Explanation

I had a question earlier today from the one and only reader that I'm aware of. She wanted to know why I write "HUSband" rather than "husband." Good question, somewhat silly answer:

HUSband is a term a friend started using shortly after she got married. She never wrote it much, but suddenly started calling him "my HUSband" all the time as if we'd forgotten his name. There's a bit of a East Texas in the pronunciation.

(tangent alert) Funny thing is that now, her HUSband is doing the musician thing and starting to go by his middle name rather than his first name. I've known this man 6+ years and NOW I'm supposed to start calling him something different? It's been tough. Unfortunately, most of us can't just call him "sweetie" or "honey" as his wife now does most of the time. Now, that would be something to blog about....

August Happiness #30

A good conversation with my mom. I hadn't told her about any of my job difficulties over these last few months. She's never been one that I discuss career-type stuff with. So, tonight I finally tell her when it's all said and done that my plans are to leave Current Company and return to Old Company. She said all the right things and we moved on to other topics. Then she said something like "I can tell just from your voice that you're happier than you have been the last few times we've talked." A mother's intuition is an amazing thing. For that, I am thankful (and happy too).

50 Random Things About Me

1. Your name spelled backwards.
haras
2. Where were your parents born?
mom: wichita falls, tx dad: columbus, oh
3. What is the last thing you downloaded onto your computer?
at home: yahoo messenger; at work: printkey
4. What’s your favorite restaurant?
this one is tough! probably cafe eccell in college station. mmmm- corn chowder.
5. Last time you swam in a pool?
june
6. Have you ever been in a school play?
yes, in 6th grade
7. How many kids do you want?
i tend to think that i'd like more than one, but i really don't know.
8. Type of music you dislike most?
mu-zack
9. Are you registered to vote?
yes
10. Do you have cable?
yes. as of last week, digital. turns out that the promo that time warner is running makes it less expensive for us to have digital than not. will probably switch to direct tv when the 6 months of low price is up.
11. Have you ever ridden on a moped?
don't think so.
12. Ever prank call anybody?
of course. i'm grateful that i was a pre-teen in the days prior to caller id.
13. Ever get a parking ticket?
of course.
14. Would you go bungee jumping or sky diving?
more likely to sky dive rather than bungee jump. not sure why.
15. Farthest place you ever traveled.
lived in japan for a while...
16. Do you have a garden?
just some out of control rosemary that the prior owners of the house planted long ago.
17. What’s your favorite comic strip?
not sure... i get a daily dose of dilbert via email and only read others on sunday
18. Do you really know all the words to your national anthem?
at least the first verse, yes.
19. Bath or Shower, morning or night?
shower in the morning. bath at night (but not often).
20. Best movie you’ve seen in the past month?
we saw basic on friday night. it was so much better than i thought it would be.
21. Favorite pizza topping?
mushrooms
22. Chips or popcorn?
can i have both? i'm a sucker for things salty.
23. What color lipstick do you usually wear?
bobbi brown "rosebud" or "brown"
24. Have you ever smoked peanut shells?
nope.
25. Have you ever been in a beauty pageant?
no to that one too.
26. Orange Juice or apple?
orange on a regular basis. apple when i'm feeling puny.
27. Who was the last person you went out to dinner with and where did you dine?
the HUSband and I went to Thai Spice on saturday night.
28. Favorite type chocolate bar?
skor or twix
29. When was the last time you voted at the polls?
nov 2000
30. Last time you ate a homegrown tomato?
july 4th weekend
31. Have you ever won a trophy?
don't think so
32. Are you a good cook?
sort of. HUSband is a better cook, so he does it most of the time.
33. Do you know how to pump your own gas?
of course.
34. Ever order an article from an infomercial?
no - thought i've been tempted.
35. Sprite or 7-up?
sprite
36. Have you ever had to wear a uniform to work?
yes - in my first job at wendy's and my second job at kids mart.
37. Last thing you bought at a pharmacy?
picked up prescriptions for HUSband a couple months ago when he was in great pain due to a root canal. got some gummy bears for myself while i was there.
38. Ever throw up in public?
probably. if so, it's a good thing i don't remember it clearly.
39. Would you prefer being a millionaire or find true love?
love, absolutely
40. Do you believe in love at first sight?
not so much.
41. Ever call a 1-900 number?
don't think so.
42. Can ex’s be friends?
i wish. but, that hasn't been my experience.
43. Who was the last person you visited in a hospital?
a co-worker when her son was born in december.
44. Did you have a lot of hair when you were a baby?
yes, oddly so. black and curly. turned reddish, then blonde, now brownish.
45. What message is on your answering machine?
just changed it today so that it is no longer the digital man asking to leave us a message. it is now my voice saying something generic like our names and that we can't answer the phone, but leave a message and we'll call you back.
46. What’s your all time favorite Saturday Night Live Character?
the monkey guy that chris kattan plays.
47. What was the name of your first pet?
i had two parakeets named george and martha
48. What is in your purse?
all kinds of crap: lip gloss, powder, keys, wallet, checkbook, cell phone, a couple pens, hair clip, floss, random business cards, etc.
49. Favorite thing to do before bedtime?
read.
50. What is one thing you are grateful for today?
a relaxing weekend - who cares if the house isn't all that clean?

