Remember Me?

Wow, it's been a looong time since I've written anything here. Fear not, I have not been turning all my attentions to the facebook page I have either. That page is almost as barren as this one. I've just been absolutely speechless most of the summer. Work has been crazy-busy this summer and I've had little energy to devote to writing it all down. Not that you would have seen it here though since I try to leave work out of this page unless it's something special. I am looking forward to my week of vacation coming up. I will have the week of Squee's birthday off. She will be 13 and she is almost taller than me. I figure by Christmas she will tower over me. This was to be expected though given that her father is 6' 3". Luck for me, this year she has decided to be a black cat for Halloween. A black cat with pink hair to give it an anime flair I should add. Nothing normal in this household by any stretch of the imagination and that's the way I like it. I also like the fact that I won't have to break out the sewing machine this year or spend hours working on the costume as I have in years past. All I need is a black turtleneck shirt and we will be good to go. In the event we don't get to the store to get her one I do have one or two of my own for the cause to pick from. So, all I have to do is brush out her wig from last year and we will be good to go. It will probably come as no surprise that I already own ears and a cat tail from one of my previous costumes. I usually dress for Halloween when I'm at work. The little one's that will be missing Halloween because they are sick really like it when the pharmacy staff are all dressed up. It's like they didn't miss all of the fun. I'm not sure if I will be dressing up this year, I haven't given it much thought. It's on Saturday this year which is a short day for me so I most likely will. I'll probably just use my gypsy fortune teller costume from last year. If I could wear it for 14 hours last year I can certainly wear it for 10 hours this year. Well, I'll try to keep you posted on that one. Time to go. I have a Squee child to annoy since she's home from school now. Take care!!

Why?!

Why is it that I can get onto the internet from anywhere in the house except from 6 feet away from the router on the love seat? I can move 5 more feet away to the far side of the couch and it works fine. I can go to other rooms and it works fine. I just can't use it unless I put it within point blank range if I want to sit in my favorite computing spot. I can't even blame it on interference from other electronic equipment because I'm usually all by myself when I get online so the TV is off and nothing else is running. I just don't get it.

Goodbye Specialsgurl you will be missed

I try not to write about work here but today is different. My lead technician, whom I have been graced with for many years has finally gotten a greatly deserved promotion. She arrived at my store, as several have over the years, coming from a difficult situation in the store they had been hired at. She was labeled as a troublesome employee that they had neither the hours nor the desire to train. Funny how I end up with these girls and the only thing I see is an intelligent young woman that is trying to do the best that they can in my store. In all cases where this has happened I have had no problem training these girls. In fact most have far exceeded any expectations myself or the company could ever had. The only thing I can figure is that with these girls you have to explain why certain things have to be done in a certain way. In other words, they don't just do what they are told because a higher up says it needs to be done. Once they learn the why's about a task, they are more than willing and able to get the job done the correct way.

When Specialsgurl came to me she was still very much a diamond in the rough. I could tell she was very strong willed, but she was very intelligent as well and I can work with that. She was still in her teens (around 18 years old) when I transferred her to my store and still had a bit of growing up to do, but who doesn't at that age. She was "just a technician" when she arrived, which was the top rank among non-pharmacist staff at the time. Shortly thereafter the role of "lead technician" started to be thrown around at our company. A new National certification exam had become available to technicians that gave them letters after their name and something to put on a resume. Our company had been trying to promote all technicians taking the exam so they came up with this new lead technician position. My partner and I finally got Specialsgurl into the exam and she passed it without a hitch, as we knew she would. That is really where she began to shine. She started to blossom into the person she is today. Giving her that little bit of responsibility made all the difference in the world. It didn't stop there. Many of the ideas she and other member of the staff had were tried out in our store and if they panned out she submitted the ideas to the tech trainers and district managers depending on what the idea was. Anytime we had an issue that arrose that needed fixing even if I had my own ideas I sought out hers or would tell her mine and we would brainstorm on will this work, how will it work, and can we make it better. She also worked as my bridge between my partners. She was there monday
through friday. Pharmacists rarely work on the same day in a two man store so they never see each other. Specialsgurl passed messages between myself and my partners making our store run smoother. She also kept a tight reign on the other technicians so I didn't have to worry about it. This last part was very handy during the times I had less than stable partners (and I've had a few of those).

So, we come to today. A new tech training program is being launched within the company. They have basically dissolved the current tech trainer (our area has 3 I believe or I should say had) positions and replaced it with one tech trainer. The few current trainer that applied from our region and the other nearby regions have been rejected. The District Managers were sent out to their stores to recruit likely candidates to apply for the job. Guess where they came looking. It's my own fault they came to our store. I had made sure that Specialsgurl got all the credit for her hard work and ideas over the years so that she was a known name at the regional office. Not sure I knew at the time that this would happen, but I knew my tech could make a career out of the company and wanted her options to be open. Well, they are wide open now. She went to the interview and got the job. Truthfully, if they hadn't given it to her I would have questioned their sanity on the issue. Her words to me when she told me were that I had never doubted that she would get the job, eventhough she had many doubts herself. I have worked in many of the surrounding stores of my area (a day here and there) there are only a handful that would have what it takes for this new position. Of those people I couldn't think of more than one or two that might actually go to the open interviews (and they didn't have me going over check lists of things to bring, what to wear, and what questions to expect).

