Another Week of Head Aches

Well, I made it through my first week at the new office and starting my second. And let me just say that I'm not enjoying it one bit. From the commute to the office itself, to being around people who really couldn't give a darn if we were there or not. I mean really? Cohesiveness and Collaboration we were told were the reasons for this forced move. Yet, my colleague celebrated her 30yr Office Anniversary on Friday and if it wasn't for her good friends bringing in snacks and cake to celebrate the occasion....the day would have just passed with nothing. It's bad though. She offered the manager some of her cake and reminded her of what she was celebrating (since clearly the manager didn't know for some reason). It broke my heart to hear that the manager didn't even wish her a Happy Anniversary when she declined her piece of cake. Smh. Just walked off. Smh Wow....was all I could say.

Making myself at home at the dorm

But...I'm back for another week of Hell. Happy to have a job but hating every minute of it at the new location.
I got here in 30 minutes this morning. Why? I slept at the College with my daughter last night. We had a Girls Night! It was nice too. She made dinner for me and I was quite shocked to see that she even packed some leftovers for me to bring to work.

Furman...well he got to drive in the first snow of the season....to the airport. Yup. I shared this with him for assistance. lol  How to drive in the snow. It was cute watching him keep checking on the conditions outside. Wonder if he was getting nervous? I was getting nervous for him. But...he made it to the airport safely. Thank God.
  This was his post on Facebook. What it looked like at 2am when he left and what he got to see at 12pm over the Caribbean. I'm clearly in the wrong line of work. I keep saying that! Smh.

So here I am....will have to go back to wearing my colleagues sun visor because the manager still hasn't taken care of having the lights above me turned off to prevent my migraines. Nope. Not a big concern because it's not her head that's throbbing. Ugh!! I know...I know...I look ridiculous with the visor on too. Someone said I look like a poker dealer. lol But, hopefully not for much longer. I've been more than patient so it's time to get some assistance for my cause. Health and Safety.

The end of the day can't come soon enough. If our day is any indication how the week will be then we are off to another awesome one. lol  Had our first team meeting that the manager couldn't attend but the opportunity wasn't taken by the other team manager to acknowledge that there were 5 new people in the room. Sucks! Wait a minute....maybe they didn't even see us? lol Talk about feeling welcome!! Like I said, we are around people that couldn't give a darn if we were here or not. lol SEND US BACK!!

Can't wait to head home to a quiet house, at least till my husband gets back. Not that it's noisy when he's home. lol You know what I mean. It'll be just me. Oh....and I still have no TV service after the power outage.

Too funny a photo not to share.
biglines.com

Oh yes....let me tell you this before I sign off. I made an appointment on Monday evening for a technician to come out and fix my service. Problem is, I gotta work every day so the only time that fits my schedule was Saturday. I had to wait a whole week. I spoke to the office about 3 times before the tech came out though, for different reasons. On each occasion I made sure to tell the person to ensure the technician has replacement equipment in case that was the actual problem. Why? Because they usually tell you that you have to wait 3-5 days for them to send you replacement equipment when needed. I didn't want them to come out and then still have to wait 3-5 days for equipment afterwards. Oh....but guess what happened? Just guess!!!! First, I couldn't have a morning appointment because it wasn't available so I was hostage at home till the afternoon waiting for the tech. Then, when he comes, he does his thing inside and outside of the house only to tell me that I need new equipment. Like no kidding! I'm no tech but I kinda figured that would be the issue which is why I tried to insist on them coming prepared. But, as you guessed it.....he didn't bring my replacement equipment with him. Nope. Who cares that I spoke to 3 different people before my appointment to make sure they noted for him to have it on hand. Now, I have to wait 3-5 days for them to send me new equipment. That leaves me with no tv service for another week. Thank goodness I still got internet service.

Well....hope everyone has a Blessed week.
I gotta go!
Looking forward to Friday!!!

A New Start, A Long Drive

If a power outage affecting about 60,000 people, of which I was one, was a sign of what was to come...then I was in trouble.

I don't know what happened last night around 10:30pm to cause the lights to all of a sudden go out. They say it was the wind that caused high voltage lines to come down on another. Luckily, Furman had my cellphone charging in a spot that was easy to get to in the dark. And let me tell you, it was pitch dark!! I couldn't see my hands in front of me. Lol But, that didn't stop me from finding my phone and utilizing the handy flashlight feature. That allowed me to find a lighter that I use to light candles. (I don't smoke)

After about an hour we figured the power wasn't coming back anytime soon, so we turned in for the night. After all, I had a big day ahead of me. A new start, a long drive.

The power didn't come back on till about 5:30am. It wasn't long after that that I decided to crawl out of bed because I really didn't want to. But, I got up and got myself together. I wasn't leaving  a minute earlier than I usually do. Hell no! So, on my usual time....I set out on my travels. A new route to a new office. Sigh! 

The drive of shame:  It was an interesting commute. I passed through towns I've heard of before but never really knew where they were. Ie. Nobleton, Kleinburg. I kept Furman updated on where I was but in all honesty, he really had no clue because he hasn't learned that end of the city yet. lol Traffic wasn't too too bad. It was one lane for a large part of my commute. But hey....it was moving. The speed limit was decent except for small residential sections of the towns where it dropped significantly. Funny thing was, that when I reached into the city I decided I would veer off of my route and hop on nearby Hwy 427 for the rest of the way. Well, when I got to the ramp and saw the traffic crawling...literally, I took a big ass U-Turn right back to where I veered off. lol Nope...I couldn't do it. I was taking the roads to avoid the stress from the highways. So far was so good, so I couldn't mess that up now. lol

All in all, my morning travel was as expected (because i've done it before) - relatively decent. It was the ride home that I was more worried about. But....I got to work on time and was grouchy anyways. Just for having to be there!! Not because it took me about 5-10 minutes trying to figure out how to get into the building from where I parked. lol However, I got in and got myself together to get eventually unpacked.

