Greetings from Washington DC!

I finally got my computer set up. We arrived here on Thursday. The flights weren’t too bad. We flew out of Ellington Field to Intercontinental Airport, and then straight here. Our room is huge! We are in the older part of the Marriott Wardman Park Hotel, which probably explains the size of the room. The room has two double beds, a loveseat, so recliner-type chairs, a coffee table, two desk tables, and a separate small room that is the coffee bar/closet. It’s just awesome.

On Friday, we toured Arlington National Cemetery in the morning. That evening, we toured the FDR Memorial, the WWII Memorial, the Vietnam Memorial, and the Lincoln Memorial.

This morning, we toured the National Cathedral. That place is just magnificent. Later on, we went to the National Archives Building.

We finally made it back to the room, so I figured I better blog. I have lots of photos already. I'll try to get them uploaded by tomorrow.

Until then...

Quick Update

I know it seems like it has been forever since I blogged. I have just been so freakin’ busy lately.

Last Monday, I took over the duties as webmaster for my IAAP Chapter’s web site. So, every night, I have been at home working on that damn thing. I’m still having issues with it. After spending hours working at that, I’m ready to just turn my computer off and go to bed.

I leave for Washington DC on Thursday, so hopefully I’ll have some interesting stuff to blog about from there.

What Weekend?

The fishing trip on Friday was okay. I did manage to catch a couple of fish, but nothing to keep. I did better than I thought I would with the heat. I really didn't start feeling heat exhaustion until our last hour of fishing. I went ahead and put the fishing rod away and just putting ice all over me to stay cool. After we got done fishing, there was a luncheon and prizes were giving out for various things. I still felt like crap when we got back to shore. I just went home and skipped the luncheon. Once I got home (around 1:30PM), I went straight to sleep, and didn't wake up until Saturday morning!

My last blog regarding work was so long, that I didn't mention everything that was going on. On Wednesday, we got an email from our Accounting Department that our purchasing card statements were now online, and that we needed to log on and have them reconciled by July 18th, which is today. So, I spent most of Saturday working on that. It sucks trying to reconcile an $11,000+ statement in one day. It would be easy, but I’m missing receipts from people who use my card to make purchases. They know they are supposed to send me the receipts as soon as they make the purchase. If I'm not 100% sure who made the purchase, it's difficult to reallocate the charges. So, I sent emails to those I know use my card. They probably won't get until Monday morning. At least I tried, right?

I also finished up my expense report, hoping that I could get it filed with Accounting. If I get that done by Tuesday, there's a slim chance the money might make it into my checking account before I leave for Washington DC on July 29th.

I was still playing catch-up from being out from work on Friday. When I have to work on the intranet, I have to dial-in, which is painfully slow. I have cable on home, but can't use it for work because of security reasons. My patience was really starting to wear out, so I decided to just go up to work for a few hours. I drive all the way there, and the damn network was down. I was so pissed. It was a completely wasted trip.

This morning, I had to be in La Marque at 7:15am to work EMS at a duathlon. I least I was able to sit under the pavilion, so it wasn't that bad. I was only there for 2 1/2 hours. It gave me a chance to work on my jewelry.

FridayQ Update

The first part of this blog is in response to Irfan’s pessimistic post. In case you didn’t read it, here’s what he posted:

“Okay, to be honest, these questions simply suck. Thanks for beating around the bush and not answer any of the STUPID questions ;-) I miss Friday Fives. At least they had good questions.”

I answered these questions at 12:31am, since I couldn’t sleep. If you don’t like my responses, then don’t read them.

The other part of this blog is to update question #3, which I managed to do just a few hours after posting this.

I mentioned in my Thursday blog that I had to leave my house by 4:45am to make it to the pier by 5:45 for the fishing trip. Like a moronic idiot, I ended up setting my alarm for 4:45am, instead of 4:00am. Once I woke up and realized what I did, I rushed around the house like crazy getting ready. I made it out the door by 5:10am. I made it to the pier by 5:40am. In this case, speeding was a necessity.

FridayQ

FQ TOPIC: Stupidity.

FQ1: Admit it, sometimes you are not the sharpest tool in the shed. What's something stupid you've done recently? (The FridayQ doesn't count!) I got up and went to work!

FQ2: Children do idiotic things all the time because they just can't seem to help it. What's something stupid you did as a kid? I still do stupid things all the time. I tell people to try to just consider it part of my charm.

