Good job, local news

News headline tonight: "Winter officially arrives."
Really?
Apparently today is the shortest day of the year.
So theoretically we should get longer days and more sunshine in our future.
This is very exciting, as I'm done with going to, and coming home from, work in the dark.
However, as a reminder, I already got the memo that winter was here.
The white stuff piled on the ground helped.

"We get excited when it hits 15* - because then the salt can actually melt the ice."

- A colleague sharing some winter advice.

Neat.

Happiness Project o' the Day

There's been too much venting going on around here.
And frankly, too much of a need for venting. So today we'll try something new.

Ten things that make me happy:
1. Fun music - thank you, Sing-Off. I heart you.
2. TV Guide Online. With no DVR, you help me figure out what's on television in a timely manner. 'Preciate it.
3. Restocking the shelves at my favorite store - helped me get my Christmas shopping done. With what I wanted to get - I didn't have to go to plan B.
4. My grounds staff - they plowed my parking spot today - I should be able to make it out much easier in the morning. Hooray!
5. Sunshine in the winter. It's amazing how much nicer -20* feels when the sun is shining.
6. Lunch plans. No need to stress about packing or planning . . . and fun company is always a bonus!
7. Turning in my first budget on time. Yay!
8. Chipotle. I'm not sure that Madison appreciates you for all you are worth, because there are not enough of you around . .. but I'm so thankful you're here.
9. New winter boots - thanks for keeping me warm today. I look forward to a long winter with you by my side. I mean, at my feet. ;)
10. Finding a place to put a rental application in for . . . . let's all cross our fingers that it goes through and soon I'll be complaining about unpacking.

My Life is Officially a Comedy of Errors

This was the subject line I used to update my boss on how the rest of my weekend went. I will share the email with you below, as it seems to be the simpler way to go . . .

Hi Boss.

I thought I should update you . . . and I promise, I'm not making this up.

1. I was sent a defective phone. I can make and receive phone calls, but no internet.

:( So I have to get another one sent to me.

2. After 1.25 hours, I made it out of my parking spot today - hooray! And the apartment complex I was supposed to check out was closed due to weather.

3. I'm sure I will find all of this hilarious, when I have a place to live and contacts again in my phone. But for now, I might be holding it together with duct tape and elbow grease.

4. How come no one told me that the street signs would get covered in snow storms? Is it someone's job to dust them off? :) (See - sense of humor is not totally gone. The sun will come up tomorrow).

5. Hope you had a good weekend!

 

Kelly

You seriously can't make this shite up. For Real.

Today was stressful. But got better after a delicious dinner out (becasue of the condition of the weather and deteriorating road conditions [freezing rain + downpouring of heavy, wet snow], I chose a chocolate milkshake instead of wine) and shopping.

I got home and found a kind check-in email from my boss. Below is the gist, with some edits of my response.

Kind Boss: [Subject of email: Apartment]  Any luck today?

Me: No - I had the opposite of luck today, actually. :(
I then succinctly and appropriately described the previous post (which is of course, not succinct, nor probably appropriate), and suggested that my day didn't go as planned, at all.

Hilarious Boss: Your life is becoming a movie.
I'm pretty sure this is where the kids would say LAUGH OUT LOUD. Because I did, for quite a while. And let's be real  - I totally needed that.

Kelarious Response back: I know, Right? You can't make this stuff up if you tried!

AND THEN TWENTY MINUTES LATER THE POWER WENT OUT.
In the middle of a snowstorm, [and a semi-decent lifetime movie based on a James Patterson novel I read this summer].
For real. No power. It's really freaking cold outside. And? Dark.

As you may have guessed from this post, the power, in fact, did come back on, after about 3ish hours. Hooray! People won't have to sleep with no heat in a crazy winter storm. Though, I did feel prepared since one of my retail-therapy purchases was some long underwear, a brand recommended by a new colleague called "Cuddl Duds." [Looking for some to keep YOU warm? Go to http://www.cuddlduds.com/. I believe that Kohls also sells them.]
I'm going to have to figure out a way to make treats for the RMs who have been getting a million phone calls from their residents all night, and especially my RM, N- who brought me a flashlight. She's a good egg. I spent the last 3 hours continuing to read The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest. Quite good, but the reading will be so much faster now that I can use real light, in lieu of the one candle I brought, and smartly packed with matches, and was thankfully able to find.