A Week of Happiness

It's been an emotionally draining week. Even happy stuff can be tiring.

Monday 8/23: An early morning phone call from the VP at Old company offering me a position.

Tuesday 8/24: Giving notice to VP at Current Company. (I'd told my immediate boss Monday afternoon.) He seemed surprised, but was pleased with the level of professionalism I maintained. OOOH - It would have been so easy to be unprofessional.

Wednesday 8/25: Learning that my recently unemployed friend has been offered a contract. The best part is that she no longer feels guilty about taking the already planned trip to Italy since she'll have work to come back to.

Thursday 8/26: A night with very little TV at home. Grocery shopping on a weeknight with the HUSband.

Friday 8/27: A chain of emails among "the girls" with a subject line of "I'm bored." It's great to have friends like that. We were all stuck at the office for the last few hours of the week, but would have preferred to be with each other.

Saturday 8/28: Lunch with some girlfriends that I hadn't seen in forever. We spent almost three hours at McAllister's catching up.

Ahhhh - Way Behind!

Yikes! I haven't posted in a week. Shame on me. Although, I only know of one person out there actually reading. So, perhaps my absence hasn't burst too many bubbles. It has been a good, but difficult, week. I'll come up with happy moments from each day and post them later today... promise. The big news of the week is that I gave notice at my current job. And yes, that means that I had an offer from Old Company to return. I've spent a lot of time at work this week telling people that I'm leaving and attempting to explain why without burning any bridges. It is a good place to work - - hell, Fortune magazine even says it's a great place to work. But, it's a rather frustrating place to be in a support role. Especially when your customers have unrealistically high expectations of the support that you can/should provide. And when you don't have all the tools/systems in place to be able to provide such support in an efficient manner, it makes it even more frustrating. Lots of mixed emotions about leaving that I'm sure will be posted about over the next two weeks.

HUSband is outside mowing and edging and I'm catching up on my blog reading for the week. Must go at least sort the laundry.

August Happiness #22

My happy moment today is pet inspired. We had the carpets cleaned in most of the house (another thing to be happy about), and put the cat in the office while all the commotion was going on. He couldn't be left out b/c the carpet cleaning equipment required that the front door stay open. He was uber-unhappy about being stuck in a room. But, when I got back from doing my errands and joined him, he figured out that we hadn't abandoned him & that he wasn't in trouble, then cuddled up to me. He calmed down, we hung out, he took a nap. Life is good.

August Happiness #21

Hooray for me. I added links. It made me happy to be able to figure out how to do that. I might try to figure out pictures next week.

August Happiness #20

Good news on the job front - - I talked to the VP of Old Company again yesterday. She is in the process of getting a Req approved for a position to bring me back. She said she expects to be able make me an offer early this week. Yippee! I am good, damnit!

I wanna go!

A good friend is off to Italy toward the end of this week. Helen just got back from a long weekend in Venice. Read about it here: Everyday Stranger. What I really like about her post is how real it is. She and her man seem to get into similar situations that I do with HUSband. And, after reading the comments, it seems incredibly common.

August Happiness #18 and #19

I feel like I should be able to post more regularly about things that make me happy. It has been a good exercise. I'm trying to decide if I want to continue in September, but have also thought about slightly altering the theme. Any ideas?

Anyway - Yesterday's happiness was being invited to dinner with a work group. The HR person from one of our international offices is visiting and a group took her out to dinner. This is the 3rd or 4th time she's been here in the 18 months that I've worked here and the first time that I've been invited to do anything social with her. It felt good to be included.

Today's happiness: We're going to the Salt Lick for some great BBQ for dinner tonight. Hold off on your rain dances until tomorrow. :)

August Happiness #17

I left work early and went to yoga! I hadn't been in weeks and it felt so good. I think I slept better because of it too.

Dose of Happiness 14, 15, 16

I've got to come up with three happy moments. This shouldn't be too hard.

Saturday (14): Having a friend in need let me be a friend to her. She's going through some really tough times on the job front and feels totally overwhelmed. It's a good feeling to know that I an be a friend who will "just listen" and be someone good to "be around." We hung out Saturday night drinking wine, and partaking in a few other vices that shall not be named.

