston Bear

Taxes are done

2008-02-28T15:13:19Z

Ok, so Paul and I have been going to the gym every day to do our little workout, for him right now it's PT and for me it's getting back into a routine to loose a bit of the belly. Last night however we decided that we (well I) would work on the taxes.

After all is said and done we will be getting a little bit back, this is very good news as every bit helps right now . . . right?

I just have to do my own final review and print out a copy for us. Because of the way we have to file I can't e-file, or at least I don't think I can. I will have to check the program out to see if I can attach or send a note with it do to the e-file. We have to each send a note with our Federal forms stating that in the state of MA we are a married couple but because of DOMA we are filing our Federal forms as single.

Oh well, I am still working on the big update and hope to have is posted this weekend. Hope everyone is doing well.

Is this thing still on???????

2008-02-26T20:09:37Z

Hello, is there anybody out there . . . . is there any one home???

Keep thinking about everyone here and how much I miss keeping up with everything that is going on.

Life as been quite busy for the past several months and I am going to try and do a big update very shortly. First of all, we are all doing fine and actually Paul is doing better now than he has been for the past several months. Now don't panic, nothing too serious and more details in that update.

Work is going great, I am getting more and more involved in projects and events that are on larger scales and keeping very busy.

We have several plans for projects around the house for the spring and summer months . . . . no major landscaping like last year though lol. Mostly the upstairs bathroom and the kitchen, finally finish the library and at least get started on the office and guest room.

I am very glad to be able to do this quick posting and will be doing my best to keep up with more, even if they are late at night or early morning.

Hope everyone is doing good as well :)

So so glad it's Friday!!!

2007-06-22T12:07:14Z

Can not believe the week it has been. There have been several meetings going on all week long and each day almost every meeting room in the entire building has been booked.

Started off the week with a room sort of being double booked (one person did not have their time zone set correctly) and then ending with yesterday with just about everyone in another meeting not having everything they needed for the meeting like date cables,
extension cords, pens, paper etc etc etc.

A cool thing just happened, well finished (get your mind out of the gutter). Earlier this week there was a posting on Free-cycle for a stainless steel Kitchen sink in Chelmsford. Now Paul and I have been looking at getting a new sink for when we give our Kitchen a make-over and get rid of the harvest gold one that we have there now (not our fault, it came with the house). We had been looking at white ones and they were running about $100 to $150 so it wasn't going to be too bad, part of the reason white is because it will go best with what we are going to do and besides it's only until we can afford to remodel. So the woman that runs the fitness center here lives in Lowell and she offered to go and pick it up for us and she just brought it in. It needs a little cleaning up and to remove the faucet and sprayer that is on it but otherwise it's in great condition!

This weekend I am going to hopefully be able to finish up what I want to get done in the yard (because I am so tired of working on it all) and maybe get started on a project or two that we have for indoors.

Fathers Day Weekend 07

2007-06-18T20:20:54Z

We actually started off the weekend by going to Breakfast with two great guys that we met at Boston Pride who live in Lynn. We went to Mildred's Corner Cafe, a wonderful tiny place but wow what a Breakfast it was. Everything was great, the food, the coffee and the service was super!

After Breakfast (11:20) we rushed back to Malden for a park dedication. We were going to stop at the house and pick up the kids for it but with traffic there was just no way. A little history about the dedication that I did not include in the big update last week.

Back in March a very dear friend of ours passed away, Eileen Fay. Eileen was our dog groomer, owning her own business doing it, she was a Ward Councilor for ward 6 in Malden (we miss it by just one block, she even had said that she was going to try and get them to redistrict the city so we could be in her ward lol) but most of all she was a great friend to both of us.

Eileen was one of the few people that stuck with Paul when his last ex pulled a bunch a crap and was spreading lies about him all over town as well as one of the first friends he had made after moving to Malden. She had been Paul's dog groomer since back then and had remained ours throughout.

When it came time to plan our wedding and we were going to have our pet at the time be our ring bearers there was no question in either of our minds that Eileen is who we wanted to escort Puff. When Puff passed she was there to also help comfort Paul as well as being upset herself.

Through the years she was elected Ward Councilor and was a remarkable one at that. Everyone in her ward just loved her and all of the work she did for the ward. One of her lasting impressions within the ward were the plantings and gardens that she did and had done.