** Thought while proofreading this - perhaps this IS a Lifetime movie in the making. Thoughts on what to call it?

Human Error(s) . . . and Retail Therapy to follow . . .

Today a UPS staff member decided (unknowingly, I'm sure), to make my life more challenging.
S/he chose not to deliver my replacement phone to the address I specifically provided to the insurance company. Probably because I used my office - which, as a reminder, is where I'm having all my mail sent.
The United States Post Office doesn't seem to have a problem finding me.
Perhaps it's because they don't make assumptions.
I even had my staff make a note for the admin assistant who was going to be working this morning to be sure to accept the package for me - because it was my phone - and I needed it to be signed for.
However, it never even got that far because they took one look at the address and decided that because it didn't have an apartment number on it, it couldn't possibly be delivered.
I'm sure in theory, most of the time, this is true.
However, it wasn't today.
I will call this "Human Error Number One."
So when I went to track the progress today, and found out that they decided to return it to sender, it just about sent me over the deep end.
I sat on the floor, used the landline (that I had to learn the number of yesterday so my staff could call me with any emergencies - good thing, because we had a water main break in the wee hours of the morning - the second call I got to make to my boss this week), and hunted down my phone.
I think the woman could hear that I was on the verge of losing it in my voice, as she was able to track it down - a man named Craig at the UPS shipping dock (on the other side of town) had it in hand.
She said I could go and pick it up anytime before 4.
Great. I had an apartment to view at 2:00.
After mapquesting everything, I realized that I would need to look at the apartment first, then cross town to pick up the damn phone, and then drive back to the other side to run the errands that I needed to get done today.
This is where "Human Error Number Two" came into play.
It was my own.
Apparently I put in " 251 N. Yellowstone Drive" when I should have put "251 S. Yellowstone Drive into mapquest."
One freaking letter just about caused a major meltdown.
Because I couldn't find where I was supposed to be.
And I didn't have a phone. I forgot the "emergency" phone my staff had lent me.
I guess we can call this Human Error Number Three.
Mine also.
So I couldn't call anyone - not a friend to look up the number, or the leasing agent who was supposed to show me an apartment.
After contemplating finding a random establishment that might have a computer to look up the number for me, I chose instead to leave the area and drove to the other side of town, to the UPS place.
Where I couldn't find anyone. It was closed. Apparently THEY AREN'T OPEN ON SATURDAYS.
Who the hell is Craig and what was he thinking?
I rang a random doorbell next to an employee entrance that I eventually went in - (the door was unlocked), and found no one. Wandered around the loading area - nothing.
Went back outside, got in my car, and slowly drove around the building.
Cursing UPS, and the rest of the world.
Starting to write a letter to them in my head.
Finally saw another human being on the complete opposite side of the building.
Two guys were in the back of a truck and looked at me like I had two heads.
Before I got out of my car, I reminded myself not to kill the messanger.
But after sharing a snippet of my story, one of them kindly went inside and found my phone.
Which, of course, is supposed to be charged for 12 hours. [Not gonna lie - when I read the instructions, I literally almost went off the deep end.]
So again, I curse the tool that chose not to deliver my phone when it should have been.
I took a deep breath, and decided that I'd gone this long without a phone, had already missed my appointment, and wasn't going to be able to find the place in a timely enough manner anyway, so I should just move on with my life, and my planned shopping outing.
Needless to say, I took my revenge out on my checking account, and purchased some very important items: "Now That's What I Call Christmas! Volume 4", brown boots, and doritos, among other things. The local economy can thank the UPS dude.

