Baby Giraffe!

Baby Mkuu (pronounced em-COO-you) was born at the zoo on Saturday! How cute is he?! I'm going to have to bribe some people on Sunday when I'm volunteering to get back to the barn and see this little guy!

Bad Blogger!

I am truly a bad blogger. I know. I really need to get at this more often.

So what's been happening in my life? Not much new. Still losing weight, trying to sell my house, and trying to land a new job because my current one sucks.

Still Losing Weight
So on this topic...I've lost about 30 lbs now. Yep. 30 lbs in 10 weeks. Not too shabby. I feel great, too. I don't actually see any difference in the mirror (because I never seem to see what I really look like), but it shows in my clothes. In fact, last week I broke down and bought some new, smaller pants at Target, because the baggy pants wasn't looking very attractive.

I'll be starting the transition back to "regular" food in 17 days. I'm both looking forward to that and freaked out by that. I'm sick of the same thing all day long, but I do like the weight loss and ease of just grabbing my meals and going (and also not being hungry). This next phase will teach me more skills for the kitchen, because I think I've learned a lot of things about my mental approach to food and ways to change that.

I also started doing the Couch to 5K program again. I was tired of just walking, so I started it earlier than planned. So far so good on that. 30 lbs ago my shins begged mercy. Now they seem to be taking everything in stride (get it...stride...run....teehee).

Trying to Sell my House
I've had exactly two showings. Ugh. Frustrating. I know this place should sell...if I could just get people in there!

Trying to Land a New Job
I have an interview tomorrow. Cross your fingers, put out those positive vibes, whatever you've got. I need to get out of this place! And this job seems like it would be a great opportunity.

.................

Well, that's all for now.

Video Time

It's been a while since I posted a video....

Writing

I like writing in my blog. (Even if I go through some dry spells.) I enjoy crafting words to convey interesting (to me) stories or general nonsense.

I don't like writing/editing at work. To give you a sample of what I'm editing today:

"All fields on the Questionnaire should be filled in completely using proper grammar, punctuation, correct upper and lower case letters (not all caps or all lower case letters) and complete sentences. The Questionnaire will be sent electronically to the opposing member (Acquirer) by clicking “Submit” or can be pended for additional processing by clicking “Pend.” If you click “Pend”, a window opens in which you can optionally enter a follow-up date; if no follow-up is needed simply click “Submit” in the window to bypass the option."

I've read the above passage about 10 times and I still don't remember what it said. It's becoming increasingly hard for me to edit (or sometime write) work material. I don't mind coding the html to make it pretty or make it flow better. I enjoy that usually. But trying to take the above paragraph and make it comprehensible by the average customer service agent is not my cup of tea.

I feel like I'm becoming increasingly negative in my work life (if it's even possible to get more negative than I was about this job). And I'm afraid this negativity is leeching into my non-work life.

I need to focus on more positive thinking so I get a job I'm more suited to. Whether that's within this company or another. I also need to focus on more positive thinking so I can not be a couch potato the minute I leave work, because I'm so drained from being negative all day.

One of the cute things my nephew likes to say is, "Focus, {insert name} !" It's so funny when he does it. So I'm going to try to hear that when my negative thoughts creep in. That way I'll both smile and "Focus!"

Simple Solutions

My coworker Bob stops by to chat a billion times a day. I think I've mentioned that. It's become increasingly annoying. I cringe when I see him walking nearby, afraid he's going to stop. He usually does.

His latest rant is about the price of gas. He commutes about 40 minutes every morning, so he does have something to complain about there. He talks about how it's getting so expensive that he doesn't know if he'll be able to come in to work.

He was particularly adamant this week that he almost couldn't find the money to get here, because of some budget problems. I really want to give him the simple solutions to his woes, but I'm pretty sure he won't listen. So, I'll let you all in on the solutions to his problem.

1. He could quit smoking. He smokes several times a day. He'd save money if he quit that. (His wife also smokes...so they'd save even more money if she quit too...)
   
