TGIF!

Friday, April 25, 2008

As I told Barb, I walked 1/16" to McDonalds (it would be 1/16th of an inch on the map--probably less) Definitely had carb overload! Had a crispy chicken sandwich -- I even told the girl that the grilled chicken would be better for me -- with medium fries and sweet tea. It has been weeks since I've had fries, and throw the sweet tea on top of that -- what was I thinking?

When I got back to the room I decided to watch another Netflix movie. Night before last I watched a Jimmy Stewart movie I hadn't seen -- "You Can't Take it with You" (I can just see some of you saying 'who the heck is Jimmy Stewart') so last night I picked another classic with Carol Lombard "Mr. & Mrs. Smith". I fell asleep while I was watching! I had the laptop on the desk and I was lying on the bed (Justin Blosch, did I use that right?) with my head at the foot of the bed. Next thing I know, I hear a door slamming (the girl next door) and I was trying to figure out what I was doing at the end of the bed with no covers on and fully dressed. Took me a minute to realize what I'd done .. and it was 9:30!! No more McDonald's for me.

I went outside at lunchtime and walked around the building. It is friggin' cold out there!! I left my jacket at my desk. I walked fast, let me tell you. The weather changes really fast here. Supposed to be some more thunderstorms tonight. I hope they're all gone by the time I have to drive to the airport in the morning. My plane leaves at 11:05 and I'm about 45 minutes from the airport. I'm guesstimating that if I leave here at 8:00 I should be fine. I've already printed out my boarding pass (Heather, it's A19!) and have it securely placed in my purse.

I've been reading the book Hal loaned me most of the day. Rusty and I restarted some phones earlier but I won't remember anything two weeks from now when I show up in Hillsboro. Fortunately, the new Genesys guy who will be working with me will be there. Adrian's not having him come to Kansas; he'd rather have him in Hillsboro with me so we can start "bonding" (my word). Peggy will be there too to help me out. It will be fine. I keep telling myself that. It will be fine. Really.

Oh! When I bought my (personal) laptop to take to Oregon, I made sure it has a camera so I could do video mail with my grandkids. Last night I was downloading the program from Comcast so I could set it up. Wouldn't you just know it ... it's not yet compatible with Vista! There are probably other programs I could use, but I'm computer challenged and don't have the time nor the inclination to go looking. Perhaps once we get settled in, I'll have my resident computer guru (Gary) help me with that. :0) And don't you guys go snitching to Gary either!!

Did you guys know that MCI stands for Microwave Communications, Inc? (see -- I am learninig something!) And Sprint is/was related to the Southern Pacific Railway .. although there's some disagreement as to how the name was created.

I'm crunching on carrots and counting the minutes until it's time to leave. I have to get back to my room and start packing up. Make sure all the drawers are empty. Put all my dirty clothes in bags so I can wash them as soon as I get home (I'm flying to Portland the next day) I have too much to do to sit here doing nothing! :0 ) I'm getting sleepy too. Something to do with falling asleep at 12:30, after a 3 hour nap. :0 )

Yay! I'm free! Rusty comes in really early so he leaves early. I hung out for another half hour and then told Wade and Hal I'm leaving. What are they going to do, fire me? Neither of them could show me anything so I was just taking up space. They hardly lifted their eyes from their screens long enough to say goodbye. What a difference from the Austin group. There, everyone hugged me good-bye and said they hoped we'd meet up again ... these guys are typical guys. "Ok, see ya. Have a nice trip" and back to their computers. LOL

I am able to answer the burning question "are all Panda Express's created equal?" NO!!

I did a drive-through at Starbucks (still working on those gift cards) and a drive-through at Panda. The chow mein was okay but the sweet and sour pork, lousy. Tiny pieces of pork and they were dry and leathery. The orange chicken was hardly spicy at all. Ours is so much better.

In our team meeting this morning, Adrian clarified that when one is on call, one gets a 1/2 day off, but he prefers that we use it Tues-Thurs if possible. So much for building up a long weekend. BUT since I'll get 34 days next year with the new paid time off schedule, I'm sure I'll be able to work in several long weekends.

I have it on good authority that several of you are sharing these emails with others. Good! Now when I get back to work next week, no one should ask me how things went because they've already heard. Good job!

Well, boys and girls, I have a lot to do to get ready for my trip tomorrow so I'm going to sign off for now. You'll get the weekend free (I might jot a quick note after I get home on Saturday just so you know I made it without mishap) and probably not hear from me again until Monday. It's almost like listening to those old-time radio shows, isn't it? At least I'm not tied to the railroad track.

I think I'll try that movie again tonight. I can work through the first half of it and just listen since I saw that part already. *sigh* I have a tendency to tense up just before a trip, especially when I'm on a schedule .. so think good thoughts for me so I get a decent night's sleep! TTFN