Too much of this (*SIGH*) and this (ARGH!!!!) tonight

Today was quite a long day.
So long, in fact, that when I got home, after driving in the snow and wondering if I was going to make it up the hill in my car, and realized that I had lost my cell phone, I wanted to have ice cream and wine for dinner.
My cousin's husband suggested I combine the two to create a float.
Since my ice cream is of the French Silk variety, and the wine is a nice blackberry flavor, I opted to not try that concoction, as perfect as it may seem.
Instead I had a frozen dinner.
You know - like any responsible adult should.
Tyson chicken nuggets, mac&cheese and corn.
*Sigh*
It was hot and took 3 1/2 minutes.
And, I'm sure, crazy-full of sodium.
ARGH.
But - Two very kind colleagues searched in the parking lot where I thought I might have lost my phone (I was concerned about getting back on the roads, with them being totally gross and slippery). They rock.
I decided to look again in my bag. Which meant completly emptying it out. For the third time.
It still wasn't there.
And then I checked my car. Again.
It wasn't there either.
ARGH!!!
At that point, the snow and the blowing snow had gone away, and my staff had plowed the road.
So I decided that I needed to go and look myself, if for nothing else, to feel like I had tried everything I could. (See previous "control freak" post).
So I changed out of my comfy jammmies to appropriate 'leaving-the-house-in-the-winter-clothes' (i.e. jeans) and headed out to search.
No luck. Even though I practially uncovered the parking spot my car was parked in.
And retraced my steps back to the main division office.
Slowly.
In the cold.
Do you know how hard it is for me to walk slowly in the cold? Even when motivated by searching for my cell phone?
Very hard.
*sigh*
Needless to say. . . I tried, and failed to complete my mission.
And when I got home I had so much snow on my jeans that I had to deposit them at my front door with my boots. Classy.
I am still sans cell phone.
*sigh* and ARGH!

And as I was reading my new book (The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest) before bedtime, it dawned on me- I have no form of alarm clock.
None.
Well, none that doesn't involve another human being.
*sigh*
So . . . should I call someone and ask them to wake me up? Oh wait. I don't have a phone.
Well, I do, I guess, in my apartment. But I don't have any phone numbers. Nor do I know the number on this landline. [Mental note - this is a model apartment, but can be used, when not filled with the director, for crisis-moves. Might need to put the number on the acutal phone because no one will know the actual number.]
And even if I did - who do I call to trust that they would get me up at the appropriate time in the morning, knowing that no doubt, this person would be in a different time zone.
Though I thought about emailing one of my administrative staff folks - who get in the office pretty early.
But at this point, I think I'm going to leave that fodder for another day for them. They'll soon enough have dirt on me - I don't need this kind of shite this early in the job.
So. Here's to hoping that i'll wake up with enough time to get ready for my budget meeting at 9am.
Oh wait. I'm an insomniac.
Done.
*sigh*
See? Lots of it going on . . .

I might be a control freak

Yep. I did it. I used the word "might." Because I don't think I am ALL the time, and I don't actually want to be a control freak.
I just want to be in control.
:)
These are two very different things.
Clearly.
Semantics, people.
Anyway, so . . . one of the things that I learned on my trip has to do with this.
I enjoy being in control - especially when nothing else is in my control.
Like when I traveled to another country, on another continent, to visit someone who, for all intents and purposes, I didn't know.
Kinda giving up a lot of control, and placing HUGE amounts of trust in another human being.
Who I didn't really know.
So I think I should recieve a few hundred bonus points for getting this far.
Right?

Because I had no control over anything - like driving (in theory I could have driven in South Africa - our crazy American driver's license works here. Perhaps it is becase we are the pretentious citizens of the world who frustrates our fellow human beings because we think that we are skilled enough to drive in other parts of the world. Where everything is on the opposite side of the car and road). The cautious person in me thinks this is probably not the safest thing to do, so I chose NOT to drive. But . . . still had no real control here, as well as when or where to eat, buying a bottle of water, internet or phone access . . . the list goes on. Oh yeah, I also didn't speak a lick of the language before my trip except "Thobela" which means hello. But not helpful in any sort of communication sense for me.

So. Because of this lack of control over everything in my life - it projected itself by having an extremely High Need to Know. Which looked a little bit like a lot of questions. A barrage of questions might be a more appropriate term. Things like:
"So, what are we going to do next /for lunch/ dinner/ later/?"
"What should I wear for this kind of activity/outing/adventure?"
"Where are we going?"
"How long will it take to get there?"
"When are we coming back?"
"Where are we sleeping tonight?"
"If you eat that snack right now, when will I get to eat lunch?"
"How long will this take" - soon followed up by "MY five minutes or YOUR five minutes - because by my watch there seems to be at least a 30-minute difference here."

