Don’t Mess With Me

My staff could tell you that I very rarely lose my temper at work. I’m really very tolerant and easy going. This morning, however, somebody crossed the line. He doesn’t work for me, but I supported his getting the promotion that put him in the position he is now in. Big mistake. Don’t F**K with my ability to do my job. Just. Don’t.

The email that started my day:

Good morning Sue!
I hope you’re having a good morning so far…
M informs me that you called him to report an issue at Warren County. We are working on the problem but are awaiting calls back from either J G or M R of OFT. Nothing can be done with either the OFT or LDSS network without their input and assistance.

In the future, please direct any requests regarding these problems to me. Do not call M or D directly. They will receive directions on how to proceed from me.
Thanks Sue,

My response:

No R, I am not having a good morning so far! I have four trainers tap dancing because they can’t get a connection in Warren County, and eight county staff who will be wasting their very valuable time if a connection can’t be made. This is, right now, the highest priority . As you mentioned in your last note, D and M did an outstanding job of resolving the issue last week, and they were called directly then because you were nowhere to be found. My last communication regarding Warren County was that M was the IT point person for this issue, so he was the person I called this morning.

I do not agree with you that these issues are out of the scope of work or authority of the IT staff who are assigned to EEDSS. In my opinion this is one of the most important IT responsibilities – keeping EEDSS up and running for the LDSS who are our primary users. I absolutely do agree with you that M and D showed great professionalism and dedication in their efforts to resolve the issues last week on very short notice. Unfortunately, these things will always happen on short notice and under great time constraints. As you know, when we tested the connection during pre-implementation it worked flawlessly.

One of my primary responsibilities is to make sure that the training is accomplished within the time allotted by the LDSS managers. I will call whomever I need to call to make sure that happens.

So there!

Oh, Mexico. It sounds so simple I’ve just got to go.

Mexican night was a great success. We actually seem to have this party thing down to a science. We were ready early enough that I managed to sneak in a nap. It was a good thing, too since everyone stayed till well after midnight. While the guys played music, the girls had many laughs, some of which were at the expense of the musicians in the other room. There was too much food, not enough margarita mix and more than enough beer. All in all a great night!

Don’t You Just Love a Bargain?

I hate shopping during the Christmas rush and usually try and have my Christmas shopping done before Thanksgiving. My favorite day to shop, though is the day after Christmas. Every year I get up early and head first to the Christmas Tree Shop. It’s a great place to get wrapping paper, ribbon, cards, etc at half price. This year was especially good because they had Hallmark wrapping paper already cheper than at the Hallmark stores and then it was half price. I was also able to score some generic gifts for next year like picture frames and holiday dishes.

After loading the trunk of the car, I went back into the mall to look for other bargains. I found some really nice black boots on sale at Macys and with my coupon the ended up being only $20. I also got some slacks at Christopher and Banks. Then I hit Bath and Body Works for some pretty smelling gift sets for the girls in the family that we don’t see until January. I also had a gift card to Michaels burning a hole in my pocketbook, but that would have involved driving about 15 miles in the other direction, so I decided to save it for another trip.

All in all a productive shopping trip and I was home before 11AM!

Christmas Eve Menu

Christmas Eve dinner is here this year. The menu:

Pumpkin dip with Honey Wheat crackers

Bagel Chips and hummus (boy’s request)

Shrimp Cocktail

Thai Chicken Skewers

Meatballs and Sauce

Seven Layer Salad

Tomatoes with Mozzerella, Basil and Olives

Chipotle toast

Also Cranberry Margaritas which will be cran/rasp because I couldn’t find frozen cranberries

The Boys are Back

I feel like a mother hen whose chicks have returned to the nest. Ed drove out to Syracuse this morning to replace Liam’s side view mirror which was destroyed by a careless driver. Ed returned about 6:30pm and Liam was about an hour behind him. Then I picked Connor up at the train station at 8:00. He said all he wants to do is sleep all day tomorrow. I’ll sleep really well knowing they are safe in their bedrooms. It’s great to have them home!

35th High School Reunion

Last night was my 35th High School reunion. It was held at an upscale restaurant in downtown Albany and attended by around 40 class of ‘72 alumni and maybe another 20 spouses/SO’s (mine included).