Sunday (15): I wish I hadn't already used the one about being able to log on to work stuff from home. Did some of that last night too. Oh yeah - Flaky Biscuits from a tube for breakfast. That's good stuff.

Today (16): Being home in time for dinner. Nevermind that I've still got work to do. I even helped with some of the preparation. Now I'm gonna go sit on the couch next to HUSband.

August Happiness #13

Yesterday's happy moment was coming home to a cleaner house than when I left Friday morning. HUSband had cleaned the kitchen, done a bit of laundry and vacuumed.

My cousin and his wife stopped in Austin to have dinner with us on their way to a weekend getaway in New Braunfels. There was a big back-up on the highway around Temple, so they didn't end up getting here 'til after 8:00 even though they left Dallas about 3:30. I had planned to leave work at a decent time, but got stuck pulling reports for someone and didn't leave 'til 6:15.

Other good news is that the phone screen with Big Computer Company went well and I'll likely be asked to come in for an on-site interview. I don't know if I really want to work there, but it's worth exploring. I have a little bit of resentment towards BCC since my father lost his job there in 2002. His whole department was essentially outsourced to India. He knows I'm interviewing there and is supportive - - which I'm thankful for.

August Happiness #12

Our friend "Bear" is visiting for the night. HUSband knew him long ago when they both worked together. I was very confused the first time I met him. I couldn't understand why we supposed to call this short Mexican person "Bear."Well, turns out that's his last name. Who woulda thought? Anyway, he's here for the night and we went out to Berryhill and saw the sunset and I had some margaritas. Sunsets and margaritas go nicely together, I've decided.*

* I realize that my father's grammar has rubbed off on me when I write/say sentences like that. By "that" i mean putting the verb at the end. It's so obvious sometimes that he learned Spanish and English simultaneously. It's also more consistent with Japanese grammar, which I tend to slip into when slightly intoxicated.

Thursday's Web Game

Found this at Donna's place...
These are the characteristics I posses because I was born in August, or something like that.

AUGUST:
Loves to joke. Attractive. Suave and caring. Brave and fearless. Firm and has leadership qualities. Knows how to console others. Too generous and egoistic. Takes high pride of oneself. Thirsty for praises. Extraordinary spirit. Easily angered. Angry when provoked. Easily jealous. Observant. Careful and cautious. Thinks quickly. Independent thoughts. Loves to lead and to be led. Loves to dream. Talented in the arts, music and defense. Sensitive but not petty. Poor resistance against illnesses. Learns to relax. Hasty and trusty. Romantic. Loving and caring. Loves to make friends.

more work musings

I've had a couple of conversations over the last few days that have really bothered me. Of course, I have to nod and act like I agree. Well, I feel like I have to. I suppose I don't, but that would likely be frowned upon. The general theme is that we don't tolerate "average performers" at Current Company. We expect people to go above and beyond if they are to be rewarded. In general, I think that's a reasonable standpoint. But I have seen cases recently where being average doesn't just mean that you're not rewarded, it also means that you are reprimanded. Reprimanded for "meeting expectations"? What sort of mind games are we playing with people? "You meet expectations, but that's not good enough." I don't think I can pretend that I agree with that for much longer. I'm so looking forward to the fact that there may be other career opportunities out there for me.

August Happiness #11

Didn't get around to posting yesterday. It was another long day at work, but not as long as Monday or Tuesday were. I had 7 meetings in a 9 hour period... no wonder I can't find much time to do the work I need to do.

My happy time yesterday was meeting with a group of women for dinner. We originally started out as a book club, but have stopped having required reading. We do often talk about what we're reading, but mostly just get together for the sake of getting together. There were only four of us last night. It wasn't unbearably hot, so we sat outside at Central Market. Good Times.

Tuesday Nights....

I couldn't sleep well last Tuesday night either. What's going on here?

Found something fun to share while out browsing.... enjoy!

August Happiness #10

I am happy to have picked up dinner at Pei Wei tonight on my way home (even if I did spend 11 hrs there today).

I am happy that Jase is a thick-headed as he is. I am happy that Drew had the balls to use the veto. I am not so happy that I take such joy in watching Big Brother - - but it makes me laugh.

I am also happy that Dad's 2nd floor air conditioner finally got repaired today. They've been sleeping on the fold out couch downstairs for almost a week now. I know he'll appreciate a good night's sleep tonight in his bed!

Free

I just got a "free lunch" from our relocation vendors.

Even better - - I just got two hours added back to my day. The lunch meeting didn't go as long as planned and my meeting at 1:30 was rescheduled to another day this week.

Hooray!

August Happiness #9

Warning: This one is all about the silver lining.