Eileen loved gardening and flowers, was a member of clubs and listed as a Master Gardener by the Horticultural Society and this is why it's a garden that she actually planted and got going that was dedicated to her.

There were color guard from the Police and Fire departments, the Mayor, and several others there. Overall a good crowd and a very fitting day for it with the sun and warmth.

The rest of the weekend was us spending yet more time in the yard getting things closer to being done, as well as taking care of a small garden at my parents house.

Fathers Day morning we took Mom and Dad out to Breakfast at the Doo Wop Diner in Malden. The food there is always good and even Dad enjoyed it.

Pride Flag flying at work

2007-06-18T18:45:44Z

Well it seems that every year HQ ships out flags to all of the owned buildings for them to fly them for the month of June.

Well guess they were a little late this year because today is the first day most of them are up as they were just shipped last week. Still it's nice to see it flying out there.

Update about the weekend coming soon ;)

Quick update on Paul

2007-06-15T20:30:34Z

Just wanted to do a quick update on Paul's numbers and such.

Paul's Creatinine came back at 1.6 (thank goodness) and the results from the ultrasound were actually back yesterday afternoon. More or less the report was that everything is looking good for production and flow, there is however a showing of some stretching in one of the tubes that goes to the transplanted kidney. This stretching is most likely caused by scar tissue, is very common and should not cause any problems.

My guess is that they are going to keep checking once and a while on this just to make sure that nothing is coming of it.

BIG sigh of relief!

Looking for well wishes and good thoughts

2007-06-14T16:57:16Z

Don't panic yet.

Sorry, had to get that in first. Last week Paul had gone in for the usual blood work to be done and a couple of the numbers were a little higher than they should be but let me get into more detail here first.

There have been a few of the numbers in the results from Paul's blood work coming back a little off for a long time, mostly it's a matter of things like phosphorus that are a bit low and we have been changing diet to help boost those numbers and with some success. I am working on an entire list of foods that he should be eating every day and more importantly those he should not be eating, and still keeping in mind sugars, carbohydrates and all of the other crap like that.

Back to last week (sort of), well right after the surgery Paul's Creatinine levels were very good for him, still over the level that they would like them but very good. In January of this year his level was 1.5, the normal is 0.4 - 1.2 mg/dl in a normal healthy adult (muscular build does come into play here for these levels), his levels have been bouncing between 1.6 and 1.7 since January until last week.

Now like I mentioned above don't panic yet, his levels were 1.8. While this is not a huge change or jump for him my guess is that because it is another increase they want to check things out just to be sure.

So he told me about a phone call he got yesterday about BI asking him to come in for more blood work and an renal ultrasound and when he called back to talk to Linda (the one at BI that he has mostly been dealing with) she had said to not worry yet and they were going to do everything they can. These were the exact words he had heard just over eight years ago when all of the kidney problems had first started to show up.

This morning Paul called me at about 7:45 upset about today's tests and stating that he thought he could get through it today alone but he is very nervous. I was already at work and we start the day at 8:00 and he had said that he needed to catch the 7:53 bus. I made a few calls and got Jenny here to cover for me after my boss Kathy said it was ok for me to go. I called Paul back and let him know I was on the way home to drive him and and be there, I could actually feel the relief over the phone from him.

We went in and got all the test done. Paul should be able to go on-line now and get the results of the blood work but the ultrasound won't actually be back for at least a day or two. I will post as I find out anything.

Been too long, I know

2007-06-12T16:21:40Z

Hello everyone!

Well it has been a very long time and there have been some good reasons and some not so good ones. The main not so good one is that I got out of the habit of checking and reading because life got a little busier that I expected.

For a few of the good reasons, Paul and I have been doing a ton of work around the house and the yard, work has been very good and busy and overall we have been keeping busy.

First of all, before all of the goings on since Christmas, Paul and I are both doing very good, Paul had put on a bit of weight and has been slowly losing it. I have dropped about 23 pounds since Thanksgiving. Paul's numbers for all of the regular blood work have been good overall, there are a few things that we need to work on with diet changes but nothing way out of whack.

Living room Ceiling Fan/Light - Paul and I actually picked this out a couple of years ago, we were going to have it done back then by my youngest Brother Michael but he didn't want to do it because he thought the ceiling might crack or even start falling and didn't want to be the one who did it. Mike gave us the name of someone that he knew that has done this stuff before and long story short never called us back.

