Old Age Sucks

This was my first week at work as a 30-year-old…and it about killed me! If this is what it’s like to be 30, then I demand that a time machine be invented! Work is just so hectic. I come home, and usually work a few more hours from home. By then, I’m just sick of being in front of a computer. Thus, my blogging suffers. I also had to face the reality that my CAP exam is a week from today…so I really need to force myself to start studying. Tomorrow is the final day of my prep class, which means we’ll be having a mock exam. But, on a positive note, it will be the last time I have to get up early on Saturday for a while.

A real blog entry!

I know I haven't posted a detailed blog in a while. I've been so busy lately.

Well, I finally turned 30. Lori did an awesome job on the birthday party. I was surprised that so many people showed up, even in the crappy weather! I also got some amazing gifts. I'll try to get some pictures up of those as soon as possible. I'm still in disbelief over the whole night. I'm still in the process of writing thank you notes to everyone, but I hope to have all of them done in the next few days.

Administrative Professional's Day was last Wednesday. Only 14 out of the 148 people I support remembered it. That's only 9%! My main manager remembered which was a bonus.

I took a well-deserved vacation day on Friday. All I did was lounged around the house, but it was still nice not to be at work. I wanted as much rest as possible for the weekend. Lori took me shopping for my birthday outfit that evening. Since I was going to be wearing these cute, pink flip-flops, I decided to go get my first-ever pedicure the next day. My friend Beverly came with me, and then paid for my pedicure and my manicure! That was so sweet of her.

After the party on Saturday night, I spent a majority of Sunday, my actual birthday, just being a bum around the house. Then, that evening, I went over to my best friend Christine's house and had the traditional cake with her family. Her sons are so cute!

Since it is Monday, I'm going to do the MP3 Monday thing. This week, it's Prince's 1999. I chose this one because I was singing it with my own lyrics this past weekend. Instead of 'we're going to party like it's 1999', I was singing 'I'm going to party like I'm still 29!'

More Birthday Photos

These are courtesy of Laura Naquin.

Pictures are posted!

The pictures from my 30th birthday party last night have been posted. Click here to view them.

Holy Crap!

Less than 24 hours left in my 20s!!!!!!!!!!!

Happy Administrative Professionals Day®!

Did you know....

During World War II, the U.S. government issued frantic calls for secretaries, clerks, and others who could assist in the war effort. Secretaries "manned" the home front and the office front as many women entered factories, war plants, and various jobs formerly held by men. In 1942, to provide a network for secretarial staff, the National Secretaries Association (now known as the International Association of Administrative Professionals) was established.

The first Certified Professional Secretary examination was administered in August 1951. There were 281 candidates at 15 examination centers (today there are more than 250 exam centers worldwide).

In August 1998, PSI member delegates at the 54th annual Convention and Education Forum in Atlanta, GA, voted to change PSI's name to the International Association of Administrative Professionals (IAAP), to reflect more of the job titles being used today.

In the year 2000, IAAP changed the name of Professional Secretaries Week and Professional Secretaries Day to Administrative Professionals Week and Administrative Professionals Day.

Today, there are more than 4.1 million secretaries and administrative assistants working in the United States, according to U.S. Department of Labor statistics, and 8.9 million people working in various administrative support roles. More than 475,000 administrative professionals are employed in Canada, including 365,670 secretaries, 26,390 executive assistants and 84,140 clerical supervisors (Statistics Canada). Millions more administrative professionals work in offices all over the world.

Certification from IAAP is an internationally recognized standard of excellence. The Certified Administrative Professional (CAP) designation demonstrates proficiency in the expanded range of administrative duties required in today’s workplace. The Certified Professional Secretary (CPS) rating also shows strong and well-rounded administrative skills. More than 61,000 office professionals have attained certification from IAAP.

Trivial Tuesday

The first commercial manufacturer of airplanes was a company named Shorts.

A giraffe can clean its ears with its 21-inch tongue!

The record number of male (human) orgasms in an hour is 16.

President Lincoln, when informed that General Grant drank whiskey while leading his troops, reportedly replied "Find out the name of the brand so I can give it to my other generals."

A law in Fairbanks, Alaska, does not allow moose to have sex on city streets.

To "testify" was based on men in the Roman court swearing to a statement made by swearing on their testicles.

Saturday Night Sucked

Last night just sucked. There’s no other way to put it. The Aeros lost the playoffs so the season is done. It was so sad for both the fans and the players. I think I felt sorry more for the players; they just looked so dejected. Since there is no more hockey until October, I’ll have to find another way to get rid of all my frustrations in the interim.