I've worked far too much today. I'm tired of hearing "work smarter, not harder" from our VP. If he would only provide the resources for us to be able to work smarter. You wouldn't believe the way we go about the salary analysis to prepare for the upcoming increase cycle. Anyway - I am happy that I have the capability to connect remotely to my email and the servers at work. That way I only had to spend 10 hours actually at work today and could finish up the rest of it at home tonight. Still need to go in a bit early to be able to run a report from the HRIS - - which I can't do from home.

More good news is that I have a phone interview on Friday with Big Computer Company and lunch plans for next Tuesday with the Director and VP from Old Company.

August Happiness #7 & #8

Good Times all around this weekend.

Things that happened yesterday that I'm happy about:

• Donna made it to Austin; we got to go see a chick flick, catch up, meet up with M&K for dinner and drinks.
• K is still giddy about being engaged - - they got engaged about two months ago after 7+ years of dating. We'd all stopped asking if/when they were going to get married. She talks openly about the wedding planning, and has tentatively chosen March '05 as the marriage month. She even painted her nails yesterday b/c she knew she'd be showing off her ring to Donna. Sweet.

Today's happiness:

• We decided that if you eat fake eggs, you can have real BACON. Yum!
• Donna and I had more good times chatting this morning. I really appreciate her perspective on a lot of things. We had a friend/roommate in common many years ago. I'm still friends with her. Donna isn't. We totally understand and respect eachother's viewpoints on that. I've known said friend since preschool - - so I don't think she'll ever not be my friend.
• I took some time for myself and read a book for a bit.
• The grocery store wasn't unbearably crowded for a Sunday afternoon.
• HUSband took my car this morning and filled it with gas and had it washed.
• HUSband is mowing the yard right now.....

August Happiness #6 (yes, I know I'm behind)

Happy Moment: I went to lunch w/ V today.

V is a peer at work also going through some challenges as she attempts to prove her worth to the company. She actually reached out to me and essentially asked me to be her mentor. How flattering is that? I had to be honest with her and tell her that I'd love to, but that I may not be at Current Company much longer. Then she tells me that she actually had a job offer a couple of weeks ago, but turned it down. Oh dear.... the department may just be falling apart after all.

I'm off to finish straightening the house for Donna's arrival!

August Happiness #5

My happy moment from yesterday - - For the second night in a row, we turned off the TV and did something else. Last night was just a trip to Target, but I consider it to be an hour spent well.

August Happiness #4

I am happy that the 4th of 4 voice mail messages when I arrived at work this morning was my mother's voice singing "Happy Birthday."

I wish the first three wouldn't have been work related. How the hell do I get three voice mail messages between 6:30 PM and 8:30 AM??

Can't Sleep

Not sure what is going on. Been having lots of work dreams lately - - maybe that's it. I've been tossing and turning for the last hour or so. My heart goes out to those that this happens to on a regular basis. It can't be fun at all.

Happy Birthday to me!

August Happiness #3

Oops - I'm running a little behind.

My happy moment yesterday was a call from a recruiter from Big Computer Company. I'd submitted my resume via Monster a couple of weeks ago, and they called! He asked for a soft copy of the resume so he could have something in a better format than the crap that Monster generates to forward on to potential managers. We'll see where this goes... I suppose the job hunt is really on.

August Happiness 8/2

I am happy that I did not burn bridges when I left my last job about a year and a half ago.

I'm realizing that there is no perfect job... well, I knew that before. But recent events at my current job have made me not like it so much. I'm considering finding out what might be available for me at old company. I just had a 20 minute conversation with the VP at OC and it felt so good! She is/will be a mentor to me regardless of the direction my career takes.

Something Else

Talked to some friends over the weekend about home based businesses. I wonder if I could find one that would truly work for me (us). I wonder if I'd have the will power to be my own boss. I think I'd be pretty good at it. I know I'd enjoy the flexibility.

August Happiness

Donna found something at another blog about recognizing at least one thing everyday during the month of August that is worth being happy about. Not a bad idea. In fact, a very good idea to focus on the positive things in life. I tend to be the one looking for the silver linings to any situation anyway.

August 1st: I am happy that I have such great friends in my life and that some of them were able to celebrate my upcoming birthday with me last night. These friends really are the family that I've been able to choose.

Starting Out

What have I just done? I've recently become rather addicted to reading a few blogs and feel as though it's time to create my own.

I used to be an avid journal writer, but haven't for about the last seven years. It is one of those things that I think I just don't have time for anymore. I'm fast approaching my 30th birthday (only 3 days away), and find that I'm constantly trying to figure out this whole work/life balance thing. I tend to rely on the phrase "there's not enough time" too much and am trying to change that. So, creating something that I think may require a bit of time to keep up to date is something I'm doing cautiously.

Stay tuned.....