I started to do the installation, ran into several problems like the wire that was there was not live and the really old system was (checked with an electrician and he said he had seen it there when he was working on the lights for our front porch and they were fine to use) and then there was the old gas pipe (disconnected at the street so that was not a problem as least) and it stuck down. Ended up having to make a big hole to install it because after all of the directions of installing it was the part about having to mount it directly to a beam.

Got the fan installed and everything works and looks great. We are going to replace the lower light however because it is just too bright but we both like it very much.

Library Electric - Have just one more outlet to finish installing then we can patch and paint. We are going with a tan and medium brown and going to sponge paint the walls. It should look very nice with all of the maple finish bookcases we have in the room. After several swatches we did both finally agree on the colors.

Staircase from First to Second floor - Right now we have the same awful wall to wall shag carpeting that was other places in the house, we are going to tear it all up and put in carpet treads for now. We picked out a red based 'Oriental' pattern that we both liked and purchased enough to finish the entire staircase.

The van and the car - The van has come off the road and the car has gone back on. We are going to take the expensive radio/CD player unit out of the van, put the old one back in and give it to the garage that we go to, to try and sell it for us. Eventually we will have the unit put into the car. We are going to turn the garage into a storage space/garden work area.

The yard/gardens - For the past four weeks and weekends (almost every day) we have been working in the yard. On the left side of the house we have turned about 1/3 of the yard into a large three tiered garden with vegetables in the upper most section and flowers and plants in the other two. Across from this one we build a raised garden for flowers and plants against the house. We have redone the garden on the right side of the house between us and our neighbor Ginny. We turned the pathway in the right garden into steps with a brick border and marble fill for each. We are still working on finishing up doing brick for all of the borders of all of the gardens and garden areas. The front yard on the other hand we have done a little bit more that just garden work. The following pictures are before and afters of the front yard, the first is from Christmas time with no snow on the ground so you can see what the yard was like before we started and the others are the same area after all of the work. The flowers are looking much better now that they have had a chance to take root and Paul has actually put a lot more in, I will update with more pictures once everything is done.

Aside from all of the other million little things we have been working on, here is the link to the pictures I took at Boston Pride this past Saturday.

2007 Boston Pride

Merry Christmas to All

2006-12-25T14:00:44Z

From both of us to all of you everywhere
Merry
Christmas

Fourth Set of Pics - Inside the house and more

2006-12-22T20:03:44Z

Ok, I was going to do another post with all of the pictures that I have for inside the house so far as well as the ones of Paul and I trying to get our Christmas photo done with the kids (oh what fun we'll have . . . . ) the final one is below, but things got very busy at work and did have time to do them so I am just posting the link to my sets on Flickr.

Feel free to look at all of them but the Christmas 2006 is where the photos are.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/billybear_bstn/sets/

Third Set of Pics - Toy Drive and Gingerbread House

2006-12-22T14:37:33Z

We collected a total of 380 items!

Second Set of Pics - Our House the Outside

2006-12-22T14:31:55Z

This was taken on December 3rd, just had to get a pic

Looking from the end of the street towards the house

Looking up the street at the house

You can see the snowflakes a little better in this one

From the end of the street again

The side of the house, we have added more since this pic so I will have to post updated ones later

A little better shot

Trying to be a little creative with some of the shots

This is on the other side yard

Again trying something different

One of the candy canes that hang over the entrance to the porch

Out in our very small back yard

First Set of Pics - Stone Zoo

2006-12-22T13:43:35Z

Looking across the little pond they have

Again looking across the pond

This is at one end of the pond

These two were having a lot of fun with everyone taking their picture

Just eating it all up

This is near the start of the light display that was at a house in Peabody that is now at the Zoo

This and the next several are all from the light display

That last one is overlooking most of the display in general

Upcoming Photo Updates

2006-12-21T14:41:18Z

Ok, someone (and you know who you are) sent a message about me getting off my ass and getting the pictures of the Christmas decorating posted.

I know I need to do a major update of what has been going on anyway, that will just have to wait as we are down to the last several hours as far as I am concerned and I still have a ton of stuff that needs to get done.