I still have not gotten my Reitz jersey signed. I really think it wasn’t meant to happen since everything has been working against me from the day I ordered it (back on February 9th). I saw Courtney at the game, and she offered to take my jersey after the game and get Reitz to sign it since she sees him on a regular basis. This helped me out a lot, especially since the Aeros lost. The last thing I wanted to do was go wait for Erik to come out of the locker room to have him sign my jersey after a game that ended the season. It just doesn’t seem right to me. So, after the game, I went to Courtney’s seat to give her the jersey, and she was gone! I couldn’t find her anywhere. I tried calling Audra to see if she had Courtney’s cell number, but couldn’t reach her. I finally gave up and left.

Since I was already in Houston, I decided to go to Sacred Heart Studios to get the shorter rod put in my tongue. When I first got it pierced, they had to put in a longer rod because of the tongue swelling. I was advised to come back in three weeks to get the shorter rod. That is probably the only time anyone has ever heard me say that I needed a shorter rod…it just doesn’t sound like me at all.

As I left the Toyota Center, I wasn’t sure if I was heading in the right direction to get to Elgin. I’m still learning the downtown streets. So, I called Gil, who seems to have memorized all the streets. I couldn’t get hold of him either. I decided to keep driving, and by some miracle, found Elgin. I arrived at the studio and had to wait for two people who were there before me. While I was waiting, Gil called back. I told him that I called him because I needed directions, but find my way. Actually, I was only a few blocks from his place. He was heading back from College Station and had to drop someone off before heading home. So, I’m outside the studio smoking a cigarette, waiting for my turn, and listening to Gil tell me about the scrimmage he went to. Then, all of a sudden, he drove right past me. I stopped him in the middle of his story and asked him if that was indeed him that just passed me, and it was. The shit couldn’t even stop to talk to a friend…what’s up with that? I know it shouldn’t have surprised me after recalling the type of night I was having. The girl who was in line before me left, so I knew I was next. I got off the phone with Gil and went and had my shorter rod put in. I was going to talk with the tattoo artist about the tattoo I wanted to get, but he had a few people already waiting for him. I really didn’t want to wait around for him to get done, so I just left and headed home.

See…I told you that last night just sucked.

Losing my ball and screwing up dates

I haven’t been able to post any extended blogs this week since I’ve been so busy. So, here’s a recap of my week:

Monday night was the monthly Alvin EMS Membership meeting. I try to skip them because I get so bored. But, since I am the Treasurer, I have to make an appearance every now and then. I also took a leave-of-absence for running my shifts this month since I’m studying for the CAP exam.

On Tuesday, I met Beverly at Las Flores for dinner. She rode her bicycle up there since she was going riding with Wayne and Carol afterward. She shows up at the restaurant and brings in her bike with her. She refused to leave it outside for the fear that it might get stolen. You should have seen the look on the owner’s face as Beverly maneuvered that damn bike in. Beverly didn’t care…she figured if they wanted her money, then they would let her bring in her bike. They never did say anything to her, but I think the owner was relieved when we left.

On Wednesday, I discovered that the VCR in one of the conference rooms was missing. It’s an expensive one because it plays both US and European tapes. I still have not been able to locate it. I later found out that it’s actually been missing since November! My boss was out this week, so I guess I’ll break the bad news to him next week.

I had to go to our Ardmore location (near the Medical Center) on both Wednesday and Thursday. It’s not a bad drive, plus it’s nice to get out of the office every now and then. After both trips to Ardmore, I went shopping for Microsoft Access. One of my guys, Frank, had a class on Friday that he needed it for. Normally, we order the software through our procurement site, and it gets downloaded onto the employee’s machine. Unfortunately, a bunch of cost centers got deleted from it, and Frank’s cost center was one of them. Since I didn’t know how long it would be before it was fixed, I decided to just go buy him a copy of it to ensure that he had it for his class. On Wednesday, I went to Best Buy, CompUSA, OfficeMax, and Circuit City. None of those places had the individual software. On Thursday, I went to MicroCenter in Houston, and finally found a copy of it. Since it was already 1:30pm by the time I got done, I really just wanted to head home instead of the office. So, I called Frank to find out what time his class was scheduled to start in the morning to see if I had time to give him the software then. He was quite confused when I called him, and he had every right to be…the class isn’t scheduled until Friday, May 7th! I have no idea why I thought it was this Friday. He apologized for all the trouble I went through, even though he didn’t have to. He had no idea that I was searching for the software. I was being proactive on my own…and got the date wrong on my own. Oh well, at least he’ll be the only person with Access 2003!