You get the picture. I was irritating as hell with the questions. But its the only thing I could remotely control - the amount of information that was getting to my brain.
It made this 'vacation' a little less than relaxing.
But it helped me learn a little something about myself, on my own, without the help of a Johari Window.

Also? If I'm not fed every 4 hours I quickly become cranky. Yes, friends, some of you already knew this. But some people got to find out what I was like after 8 or 9 hours without any food.
Neat.

A couple of other things I learned (or in some cases, confirmed with very solid evidence)
- I don't like to be told what to do. This includes, but is certainly not limited to: wrapping up your food and putting it in the refrigerator, making the bed and suggestions for packing my luggage starting 3 days before my trip was ending.
- I have a specific way that I enter a new place, process the view, and then take a photo. When someone who is not a small child, and in theory should know better, jumps in front of the shot I am miliseconds away from taking, having already framed it nicely, I might want to punch you in the face. Because in this control-freak's opinion, you are ruining my shot.
- I am more adventurous than I ever thought.
- Continue to carry on lessons learned from the girl scouts - carry snacks, bottled water, and a good book to read. Will help you retain and/or retain patience when all else is lost.
- I am a very liberal, American, feminist woman, and don't plan on changing that.

Stories from South Africa

Yesterday I was in a meeting with my managers and some of the assistant managers, one of whom I hadn't seen since I have been back from my trip. At the beginning of the meeting, he said "How was South Africa?". Which, on it's own, is a completely normal question.
But it stumped me and caused me to pause.
Because I had forgotten I had gone.
Even though I had arrived back exactly a week earlier.
For Pete's sake. [Not to be confused with Peter's sake . . . who turned 1 today - Hooray!] But I digress.
But  I have been ridiculously busy at work mucking around with budgets and projects and hiring and in my non-work hours I have been researching places to live.
And feeling quite dejected about it. But that's a whole other post.
That I don't think I want to write. I've lived through the dejected-ness, and I'm not sure I want to choose to go back to that place. Because it sucks.
And I'm digressing again.

So.
Last night, after deciding that I don't give a shite where I live, and thinking that perhaps that wasn't the best frame of mind to be in for searching for a place to stay, decided that I should take a break from my craigslist search, and share some pictures from my trip.
Appease the masses, if you will.
So I uploaded pictures from my Glen Afric Game drive, where I got to walk with elephants. It was pretty damn cool.

And the entire drive was probably 2 hours on Wedensday the 24th. So there are a few more pictures, and of course, stories that go along with them. But of course the Strategic (yep - can't get away from our strengths) planner in me wants to frame the stories in a way that makes sense. Since I won't be just typing up the daily diary.
That's no fun.
But it does make this a bit challenging.
So I thought perhaps I would start with lessons learned.
For the next post.
ha ha.
:)
Gotta always leave them wanting more . . . . or something like that. Right?

Happy Hannukah!

Technology and I are not friends today. I thought I would take some inspiration from my friend at http://www.mysavvyboys.com/ who updated her blog for the holidays. She has more skills than I do.
Way more.
While I was (finally) able to change the background on mine, I've gone and mucked up everything else.
ARGH!
Cute kellyig font? Gone.
Proper border size? Gone.
Color scheme? No longer matches anything.
*sigh*
So, I've been able to fix some things, but now I no longer have the energy to write anything real. But I feel obligated to put Something up after all this effort.
So here it is.
I also wanted to put up a few photos from my trip, per some complaints, I mean requests, from some friends.
While I Totally Understand the desire to see what the hell I was up to while on another continent, I need to kindly say, please be patient.
The new camera is not playing well with the laptop today.
So any energy I might have had is gone.
And I really should be spending any and all time on the computer searching for a place to live.
So for now . . . let's recognize that it's World AIDS Day and the beginning of the festival of lights. Also? Rosa Parks took a stand while sitting 56 years ago. And Mathew Shepard would have been 34. So .. . a few things happened in history.
And I updated my background on my blog. Ha ha.
Since right now, this is the only thing I'm able to decorate for the holidays!