I keep in touch with a few people from my class, including my best friend Maribeth who I see very often for lunch or dinner or at scrapbooking events. But most of the people there I haven’t seen in at least ten years. A few people I actually didn’t recognize. The organizers helped with that, however by giving us all name tags with our yearbook pictures and names in big letters.

It was fun catching up with old friends and talking to people that I never really talked to in high school. We actually sat at dinner with two guys that I never knew at all in school. One was very interesting. He and Ed knew some people in common and chatted away The other guy spent the entire dinner talking about how much his life sucked. He was a member of the infamous (and I thought long defunct) “OC ski club” which was a singles club in the late ’70s and told several stories of women he’d dated and how they wouldn’t go out with him more than once. I stifled the urge to tell him I probably knew why.

We sat through the very funny presentation by the MC, and stayed a while after dinner, but when some of the group decided to move the party to another bar we decided to go home. If I had been solo, I might have gone along but I didn’t think it was fair to subject Ed to my former classmates in all their drunken glory.

Would You Like to Ride in my Beautiful Balloon?

I always wanted to go to the Adirondack Balloon Festival. In spite of my fear of heights, I’ve always loved hot air balloons. We looked into camping at the site, but there were too many restrictions. Basically, you need to park your camper by early afternoon on Friday and can’t leave until the middle of the afternoon on Sunday. I wanted to go, but not necessarily dedicate an entire weekend. We decided to get up early and drive up for the morning launch. I must admit that when the alarm went off at 3:30 I had second thoughts. We did get up and out and were surprised that there were so many people on the road at that hour of the morning on a Saturday.

It was still quite foggy when we got to the airport. There were no balloons inflated, so we decided to have breakfast in the hanger. As we ate we slowly saw balloons come to life. We walked around and watched the balloons inflate, and finally walked up to a hill where the the press photographers had set up. We heard the sound blast and then they started to rise.

What an experience. All around us were balloons of every color and shape rising into the sky. There were a few that didn’t go too far. But most drifted off in an almost surreal splash of color and motion. After about fifteen minutes it was done and everyone headed back to their cars.

If the weather cooperates, we’ll do it again next year.

When it Rains, it Pours

This was one of those weekends that there was just too much to do. Everything seemed to fall on the same day. I signed up with my friend Maribeth for an all day scrapbook event. Ed meanwhile, agreed to fiddle with a group that was playing at the dedication opening of a Lock on the northern Hudson. Then friends called and invited us to a 25th anniversary party. OK, it was still do-able. Then Connor decided to come home to attend a concert. OK, if I leave the crop early I can actually spend an hour with him before we head off to our respective activities. Then we discovered that the music festival in Massachusetts was the same weekend. ( I was hoping to hit the Yankee Candle factory while Ed played). And to top it off, I was invited to a bridal shower for a couple in my office.

So we skipped the trip to MA. I sent a gift to the shower with a friend. Maribeth and I had a great day at the crop and got a lot done while catching up. Ed played at the dedication and we both got back early enough to spend some time with Connor before he left for his concert and we took off for the party. The party was great. Mutual friends own Hennessey Home Brew and they along with our hosts provided a variety of home brewed beer and wine. One of the most yummy was a chocolate orange port aperitif which was served with dessert. The icing in the cake – we were handed a bottle on our way out! We’re saving it for after Thanksgiving dinner. Yum!

Brimfield

The little town of Brimfield Ma. has a giant antique show three times a year. Hundreds of dealers and vendors set up on both sides of the road filling six or eight fields with what a co-worker refers to as “old junk”. For those of us who are lovers and collectors of old junk, it’s like heaven.

We haven’t been there in at least five years and it has grown since our last visit. We left early enough to arrive around 10AM. We have a favorite parking lot with a lot of trees so we can usually score a shady spot. It was beastly hot, so the first order of business was to find a water vendor since we didn’t think to bring some.

We only covered one field before lunch, and I ended up going beyond my budget by falling in love with a 60’s breadbox and canister set, which I was able to get for significantly less than the marked price.

We took that back to the car, found some lunch and poked around two more fields before I gave up and went back to the car for some shade and my book. Ed returned about an hour later the proud owner of two more antique radios. That brings his total to 40-something.On the way back we stopped at the Outlets, but unbelievably I couldn’t find a thing to buy. All in all a good day.

Water Aerobics

Tonight is the first night of the fall session of Water Aerobics.  I’m not a big fan of exercise in general, but this class is fun, and we really do get a workout.  It helps that the instructor is very nice, too.