I did have a funny incident at work on Thursday. I was talking to one of our techs, Veronica, when the bottom ball of my tongue piercing just fell out. There is was, just sitting on the floor. I just stared at it in disbelief for a few seconds. Then, I became aware that the rod might come out. So, I picked up the ball and went to the closest person that I trusted to play with my tongue, which was one of my designers, Belinda. You should have seen the two of use. I’m trying to hold my tongue out far enough for her while she tried to screw the ball back on the bottom of the rod. People was walking by giving us the funniest looks and, of course, laughing. It was a shame that no one had a camera to capture the moment.

The Aeros had their first playoff game on Thursday night. Unfortunately, they lost 3-1. The ref just out-right sucked…and I’m not just saying that because we lost. You should have seen some of the obvious stuff he did not call. I swear the teammates of the opposing team were giving him blow jobs before the game. The next playoff game is this Saturday. Hopefully, we’ll have a different referee than that shithead.

Thursday Tidbit

Every night before I go to sleep, I do crossword puzzles.

Silver Tongue julie Rockefeller

That's my pimp name! Audra posted the link to quiz on her site and I had to try it.

You can find out your pimp name here!

It's Wednesday!

I'm all fired up!

A new episode of Smallville airs tonight at 7:00pm. Christopher Reeve will be on tonight's episode, making it his second guest appearance.

Trivial Tuesday

Completely useless trivia...

The dot over the letter 'i' is called a tittle.

A female ferret will die if it goes into heat and cannot find a mate.

Every person has a unique tongue print. (Say "aaah")

The largest cell in the human body is the female reproductive cell, the ovum. The smallest is the male sperm.

Most men have erections every hour to hour and a half during sleep.

In Texas, it is illegal to curse in front of a corpse.

Weekend Wrap Up

This past weekend started out slow. I didn’t go out on Friday night, since I knew I had to be at class at 9:00am the next morning. Saturday night was the final Aeros game of the regular season. I actually remembered not only to bring my camera…but to also take pictures! You can see them here.

I saw my friend Michelle at the game. She was visited from North Carolina. She looks so good. I guess she’s doing something right over there. As we were talking, Aeros player Matt Foy walked by. I asked him why he wasn’t playing tonight, and he said that he had a groin injury. I told him that if he didn’t jack off so much, that probably wouldn’t have happened. Fortunately, he has a good sense of humor and laughed at my comment.

I text-messaged Audra, who is stranded in Alabama for her job, about Foy’s injury. A few minutes later, I get a reply from her stating that she’ll rub it for him. I managed to see Foy during the first intermission, and being the freakin’ loud mouth that I am, I told him that Audra would rub it for him. He asked me who Audra was. I

Me: Hey Matt, Audra said she would rub your injury for you!
Foy: Who’s Audra?
Me: Audra!
Foy: (blank stare)
Me: Audra…Erik’s friend
Foy: Don’t know her.

If you have had the pleasure of meeting Audra, you would know that she is not someone you would forget. So, I text-messaged her and said that Foy did not know who she was. Again, a few minutes later, I get a reply from Audra, informing me that they never met! I felt so bad about opening my mouth and saying that to him.

My favorite Aero, Erik Reitz, got ejected from the game before the end of the first period. I saw him during the third period sitting with the other Aeros that weren’t playing that night. So I finally thought I had the chance to get him to sign my customized jersey that I waited over two months for. This jersey has caused me so many headaches, so I shouldn’t have been surprise that when I finally did get to him, that no one around had a freakin’ marker for him to use to sign my jersey! No one fuckin’ person. I was so despondent at this point, that I just called Audra instead of text-messaging her. I started off apologizing to her for the comment I made to Foy. She said not to worry about it. In fact, she was laughing about it. Then I told her about the marker fiasco, and she said that she had one in her purse. Remember, she’s in Alabama, so she really couldn’t get it to me. But, it was nice of her to let me know.

Kyle Wanvig, another Aeros player, must have known that I had been talking to Audra. Less than ten minutes after I got off the phone with her, he scored a goal to break the 1-1 tie, with less then four minutes left in the game. It was so awesome! With the Aeros win that night, and a loss by the Cincinnati Mighty Ducks, Houston has the home ice advantage for the first round of play-offs. The series will be the best 2 out of 3 games. The first game is this coming Thursday, with the second game on Saturday, and the third game on Sunday (if necessary). Go Aeros!