   
2. His wife could get a job. His wife is probably one of the laziest people I've ever heard of. She has no job, but still sends her child to "daycare" with her grandparents every day, so she can do whatever she wants (which I hear often is drinking and going to the casino).

So there are two simple solutions for him. Either one would help...but that's just my two cents.

Now if he'd just figure that out and leave me alone!

Reason #3,857,985,444 Why I Hate this Job

Having multiple people tell me the following after I post a particularly bland title on a website I don't normally maintain or know squat about the content:

"It's a good idea to be as descriptive as possible with titles. Makes searching for the notice easier in the future."

Yeah, and I'll be sure to put the new coversheet on the TPS reports too. (I hope you all have seen the movie Office Space or that's not going to make any sense.)

Sheesh.

If I cared...I'd do it. I'm not a moron. I've been doing this sort of thing for many, many years. But I don't care if the title is descriptive or searchable. Not a bit.

And now, before I go into a full-on rant about my crappy day and all that, I'll just post this.

Pictures, finally...

Sorry for the delay...here are the pictures of my living room/dining room.

So this is what my floor feels like...

Well, here I sit on my townhome floor craning my neck upward to watch TV. My family helped me to move my living room furniture to the curb today to await pickup by the garbage truck tomorrow.

Why? Because my new furniture comes tomorrow! Yay! But I am a little bit sad to see the old stuff heaped on the curb. I've had that couch for 12 years. It's the first real furniture I ever bought. The chaise lounge was just a garage sale find, but it was decent and the cats LOVED it. All three have found it a great place to curl up and sleep or gaze out and watch the birds. So I'm sure they'll miss it too.

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It's been a busy day here in Webgal-land. I spent much of the morning cleaning and organizing this place to get it in tip-top shape. My (soon to be) realtor is stopping by on Sunday to start the process of listing this place officially, so I want this place in show condition. My goal is that she doesn't have any suggestions on how I can better stage this place.

I've been watching HGTV religiously. I've organized this and that. Pitched this and that. Cleaned this and that. I think I'm about ready. If people don't like this place, there's not much more I can do.

(I'll be sure to post pictures once my new furniture arrives and is in place tomorrow.)

OMG

So I just got done talking to a coworker of mine and he told me he's been having an email conversation with one of the customer service agents in my department.

First let me paint you a picture of this agent. This young man has been here less than a year and has some crazy/serious sense of ambition. He wears a tie every day (mind you, he works as a phone rep in a call center that allows people the freedom to wear jeans and other relaxed attire) and wears a sport jacket most days as well. He is continually submitting his latest and greatest ideas to improve the department (I'm on the committee that reviews those ideas). He often speaks of his ambitions to progress in the department. Now, none of these things are bad, per se. But, he does make himself stand out (A LOT) from the crowd.

He recently started saying things like, "When I'm CEO, I'll remember you." I want to say..."Uh...you won't be CEO. Ever. " And perhaps one of the must gutsy moves lately is that he sent an email to his supervisor's manager's manager (a senior VP) to detail some of the improvements he thinks the department could make.

But anyway...back to the email conversation.

It appears that this young agent is offended by his coworkers saying the phrase, "Oh my God!" (he isn't hearing them say this to customers on the phone, but rather in general office chit-chat.) He was wondering what to do about it, if he should tell his supervisor or another area. My coworker suggested he discuss this with Human Resources.

Now, I find this whole thing a tad curious. That phrase is pretty much just a phrase "the kids" use anymore (e.g. OMG!). Most people don't think of it as wrong when they use it. (I'm not saying it's a phrase I like to use, but occasionally it does slip out in certain situations.) In an office setting, can HR police something like that? Should they? Everybody has different beliefs. Is it possible or even reasonable to sanitize our daily language enough to appease everybody? (For example, I prefer that skinny people never talk about weight issues.) I personally don't think so, but am curious to hear what comes of this situation.