Just a quick trip . . . . Mom and I had a big fight over something that she did and lied about, she called a few times, I finally called back and she said she was sorry for it about three or four times, the engine on the furnace went, replaced and had been dealing the overwhelming oil smell in the house for the past week, they came back out because Paul finally called and said something and they fixed it, the van came off the road and the car went back on, the rotors on the car were shot, got them replaced and now the car is running good again, the last direct deposit from the temp agency did not go through on time and there were automatic payments that were supposed to come out of the account, Kelly Service said that there must be a delay in the mail delivery, I questioned at what point from me filling out my time card on-line, my manager approving it on-line did some moron print it out and mail it to some other place for it to be processed (long story short it got processed the next day, they 'are not sure what happened' basically the same story I have had to listen to from them for the past several months while I had to go through them), a close friend of ours just found out that his Mother has terminal pancreatic cancer and has from 3 days to 3 months to live and they are leaning towards the 3 days end of it . . . . there is more but I just can't think of it right now, and all of this in just the last two weeks.

Anyway, back to our regularly scheduled picture update. I am going to post throughout the day a few sets of pictures for everyone to view if you like. I will be putting them all behind a cut so if you don't want to see you won't have to.

Just in case I don't get to posting again before the holiday(s) I want to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year (and if you don't celebrate these please just enjoy the well wishes as they are meant for everyone!)

First Official Day at Oracle

2006-12-11T17:28:17Z

I know I need to do a major update with everything that has been going on, and a major update with the decorating (it's almost done btw).

However, today is my first official day as an Oracle employee. I am very excited, I can now get benefits and actually go and see a doctor and all that fancy stuff ;)

Today is also the last day of our Toy Drive, I will be posting pics later today or tomorrow.

There has been a lot of drama with and between Mom and I, part of the major update later.

World AIDS Day

2006-12-01T12:42:09Z

Just keep it in mind - Hope everyone has a great day!

The first 3850 lights are up

2006-11-27T15:03:08Z

Well along with a very nice Thanksgiving day spent with friends of ours in NH we started our decorating for this years Christmas.

We got the wreaths on almost all of the windows (there are two windows that we might or might not get to as we would have to have a ladder to do them), the wreaths for the front and back door, we got the front porch lights up, the total of 8 lighted candy canes on each side of the front stairs, the Santa display mostly up with Santa, sleigh, and reindeer, the Christmas Teddy Bear flag, the blow mold Teddy, reindeer, and penguin, the animated lighted grazing reindeer, light animated train, the row of mini snowmen along our back walk, twinkle stars along the garage roof, a light up stick tree in the back yard, two small trees to help hide the spot lights that are on the reindeer in the Santa display and finally the first indoor tree (our small Teddy tree, it's a tree that a Teddy Bear is sitting next to).

All of this totaling, so far, 3850 lights, 4 trees, and 3 Teddy Bears - not too bad of a start ;)

We are holding off on most of the inside stuff until after this Friday when we have the house cleaned, then we will get going full force on the inside. We were both talking about cutting back from what we did last year but I think we are actually going to end up with more. I think we both are figuring that if we can get it done quickly so we have more time to really enjoy it being up, we will both like having done it all again.

I will keep updating and start taking pictures.

Happy Birthday flirtcub

2006-11-13T15:48:00Z

Happy Birthday
durabear

Damn, I am a day late on this . . . . Sorry!

Looking for input from you

2006-11-06T17:27:16Z

Hello everyone. Paul and I have been talking about getting a gaming console for ourselves as a Christmas gift to us. We would be getting something small for each other as a personal gift but with money being tight we were thing about getting the one gift for both of us.

So my question is, if we are going to get something, what should we get. PS, X-Box, Game-cube or something else. What is good and bad about each. We are very interested if you have a system already that you like or dislike otherwise 'inside' information on any of them is great too.

Thanks for all your help.

Happy Happy Birthday

2006-11-03T16:50:31Z

Happy Birthday
broug

We are going hunting this weekend

2006-11-03T16:14:17Z

We are getting together with a bunch of our friends and going hunting, that's right we are going into the woods and hunt. Well tree hunting that is.

It's that time of year again for us to go out and pick a tree. We are going to the same place we went last year where we tag a tree now and then they will cut and wrap it on the morning of the day we want to pick it up. After last years adventure with Sasha getting out we are going to be sure she is not only in the house tonight but that she is locked up tomorrow morning when we let the dogs out to do their business. We will then let her run free in the house.

