Showing posts with label BLAH. Show all posts
Showing posts with label BLAH. Show all posts

Wednesday, January 14, 2009

The Plague

I saw a scary little video over on LifeJunkie's blog. You should check it out.

I am, admittedly, an anti-Walmart person. I will not set foot in one except for the most extreme circumstances. I'll gladly pay an extra dollar or two for my items getting them elsewhere. And yes, I realize that is a luxury I have. . . . the ability to choose to pay extra without it meaning a sacrifice somewhere else. I understand that some people 'need' to shop at WalMart to stretch their income, but I also understand that WalMart's business practices, both diretly and indirectly, contribute to an economic condition where there are so many people who 'need' to save that money in order to make ends meet. I'll spare you the soapbox dissertation, but, you know, something to think about.

Monday, November 24, 2008

Mini-Rant

This is not at all knitting related, so feel free to ignore :) I did complete THREE projects this weekend, though, but I'll post about them when I have photos!

I hate my job. I have hated it for quite some time, but Friday pushed me over the edge. The place is on fire and 95% of the leadership has decided to throw both ethics and good business sense out of the window. It took all of my common sense to not hand in my resignation effective immediately. I know it would be stupid to quit without something else solid lined up. Part of me hopes to stick around long enough for the inevitable layoffs (in the 7.5 years I've worked here, there have been at least 7 rounds of layoffs so far) that will come in the First Quarter to attempt to make earnings look better. At least if I get laid off, I get a hefty severance check. Part of me just wants to find a new job that I will actually have the motivation to care about going to. It's hard to get out of bed to go work for someone you don't respect. If I didn't have a good work ethic, I wouldn't even care about the customers I support. Lucky for me (and them) I do take it seriously and try to make sure my customers get the best support they can, so I still actually show up to work. I am just not so much with the 'above and beyond' anymore.

So why all the whining? Because I'm so tired of people telling me I need to stop complaining and just 'BE HAPPY' I have a job. I mean, really, why should I be HAPPY that my employer treats me like crap? So many people I know are trapped in jobs - particularly people in Vermont who don't have many other options than to work where they are now. I feel BLESSED that I'm not in a situation where I'm a sole bread-winner and that I'm not living paycheck to paycheck. I feel grateful that I am well educated with a strong resume and therefore have the flexibility to consider leaving my present employer. I'm thankful that I chose to leave Michigan when I graduated from college so I'm not riding the roller coaster that is the auto industry (though given that when I started in Vermont there were 8200 employees at my location and when I was there last week the count was barely 5000, I'd say percentage wise I didn't make the best choice of industry moves!). I'm a lot of things, but I'm not HAPPY that I have this job. I am even LESS happy that so many people feel like they have to deal with this kind of crap. No one should have to continually 'suck it up' and be disrespected just because their employer knows they have no where to go.

So there. And no, I'm not being self-righteous, I just refuse to stay in a job where my personal ethical line is being trampled on by the majority of leaders. It's only possible to be buffered from it for so long.

And now, my to-date mostly half-assed job hunting is now going into full gear. My goal is to send my resume to at least 10 positions each week until I find something new. I did 5 today. Wish me luck.

Saturday, March 22, 2008

3.5 oz Dark Chocolate + 2*20lb Dogs = $250 Vet Bill

Yesterday sucked :( My boss was much more demanding than normal, leading to a VERY long morning. I wanted to try to take the day off, as we have friends coming in from out of town and the house needs a cleaning, but that did not happen. At noon, I went upstairs to shower (finally) only to discover that the bar of Hershey's Extra Dark - 60% Cacao chocolate slated for box #2 to my PRGE pal that had been sitting with the yarn on my sewing table was gone, the only remnants were the torn label shreds. CRAP! I hadn't been upstairs since 8am, so I had no idea when the dogs ate it. I called the vet. My vet had no doctor in the office today, so they referred to me to another vet. I called, they told me to use Hydrogen Peroxide (H2O2) to try to induce vomiting. The best part, and I'm not making this up, I was told to 'pick them up and spin them around' after giving them the H202 to get them to vomit faster. Now, take a moment to make a mental picture of me first fighting with the dogs to get them to ingest 2 teaspoons of H2O2, THEN spinning them around the backyard, with the added bonus of the spinning also making me slightly nauseous. I got Zosia to puke, but no luck with Jimmy Ray. So I call the vet back, who, when I tell them the amount of chocolate, informs me it is a toxic level and I need to take the dogs to the Emergency Vet. On the way, I get stopped at BOTH a train AND a drawbridge lift, all the while panicking my dogs are going to start seizing or something.

We make it to the Vet, my dogs get rushed in back and I sit, and wait, for a good 40 minutes. They finally call me back to talk to the vet, who tells me they got both dogs to vomit and put charcoal in their bellies to help absorb anything that may be left. While the dogs have no symptoms they suggest leaving them for monitoring and an IV flush. . . . at a cost of $800 minimum (more if I didn't come back in 12 hours, which would have been 3am). I learned the danger they really worry about with chocolate is the caffeine gets their doggie hearts all worked up and that leads to problems. Now, I love the dogs, but the emergency vet isn't all that far, and we were going to be home all night, so I opted to 'observe' them at home rather than leave them. That left me with a bill of $250. Yuk! This is nothing compared to Sara's sister, though, whose dog was hit by an errant, angry old lady. Check it out here, she's having a stash sale to help pay the vet bills (not too much left, but check it out).

Then, of course, I was stuck in rush hour traffic coming home from the vet. Jake was working on installing some recessed lighting that turned into a total cluserf*ck and forced me to go to Home Depot unattended. They never fail to make me feel like a total idiot when I come with a list of things I don't really know. Jake calls it a junction box, I ask for a junction box and they say 'Oh, you mean a SQUARE BOX?'. Come on, now, is that necessary?

I get home, then have to figure out something to make for dinner and my house is still filthy and I have a crapload of homework to do before Monday. Oh, did I mention there are going to be 10 people coming over for dinner tomorrow, too? We are the house for all single friends to come and have Easter dinner (this happened at Christmas, too). Ordinarily, I wouldn't mind, but with my house being a disaster, homework breathing down my neck and a friend visiting with his 70lb yellow lab, the last thing I really want is to try to figure out how to feed 10 people at my 6 chair dinner table :)

On the plus side, the 3 lights (of 6) that Jake got installed look amazing. The pooches are doing fine, no issues through the night and the Vet said past noon today we should be all clear. But, the stress of it all led me to break my vow. I read on Claudia's blog, then a string on Ravelry about how amazing Jaeger Extra Fine Merino is and it has been discontinued. So, I bought a bag :) Good deal on eBay, though, $45 for 10 balls. The color is Elderberry. I think it's really pretty. No pattern ideas yet, but it will become some sweater for me :)

Now, I should stop blogging and go do my homework, huh?