FQ3: Sometimes, being a bit of an idiot is required (or fun!). What's something stupid you will be doing in the future? I’m sure I’ll be doing a lot of stupid stuff in the future. If anything else, it will be entertaining!

FQ OBSERVER: People are morons. Without naming names, what's something stupid you've seen somebody else do? I live in Alvin. I have seen too many people doing moronic things.

Work=Hell

This has been another week from hell. Work has just been horrible. On Wednesday, my boss called me into one of the small conference rooms to inform me that two people complained to our Personnel department last week about my language at the last admin meeting. That just really pissed me off. We haven’t even had an admin meeting this year, so I don’t know what “meeting” they were referring to. Then, after laying that bombshell on me, my boss what’s to discuss my objectives for the year. Since that incident happened, he decided to add this to my objectives:

“Demonstrate positive attitude leadership among admins. Define two specific objectives to this end and execute by the year end.”

WTF? As if I don’t have enough to do already, he wants me to kiss their asses? Then, it gets even better. Here’s another one of my objectives:

“Define and resolve at least one significant admin issue per project team.” Of course, he was only referring to the project teams that are part of his department. There is a total of eight of them. No where on my objectives does it mention the other two departments I support. I was still steaming over the Personnel thing, so I knew better than to argue anything with him at the time.

As soon as we got done, I told him I had a dentist appointment and had to leave. I did have a dentist appointment, but it wasn’t until 3:30pm. I left work at 11:00am. I was too pissed to stay there.

Yes, I did have to go to the dentist AGAIN. Fortunately, it didn’t have anything to do with my crown. I was experiencing some awful pain in my top tooth, the one located directly above the crown. I must have gotten food stuck between the tooth and the gum. In my attempts to get it out over the past several days, I completed fucked up my gums. He did numb up the one side of my mouth before he attempted to dig in my gums. He only removed a very tiny piece of food, but told me that it was probably bigger and I managed to get most of it out. Dr. Taylor did freak out over the state of my gums around that tooth that was hurting. I have to go back Monday morning so he can make sure that the area is healing.

For work, I knew I had to process payroll that evening since it was due tomorrow. That is what I spent Wednesday night doing. I really wanted to go visit my tech in the hospital that evening, but just didn’t have the time. This is the tech that got bit by the brown recluse spider over the July 4th weekend. They readmitted her to the hospital that morning. Fortunately, she only had to stay one night. So, I went by this afternoon to visit her at home and give her a get well card that we all signed at work. She had to wound covered so I didn’t get to see it. She thinks she’s still going to be out from work for another two weeks.

Tomorrow, we have a department fishing trip. I have to leave by 4:45am to make it to the pier on time. The weather forecast tomorrow is that it will be extremely hot. The sun, heat, and I do not get along very well. But, I have plenty of water, Gatorade, and sunscreen to help me make it through the day. I’ll have to find some time this weekend to blog and let you know how it goes.

Info on FridayQ

I know many of you are used to ready the Friday Five, but it "closed down" back in May. Jenny posted the info for FridayQ on Gil's site. I checked it out and got hooked.

Irfan/Jager...does this help answer your questions?

Catching Up

I'm trying to catch up on my blogging, so be patient with me.

Ed was finally released from the hospital this passed Thursday. Unfortunately, the doctors still don't have any answers for him. He wanted to be released in time to see his son's All-Star game. Well, he was released in time, but his son couldn't play. Why? As if this family haven’t had enough problems this week,
Eddie busted his elbow while playing baseball at his grandmother's house. He was trying to avoid falling on top of his younger nephew, and ended up introducing his elbow to the brick wall of the house. He got a total of seven stitches.

He has another game on Friday night. Ed was still fighting his headache from the lumbar puncture that was done at the hospital, so he didn't go. Christine called me and asked if I would go her instead. I was suppose to be on EMS duty that night, but cancelled since I was recovering from the week from hell at work. The game was just sad. Alvin lost 7-0, thus ending their all-star run. Eddie got to play two innings, but did not get the opportunity to pitch. After the game, I went over to the Morgan's house for some cake and ice cream. Christine hardly ever bakes, so it was quite a treat.

My Saturday was completely wasted on defensive driving. I had the take-home tapes from work. They were so boring. I started at 10:00am and didn’t finish until 4:00pm.

On Sunday, I had a family reunion to attend in Taylor, TX. It’s already Monday, and I still haven’t done anything exciting. I’m on EMS duty tonight. So far, we’ve had one call.