Gil and Irfan also came to the Aeros game. Big thank you to Greg for letting them have his unused tickets so they didn’t have to buy tickets. They met up with an old friend of theirs, Leann. They spent a majority of the game in the club bar area (are we surprised?) visiting with her.

After the game, the four of us went to Twelve Spot for more alcohol, then to Katz’s to eat. That was the first time I had ever been to Katz’s. Honestly, I don’t know what the big deal is about the place. I mean, it was nice, but not a restaurant I would rave about.

On Sunday, I went by the parents’ house to visit for Easter. Then, I came home to do some major cleaning. That was my semi-exciting weekend in a nutshell.

This is just too cool

I was looking at the different barbells I could get for my tongue, since I get to exchange out my piercing next week. I came across this. It looks awesome!

I don't get it

My social life has been pretty boring over the past two weeks. It seems like I haven’t been out in a long time, even though it’s only been a couple of weeks.

I guess I haven’t been going out in a while since I’m still dealing with some personal issues. I write about them on my blog because I like people to know what is going on with me. Isn’t that the whole point of my blog? I’ve had different people on different occasions express their dislike of me posting certain things. WTF? I’m just being honest. I’m not typing it to entertain; I’m just talking about myself. How else are you suppose to know what’s going on with me unless I blog about it?

Friday Five

1. What do you do for a living? Secretary/Administrative Assistant/Gopher?

2. What do you like most about your job? The control I have

3. What do you like least about your job? My work environment; it's that crappy open-office concept

4. When you have a bad day at work it's usually because ...people are idiots

5. What other career(s) are you interested in? Medicine

I'm Cool!

Fun Geek Quiz!

Your GQ (Geek Quotient) is....45
(this puts you in the 36.27 percentile.)

Your GQ is far below average - you should be congratulated on your coolness!

Yuk! Wine is Gross

Considering that I absolutely cannot stand wine (or champagne), I did find this fun quiz:

What's Your Wine Personality?

You scored 60% White Zinfandel
Isn't it amazing how much difficulty people create for themselves? Not you. You know how to take pleasure in the simple things. Bravo. Celebrate immediately with a glass of white zinfandel.

You scored 20% Pinot Noir
In another life you were probably Colette. You obviously have a kind of sensuality that governs your outlook on life (and on men -- but that's another story). For you, the most satisfying wine of all (and if one isn't satisfied, what's the point?) is pinot noir.

You scored 20% Merlot
Women confident enough to drink a great wine from a jelly glass aren't a dime a dozen, but you're one of them. Moreover, your no-nonsense approach to life is a big tip-off. You're a classic merlot drinker.

Take the test yourself and find out what your wine personality is.

Woo Hoo!

I heard tonight that a NEW episode of Smallville will air next week!

Yippee!!!

Words to Live By

Well, I needed a good chuckle, and these “Words to Live By” did it for me. The ones in red are my favorites:

1. If you're too open-minded, your brains will fall out.
2. Don't worry about what people think; they don't do it very often.
3. Going to a church doesn't make you a Christian any more than standing in a garage makes you a car.
4. It isn't the jeans that make your butt look fat.
5. Artificial intelligence is no match for natural stupidity.
6. My idea of housework is to sweep the room with a glance.
7. Not one shred of evidence supports the notion that life is serious.
8. It is easier to get forgiveness than permission.
9. For every action, there is an equal and opposite government program.
10. If you look like your passport picture, you probably need the trip.
11. Bills travel through the mail at twice the speed of checks.
12. A conscience is what hurts when all your other parts feel good.
13. Eat well, stay fit, and die anyway. (Just remember how lucky you were to get a free trip around the sun.)
14. Men are from earth. Women are from earth. Deal with it.
15. No man has ever been shot while doing the dishes.
16. A balanced diet is a cookie in each hand.
17. Middle age is when broadness of the mind and narrowness of the waist change places.
18. Opportunities always look bigger going than coming.
19. Junk is something you've kept for years and throw away three weeks before you need it.
20. There is always one more imbecile than you counted on.
21. Experience is a wonderful thing. It enables you to recognize a mistake when you make it again.
22. By the time you can make the ends meet, they move the ends.
23. Thou shall not weigh more than thy refrigerator.
24. Someone who thinks logically provides a nice contrast to the real world.
25. If you must choose between two evils, choose the one that you've never tried before

Another Crazy Day

Work started our normal. Then, I found out that two managers needed work boots for their trip to India…and they were flying out tomorrow. So, I headed to Academy in League City to pick some up. I get to the check out line, pull out my corporate credit card, and then…the electricity went out. So, after waiting 20 minutes, I decided just to go back later to get them.