I also wanted to re-post the two drinks that we make each year for this event. The cocoa is my favorite and although a little labor intense, well worth it . . . trust me.

</b>Super Cocoa</b> - Use your favorite cocoa mix, I prefer Ghirardelli but any good quality mix will work. Heat whole milk in a saucepan on the stove over medium heat until completely heated (steam should be rising from the pot) DO NOT USE WATER!!! Add cocoa as per the amounts on the package and then add 1/2 more of one serving, slowly adding the cocoa to the hot milk. Once all of the cocoa is in the milk and dissolved slowly bring the cocoa to a boil, watch carefully because this can happen quickly. Once boiling take the pot off of the heat and add 1/2 cup of Kahula and one 1/2 cup of Godiva Liqueur Dark Chocolate return to a low heat until mixture is heated and serve.

Spiked Cider - (there are two ways to do this, the longer is the better but the shorter way comes out good too) warm a half gallon of cider in a crock pot for about 4-6 hours with 4-5 cinnamon sticks in it, about a half hour before you are going to serve this sprinkle some nutmeg in, about 1/2 tsp and 1 tbs of whole cloves or about 1/2 tsp of ground and 1 cup of Captain Morgans, strain and serve. The shorter way is to heat the cider on the stove until it just starts to bubble, ad all of the extras and bring to a boil. Add the Captains and then turn the heat off, let sit on stove for about 5 minutes, strain and serve.

Enjoy!

TV Shows Seen Meme

2006-10-30T21:39:37Z

Taken from biggaloot and I had thought of a couple more as I was tagging but couldn't remember once I was done, oh well. Guess I have watched a lot of TV, but you also have to stop and consider how many years this has covered too.

Bold if you've seen more than three episodes in your lifetime. Bold and italicize if you think you've seen every episode. You can add up to three shows, but keep it in alphabetical order.