I will really miss Specialsgurl. I will miss the morning "meetings" when I've been off the last few days to catch up on what's been going on in the store (and more to the point, life in general). I will miss the laughter, the banter back and forth, the powwows on how to get our store number back up when the fall, the including of the customers in our conversations, and of course the coffee (she brings me coffee every morning...probably to keep my mood up). In fact she asked me (and sounded rather disturbed about this) who was going to bring me coffee when she's gone. I assured her that after they get a load of me in the morning without coffee for a few weeks, someone will figure it out. Besides, the one who brings the coffee usually gets their lunch paid for by me. In case you are wondering why I don't get my own coffee in the morning. I work a 14 hour day most days. D&D is either a left turn in a really bad intersection or I have to go out of my way to get there. Add to that that half of those days are back to back 14 hour days, it's just not an option to start my day earlier just so the techs may live.

So, I am very pleased and happy that Specialsgurl has sprouted wings and left the nest (and a bit proud to boot). I'd like to think that I had something to do with it, although this girl would have gone far in almost any environment. I keep telling myself that this is really not goodbye, that we will still be in the loop with each other. Over the years she has transformed from the diamond in the rough into a sparkling gem. Part of me feels the joy of a mother. Part of me feels the pride as her supervisor. Most of me is beaming at how far she has come and where she is going and the fact that I can call her my friend. Goodbye for now Specialsgurl...your daily presence will be missed.

I give up...you people win

Well, it would seem that the evil facebook people have won. I have had many requests from friends and family to add myself to facebook over the last few months. I have tried hard to resist them but you people finally wore me down. I now am on facebook.

Time Fly's

I didn't realize how long it had been since I last posted. I did find A new car on my first day out. Yes, I bit the bullet and bought a 2009 Jeep Liberty. I got a deal I couldn't refuse so I went with a new one instead of a used one. I love it! It's very comfortable for me to drive and I really like the way it looks. They redesigned the body type so it looks more like the Jeep Commander. I actually liked the look of the Commander over the more rounded old style for the Liberty so this worked out as well. The Commander is just too big a vehicle for me...I'd be a little nervous driving something quite so big. So, that is the big news from the past month. Work has taken up most of my energy lately so I really haven't done much of anything else. Well, unless you count cleaning out all of my kitchen cabinets so I can rearrange the kitchen to make room for the armour that sits in my livingroom. All that is left of that project is clearing off the kitchen table so it can go downstairs and getting a breakfast bar for the kitchen. The Squee child is going to help with clearing off the table (and clearing under it) so that the big bear and I can get it downstairs. I hope he has a spot ready for it. At least then two rooms will be finished upstairs. Well, finished until we decide to redo the upstairs plumbing, but that is a ways off when we redo the bathroom upstairs. It's been a slow process but at least I feel like I'm getting somewhere now. I may even get the livingroom straighted away the way I want it by the end of the Summer at this rate. So, that's what I've been up to the last few weeks.

This week at the barn

This week at the barn may be really busy or it may be kinda slow. I have decided that it is time to unload the mommy wheels and get a newer car. I had toyed with getting a new car in the fall, but I don't think that's going to happen. I have done some online researching and have found almost a dozen used cars that I want to test drive. This is a far greater number than when we were looking for the big bear's vehicle so I am optimistic that I should be able to find something I like within the month. I really like driving the big bear's JEEP Cherokee, but I would prefer something a bit smaller so I am looking at the JEEP Liberty. I figure that people must have unloaded their liberty's once the threat of a big storm was over, at least that's what I am hoping, since there is a much bigger selection of used one's than there has been all winter. I am hoping that the reason they all got unloaded wasn't because they are a heap of doody. I should be able to figure it out once I test drive a few of them. Yes, I have been looking all winter to see what they are going for used and all of that online. The plan had been that I was going to replace my car when my bonus check arrived from work at the end of March. The thing was that all winter, big surprise-not really, there weren't many out there to look at used. So, wish me luck on the hunt and hope that when I do some test driving this turns out to be the car I want. If it isn't, it could be a long time before I figure it out.

Pet Peeve #56

Okay, this is going to be a short one. My pet peeve of the day. Why is it that I can never get into the work server when I really need to at home. If it's not a necessity I can get on no problem, but when it's really, really, really (and I stress REALLY) important...I can NEVER get into it. Now it's in writing and I can get on with life feeling better.