I finally made it back there around 5:00pm. Of course, I did call first to make sure they had their power back on. I was on the phone with a friend of mine before checking out, and this person said something completely innocent, but I found myself feeling all those evil emotions that drive me crazy. I cut the conversation short, and I hope this person doesn’t think I was just blowing them off, but I was getting angrier with myself by the minute.

After I got done at Academy, I decided to head to Barnes and Nobles, since it was only two exits up the freeway. I spent 1½ hours in the self-help section looking for books that would help me control my emotions. If not control them, then at least figure out how the hell to deal with them. So, over $56 later, I’m walking out the store with two books, an audio book, and a neat box of “karma cards”. Okay, the karma cards weren’t necessary, but they looked cool.

Now, one this to keep in mind is that people with ADD (like me) have a terrible habit of buying lots and lots of books, when we always intend on reading. However, we’re lucky if we make it through the first chapter before the book goes on the book shelf and is forgotten. Hopefully, I can make it through the one book I bought on CD.

I know I can’t change overnight, but it’s driving me crazy not being able to cope with unreasonable feelings. Am I the only person that is having such an issue dealing with this?

Death of Houston Firefighter

A Houston firefighter has died fighting an early morning fire at a local ballroom. Read the complete news story here.

First Day of CAP Class

Today was the first day of my CAP class. I was incorrect in my previous blog about it lasting four weeks…it’s actually for five weeks. There were actually some people in there that I knew. The instructor informed us that this exam would test our strategic thinking skills. By the end of the class, I learned that I don’t have any strategic thinking skills. So, when I got home, I decided to check out what exactly topics would be covered by the exam. The test is 3 ½ hours, and has 165 questions. Here’s the breakdown:

I. Organizational Planning 28%

Critical thinking & decision making
Strategic planning
Communicating mission and values
Allocating resources

II. Advanced Administration 24%

Mentoring and training
Conducting research
Coordinating projects
Delegating and empowering

III. Team Skills 24%

Team building
Team leading
Group problem solving
Resolving conflict
Conducting meetings

IV. Advanced Communication 24%

Nonverbal
Presentation techniques
Legal issues
Professional protocol

The exam is scheduled for Friday, May 7th. Wish me luck!

One Hell of a Week

Wow, what a crazy week this has been! I was so busy, it was unreal. The week ended with a successful department crawfish boil and an Aeros game. Mary Ann really enjoyed the game. She was yelling like a seasoned pro by the third period.

The only negative thing was that I forgot to take my last dose of Adderall for the day. By the end of the second period of the Aeros game, I was started to get so frustrated. I wasn?t able to block out anything. In fact, I even found my mind obsessing with an issue I?ve been worrying about all week.

I don?t know?but in my opinion, if someone?s attitude seems to completely change towards me, than I think that something is wrong. I don't know if I'm just being paranoid. This person has already told me (twice) that they?re not mad at me, but I still feel like something is not right. Maybe I fucked up and just don?t realize it. I really have no idea. It wouldn?t be that bad, but I really miss this person. Even though I was extremely busy all week with work, I still managed to miss them. Maybe things will change...I really have no idea what will happen.

Lucky me?I get to start my CAP review class tomorrow. For the next four Saturdays, I get to be in a class in Bellaire from 9:00am ? 12:00pm. Why in the hell would someone schedule a class for Saturday mornings? That?s just wrong.

Work, work, and more work

Work has been keeping me so busy lately; I really haven’t had time to blog. But it’s a good thing, because I have so much chaos going through my mind, work has been helping me from obsessing on it.

The tongue swelling has finally gone down. My co-workers had a field day making fun of my speech on Monday and Tuesday, when the swelling was at its worse. I didn’t mind…I knew they were just having fun.

I’m finishing up a scrapbook project tonight for work. I’m making two of them for two of our employees that retired this past Wednesday. My department is having a crawfish boil tomorrow and we’re going to present the scrapbooks to them then. This is why I’m cramming tonight to get them done.

Other than that, I really don’t have much to write about. I will be going to the Aeros game tomorrow night. Mary Ann, a member of my IAAP chapter, will be coming with me. This will be her first hockey game. I am so excited!