FridayQ

FQ TOPIC: Suggestive

FQ1: Suggest something to read, something to watch...
I not really into reading, so I’m just going to suggest that you watch Smallville

FQ2: Suggest someone to admire, someone to stare at...
I really admire my best friend, Christine, and her family. They are amazing people.

FQ3: Suggest someplace to go, someplace to avoid...
Go to Aeros games! Avoid Rockets games!

Life is a Roller Coaster

I figured I better blog since I haven?t done so in a while. Plus, I didn?t want Greg to send me another email about not blogging.

My Fourth of July weekend didn?t go completely as planned. The fact that I actually got to visit with Audra for a while made it just as enjoyable. I can?t wait for her to get her ass back to Texas!

I?m still dealing with the fact that someone that I really admired is cheating on his wife, who is also a good friend of mine. I?m so pissed about the whole situation. I do not have any respect for this person anymore. The fact that he?s cheating on his wife alone is enough to lose my respect. The person that he is having an affair with is just a waste of space. I know that sounds harsh, but that?s how I feel. I know others agree with me too.

Ed, my best friend?s husband, is in the hospital. As of tonight, they still don?t know what?s wrong with him. It?s been a very frustrating time for everyone. Prior to him being admitted, the doctors were thinking he had Guillain-Barré. On Tuesday, when he was in the ER, they were thinking maybe he had MS. Then, they said it probably isn?t that. Basically, they don?t have a clue what?s going on. He had more tests done this evening, so maybe the doctors will finally figure out what?s going on by tomorrow. Please keep him and the family in your prayers.

Also on Tuesday, I found out that one of my techs at work got bitten by a brown recluse spider over the holiday weekend. Personally, I think that is the worst spider to get bit by. She?s now at home recovering.

With all this going on, I still haven?t had time to deal with a friend of mine that has been acting very distant lately. I don?t have a clue what?s going on. I do know that I felt completely insulted by an action this person did over the weekend. I really didn?t feel like arguing about it at the time and risk messing up others? July 4th celebration, so I just went to my sister?s place and vented to her about it.

So that?s what?s been going on with me lately. I sure you can understand why I haven?t had the chance to blog.

A week of errors

This week was just a week of bad luck.

On Tuesday, I finally got a chance to check out Lori’s new place and set up her computer. On my way there, driving through downtown Houston, I managed to go through a low dip in the road and my front speakers quit working! On top of that, my back speakers were not working very well either. After fighting with Lori’s computer for almost two hours, I gave up and told her I would come back and work on it again another day. On my way home, I decided to fiddle with the balance and fade controls on my car stereo. After playing with the fade button, my speakers started working again. I was so relieved.

Work was hectic all week. My Outlook kept acting up, so I was missing so many emails. It was also a payroll entry week, which we have to have in by noon on Thursday. Since I have so many people to enter time for, I try to start on Tuesday. With everything else going on, I didn’t get to work on it at all Tuesday or Wednesday. So, I brought all the documents home with me and spent over two hours on Wednesday night putting it into the system.

On Thursday, I got in my car to go to work. My freakin’ speakers weren’t working again! So, I fiddled with the fade button again to get them working. My week started turning around that night when I had dinner with my dad and half-sister.

On Friday, I was completely fed up with my Outlook. Another IT guy came to look at it and had my computer tied up for over three hours. I couldn’t accomplish anything! Then, I got a phone call from Audra, who was coming into town this weekend from Alabama. That made my day. The last time she was able to come back to Texas, I was out of town at a convention so I was able to see her. She told me about a couple of parties this weekend. We decided it would be best if I just meet her at her and Joni’s place and we would head out to party from there. Finally, a chance for me to go out and really celebrate passing my CAP exam. I am looking so forward to it!

FridayQ

FQ TOPIC: Vent.

FQ1: What's the one thing above all others that drives you insane... that one dreaded event that causes you to completely lose your composure and want to kick, scream, and beat something with a big stick? Freakin’ slow drivers!

FQ2: Is that all? Surely there is something else that will cause you to freak out! Here's your chance to vent and list a few other things that make you go nuts...
- People that chomp their gum
- Stupid people
- Stupid people that reproduce

FQ3: When you've been driven crazy by something or someone... and are barely containing your frustration... is there anything you can do to calm down, dispell the rage, and be happy again? Get the hell away from them

FQ DARE: Admit it, you're not perfect... what is something you do that drives other people crazy? My sister hates it when I hum when I’m thinking