I just finished watching the DVD of Ken Burns' The National Parks: America's Best Idea. At some point the statement was made that the National Parks were a symbol of democracy. They were established so all Americans could enjoy them. The were established for the benefit of the people. It came to mind that I was only watching the DVD because it was available to check out for free from another symbol of democracy - the public library.

How cool is that!

Technology

I've been missing calls on my cell phone. Lots. From area codes 606 and 423.

So I decided to put my skills to use and used an official database and found out the calls were from various convenience stores, in the same chain, in TN and KY.

Eventually, I call one of the numbers to find out what was going on. He said, apparently, their HQ had made a mistake in sending out the phone number to a fax machine they were to send reports to. He said he would contact HQ to send out a correction.

It was fine for a while, but had a couple of missed calls today.

Hope that's the end of it.

Balance? Karma?

So, I knew I have had too many things go wrong lately when my first thought, really, a calm first thought, after seeing a pool of red fluid under my car this morning was, "At least I have the day off because I thought they were going to install flooring. I can get the car in and wait and someone at my house can get me to work by 5:00 even if my kid has to do it before he goes to work at 4:00."

Really, calm, cool . . . ..

So, off to see the car people I've seen about every 7-10 days for the past two months with something new.

Just keep pumping money into the economy . . .. . . .



Update:

Feeling sorry for me, they replaced or fixed a hose and had me out in an hour, give or take. We all said we hoped we didn't see each other until next year like Spring, for an oil change.

Balance and the ability to say "No"

In my quest for balance and being realistic about work, I said "no" yesterday, twice.

We are working on the branch plan for next year and the manager was sharing and asking for input from me and two others. They had said they would commit to doing some extra stuff. I said 'no.' I mentioned the two committees with lots of work that I am on and the big program we do in the spring. I didn't want to commit to anything else, but if an opportunity came up and I had the time in the Fall, I would do the sharing and speak at a staff meeting about a best practice or do the genre RA sharing and talk. (There were two separate requests in there.) Just couldn't add anything else to my workplan.

And, of course, it was fine.

And I hope I set an example for the other two.

I want my life back

The project idea came from several places but one of them is that I need more balance in my life. There's a psychological reason to give an employee a good appraisal. They want to live up to it and what's in it and work harder. At least some do. Or maybe just the insecure ones.

Anyway

It seems I read lots and because I'm exempt, that can be a mentioned positive. The problem is, it takes over my off work time. I can do better RA, but seriously, don't do tons of it on a daily basis. The balance is off. I need to find a better way to become familiar with books, at work, on work time, besides trying to read everything. I need the time at home to do other things. Not work related. So, although it will affect my appraisals, I'm cutting back on the reading.

I've recently learned of another problem. It's intimidating for my coworkers. They think they don't read enough, but they have a better balance. And they aren't exempt so it can't even be mentioned. How much they read on their own time.

So I returned about 10 books the other day and stopped reading one in the middle because it wasn't doing anything for me. I do have two waiting, but they sound interesting and would want to read them anyway. Without the 'should' read them.

Sad part is there is this competition coming up soon and I should set some kind of an example, so need to have my usual goal of 100 pages a day. Just won't go over it and won't compete for most pages read in my building.

Have been working on a plan to replace the flooring in my house. The other crafty creative stuff will have to wait. So now spending time packing things up to get them out of the way of the workers coming next week. And it's a good excuse to clean some stuff out.

November 24

Yesterday was my parents anniversary.

And this year, they both aren't here.

I miss them.

So in the spirit of the season, I felt they needed to be acknowledged. And remembered. And thanked. For their love and support and making me who I am. Even if they didn't always understand. They were parents after all.

And, so this year, I am also especially thankful that my kid wanted to come home for the entire week. He didn't have to. He wanted to.

Be thankful.

Only fun for an introvert

Not the best week and parts of the weekend look iffy.

But tired of being stay-at-home grumpy, I went to the kid's workplace for dinner with a book in hand. He gave me a deal on the salmon burger meal deal and came out to chat now and then.

I actually found myself enjoying dining - well not really dining but eating - alone and reading in a back booth. The book is engaging, I had different background noises, free beverage refills and even a chocolate chip cookie delivered.

Looking for a movie to curl up on the couch with.