24
227
3-2-1 Contact
7th Heaven
A Different World
Absolutely Fabulous
Adam-12
Aeon Flux
ALF
Alfred Hitchcock Presents
Alias
Allo Allo
American Idol/Pop Idol/Canadian Idol/Australian Idol
America's Next Top Model/Germany's Next Top Model
Angel
Are You Afraid of the Dark?
Arrested Development
Baa Baa Black Sheep
Babylon 5
Babylon 5: Crusade
Barnaby Jones
Battlestar Galactica (the old one)
Battlestar Galactica (the new one)
Baywatch
Beavis & Butthead
Beverly Hills 90210
Bewitched
Bionic Woman
Bonanza
Bones
Bosom Buddies
Boston Legal
Boy Meets World
Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Bug Juice
Captain Planet
Carnivale
Chappelle's Show
Charlie's Angels
Charmed
Cheers
Columbo
Commander in Chief
Connections
Coupling
Cowboy Bebop
Crossing Jordan
CSI
CSI: Miami
CSI: NY
Curb Your Enthusiasm
Dallas
Dancing with the Stars
Danny Phantom
Dark Angel
Dark Skies
Davinci's Inquest
Dawson's Creek
Dead Like Me
Deadliest Catch
Deadwood
Degrassi: The Next Generation
Designing Women
Desperate Housewives
Dharma & Greg
Diff'rent Strokes
Doctor Who (new Who)
Doctor Who (original)
Dragnet
Due South
Earth 2
Eerie, Indiana
Empty Nest
Entourage
ER
Everwood
Everybody Loves Raymond
Facts of Life
Family Guy
Family Matters
Family Ties
Farscape
Father Knows Best
Fawlty Towers
Felicity
Firefly
Frasier
Freaks & Geeks
Friends
Full House
Futurama
Get Smart
Gilligan's Island
Gilmore Girls
Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C.
Green Acres
Green Wing
Grey's Anatomy
Growing Pains
Gundam Wing
Gunsmoke
Happy Days
Hart to Hart
Head of the Class
Hell's Kitchen
Heroes
Hogan's Heroes
Home Improvement
Homicide: Life on the Street
House
I Dream of Jeannie
I Love Lucy
Invader Zim
Invasion
JAG
Jackass
Jericho
Joey
John Doe
Just the 10 of Us
Kate & Allie
Kath and Kim
Kim Possible
not's Landing
LA Law
Laverne and Shirley
Little House on the Prairie
Lizzie McGuire
Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman
Lost
Lost in Space
Love, American Style
M*A*S*H
MacGyver
Major Dad
Malcolm in the Middle
Mama's Family
M.A.N.T.I.S
Married... With Children
Medium
Melrose Place
Miami Vice
Millenium
Mission: Impossible
Monk
Moonlighting
Mork & Mindy
Murphy Brown
Mr. Show with Bob and David
My Family
My Life as a Dog
My Name is Earl
My Secret Identity
My So-Called Life
My Three Sons
My Two Dads
Mystery Science Theater 3000
NCIS
Night Court
Nip/Tuck
Northern Exposure
Nova
Numb3rs
Nurses
One Tree Hill
Out of This World
Oz
Perry Mason
Picket Fences
Pokemon
Power Rangers
Prison Break
Profiler
Project Runway
Psyche
Quantum Leap
Queer As Folk (US)
Queer as Folk (British)
ReGenesis
Remington Steele
Rescue Me
Road Rules
ROME
Roseanne
Roswell
Saved by the Bell
Scarecrow and Mrs. King
Scooby-Doo, Where Are You?
Scrubs
Seinfeld
Sex and the City
Simon & Simon
Six Feet Under
Slings and Arrows
Smallville
So Weird
outh Park
Space:1999
Space Ghost
Spaced
Spongebob Squarepants
Sports Night
Star Trek
Star Trek: The Next Generation
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
Star Trek: Voyager
Star Trek: Enterprise
Stargate Atlantis
Stargate SG-1
Starsky & Hutch
Step By Step
Strange Luck
Superman
Supernatural
Surface
Survivor
SWAT
Taxi
Teen Titans
That 70's Show
That's So Raven
The 4400
The Addams Family
The Amazing Race
The Andy Griffith Show
The A-Team
The Avengers
The Beverly Hillbillies
The Brady Bunch
The Cosby Show
The Daily Show
The Dead Zone
The Dick Van Dyke Show
The Flintstones
The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air
The Golden Girls
The Hogan Family
The Honeymooners
The Jeffersons
The Jetsons
The L Word
The Love Boat
The Mary Tyler Moore Show
The Mighty Boosh
The Monkees
The Munsters
The Mythbusters
The O.C.
The Office (UK)
The Office (US)
The Partridge Family
The Pretender
The Real World
The Shield
The Simpsons
The Six Million Dollar Man
The Sopranos
The Suite Life of Zack and Cody
The Tomorrow People
The Twilight Zone
The Waltons
The West Wing
The Wonder Years
The X-Files
Third Watch
Three's Company
Thundercats
Top Gear
Twin Peaks
Twitch City
UFO
Veronica Mars
Weird Science
Wings
Whose Line is it Anyway? (US)
Whose Line is it Anyway? (UK)
Will and Grace
Wonderfalls

billybear_bstn @ 2006-10-30T15:37:00

2006-10-30T20:49:40Z

Well we both had a great time during our first wine tasting weekend. I am not a big wine drinker so the fact that I think it was a great weekend says a lot about it.

There were several wines to sample on Friday night at the guest house, The Gazebo Inn. Then at Saturday night dinner there were wines served to try at each course of the meal.

Overall it was a great weekend, being able to try so many different wines and getting to know some new people, the others that were attending the weekend.

We brought the 'kids' Gretchen and Tango with us for the weekend and they seemed to have fun too. One of the great things is that they have a jacuzzi there in the back by the pool and garden. Paul and I had gone in on Friday after we got there and then again in the rain on Saturday, I think we had more fun on Saturday. It was fun being in the jacuzzi and having it rain on us.

Took a bunch of pictures during the weekend, there were some wild waves from the storm on Saturday as you will see if the first ones, took them through the front window of the van. It cleared up quite a bit on Sunday so it make it good for a trip to Nubble Light for some more. I shrunk them down for this posting but you can see them in my pictures albums.

Post Interview

2006-10-26T19:00:55Z

Well I am back from my Lunch Interview with Kathy and Diane and . . . . .

It went great, Eric in the Cafe (the Chef) just let us get lunch, what ever we wanted and not worry about charging it to the cost center. We sat at the far end of the Dinning Room so we could talk without anyone else being able to easily over hear. We ate and chatted, there were a few questions worked into the conversation but basically it was just talking back and forth.

Diane made comments about how great an answer was, she mentioned how nice it was with me here now and all of the compliments she has even received about me. She was almost overwhelmed that I had signed up for the ERT and took on the People Helping People project without even being an Oracle employee yet.

All and all a very good lunch! They just have to post the position for two weeks and then finish up all of the paperwork and I will be all set. So I figure in two to three weeks I will be official, very happy about that.

On another note, last night Paul and I were at TGI Fridays for dinner, we ordered our drinks and something to start off with and got a call from Mom, she needed a ride to the hospital because she was having problems breathing. Got her there and they think she has pneumonia again and maybe a minor reaction to a new medication she started taking. As of this afternoon they still didn't have her in a room because they didn't have any available.

Paul and I are going to get our Flu shots tonight and they go out and finish our dinner at TGI Fridays, this time as an official celebration on me getting the job.

Official Interview Day

2006-10-26T14:08:26Z

Well actually yesterday was supposed to be my official interview with the regional manager to change my status from temp to perm. (I know I know I already have naturally curly hair) Anyway, yesterday I got all dressed up in black slacks, white shirt and a very nice red tie, got a lot of complements on the look. The manager canceled and said she would not be able to make it until tomorrow during my lunch. So the interview is today during my lunch (that is ok because she wants me to put in for the time as paid).

So we are now at today, dressed up again with a pair of nice tan Dockers, dark blue shirt and a nice patterned tie with black, lavender and yellow in it, it looks sharp. Again I have received several complements on it, how good I look in it etc etc. Actually most days I get at least a couple of complements on how nice I look, I know that the fact I smile and am not a complete psycho like some of the others they have had temp here is a part of it but still.

Almost every day I get told how nice it is go have me here, what a great job I am doing and how it's so nice to come in the front door now, I started to wonder if the 'bar' is being set too high without intention. I am basically just doing what I think should be done for the job, I greet everyone coming into the building with a smile, those that I have gotten to know their name I call them by such, others it's usually good morning, good afternoon, or something like that. With non employee visitors I greet them much in the same way asking them who they are here to see and doing what I can to help them.

A message went out about being a member of the ERT (Emergency Response Team), I checked with my boss just to be sure it would be ok and she was very excited about the fact that I wanted to join. I need to take time from my desk to addend the class and that is the main reason I asked if it would be ok, someone has to cover for me. Then yesterday my boss asked me if I was interested in doing 'community work' during work time and getting paid for it, I let her know that I did enjoy doing stuff like that. Well, again she was excited that I had said so and then agreed to take the 'People Helping People' project on. Basically it is more or less like a toy drive for local needs. My boss, Kathy sent me the information and I am supposed to call the person about it later today. I already have someone looking for information to donate to it. You just know that I have been thinking about banners, balloons, lots of colors and more for this, don't you?

Anyway back to today. As I said my official interview is today with my boss Kathy and her boss the regional manager Diane. Now I have met Diane once before, she was here on my second or third day, it was also Kathy's birthday and she was here for that, she was a very nice person and even at that point she was very happy with me. I think that today is more of a formality than anything but still. So last night Kathy told me to give her some questions for her to ask me during the interview. I was good about this, checked on-line for some questions that are used in interviews and gave her five of them, and I made sure they were not easy ones just so it doesn't look like she is going easy on me.

I am looking forward to this in one way, but still this type of situation gets to me a little and I can't wait for it to be over. I just keep trying to think about small things that being a full employee will help with and not the big things like paying the bills and actually having insurance so I can finally get to the doctors.

On another note, Paul and I are going away for our belated Anniversary celebration this weekend. We are going to Oguinquit, and staying at The Gazebo Guest House. The Gazebo is hosting a wine tasting weekend and everything is included except for Lunch on Saturday and for that we are going to Flo's for hot dogs, OMG I can't wait. For those of you how may not know Flo's has great hot dogs but it's the home made relish that is the best, and this coming from someone that doesn't like relish, at all. My understanding is that she was offered one million dollars from Heinz for the recipe and she would not give it up. Flo's has now opened other locations from the first one on Route One North in Cape Neddick ME. You can check out their site at http://www.floshotdogs.com

Well I will update later with how the interview went.