My new workspot.
Notice the window view that I would normally have to work like 25 yrs to get. lmao

The day in general was ok. Like I said, I was unpacking and spent most of my day doing so. I warned my manager when I got in that I was grouchy so that she would know to stay away. lol Besides, I think she was previously given the advice to give us some space. Advice that she actually kinda took. In the afternoon, I started to get caught up on a bit of work.

The dreaded drive home:  Yuck!! Just as expected. I tried to find my way back home using the same route I took to get to work. A route a fellow blogger CountryChicRenovator recommended I try in the first place. I was anxiously hoping the traffic would move as well as it did in the morning. It didn't move as well, but it moved much faster than I expect the highway did. lol There were sections that got slow but overall it wasn't migraine traffic. Think I might try the same route tomorrow with the exception of the shortcut I tried when I got close to home. Dark streets that took me in strange neighborhoods. Certainly not routes I would think to be safe when the snow hits. Oh no...I can't imagine that they'd be plowed enough for decent travel. With  my luck, i'd take a  route and get stuck on a road that isn't traveled much. lmfao Let's not think about that shall we? I'll stay away from these country roads and stick to the main roads. 

Total travel time was about 3hrs. Hour and a half each way.

Total kms traveled was 120kms. I reset the trip meter as I pulled out of my street.

Oh, and take notice that it cost me a 1/4 tank of gas. Yup...my tank was full when I started. lol This is gonna be 'spensive! lol

Thank God I do not drive an SUV anymore. Mind you, it is surely missed in the winter months. But..not the damage to my wallet. The vehicle I drive now isn't the absolute greatest on gas but it's been the most reliable car that I've ever had. Yes...I recommend a Lexus to everyone. Thanks to my friend Bryan for recommending I splurge on myself during that time of need. haha 

So....now I get ready for bed for another very long day tomorrow. Besides, my tv service is on the fritz possibly from last nights power outage. Joy oh joy!       

Continue to pray for me and my girls!

One day of crazy travel is nothing till reality sinks in and we realize that we will have to keep doing this day in and day out. Yup....keep praying!                     

So Long, Farewell

We said Farewell at the office on Friday.  It was kinda sad.

We all spent the day packing up our belongings. They scheduled us for an hour to do it near the end of our shift but nobody was listening to that. Did they really expect us to work?  I think not.

Before I left work Thursday evening I decorated my desk for all to see.
After all, I needed something to laugh at on Friday.

                                   

People thought it was cute. Lol. Our manager, who decided to come and "greet the movers", clearly did not. When all was said and done, she took them all down. At least I'm pretty sure it was her. 

Yes.... Our manager who never really came to our office (part of why she is moving us to her) decided to show up and gloat on our last day with our friends and colleagues. The email we received telling us that she was coming had us all up in arms that we tried to ask if her presence was really necessary. But she didn't care and came anyways. Why wouldn't she?  As far as we believed, she had plans to visit her family for her birthday. We kind of caught the play. The only time she really came to our office was when she was killing two birds with one stone and visiting her family at our end of the city. This was another one of those occasions. 

So, she showed up in the afternoon when we were all pretty much packed up.  Had to laugh how she tried to interrupt our conversations to get in our face and ask "Are you all packed up? Ready to go?"  I'm thinking can't you see!  I did a Vanna White and spread my arms to showcase the huge bins in front of me and the empty desk that she clearly didn't look at before asking her stupid question.  I didn't say a word. Smh. She couldn't possibly expect that any of us would be in a good mood and happy to see her. I mean really. I'm not sure what she expects with the unhappy 6 around her every day. I feel sorry for her. Hell, I feel sorry for US!

Yes, I'm all packed up and ready to go.
What do you think?

My parting gift!

I will say though, that Friday had started off great. I went down for my last breakfast sandwich made by our favorite chef Nelia. This woman is the sweetest lady. Whenever we went for breakfast and found that she was on break we always left and returned. Nobody can make a simple bacon and egg sandwich like she does. Lol. She did it with love. So on my last day when she was handing me my breakfast she took a second to slip a bracelet onto my wrist. I was so surprised. Then she came and gave me a hug. That was the first tear up of the day. 

Our colleagues had brought some snacks to share with everybody as sort of a goodbye party. With all the packing going on I really didn't get to eat as much as I would have liked. Lol That's probably a good thing.

After much suggestion, management sent EAP (Employee Assistance Program) to our office so that we had a counselor on hand to talk to if needed. I went. Why not? I'm one of the two with the farthest to travel going from a round trip of about 90kms to now having to drive about 120kms every day. So yeah, i'm happy I went and spoke to the person they had on hand. I needed some tips on stress management. The guy was awesome too. He was a Christian and when he realized that I was also he had much to offer to help bring me comfort. He spoke of Daniel and the Lions Den as welll as Moses and the Exodus.  And he suggested that I read Psalm 91.  I did and understand why he suggested it. Check it out.

                                                                                  

At the end of the day, which came early but not early enough, we all walked around and said our goodbyes. So Long, Farewell  The good thing about this next chapter is that I am not going through it alone. My other 5 colleagues are with me and armed for battle. We will hold each other up and get through this one day at a time. We will have each others backs in this "den of lions" we are going to.

                                      

To end the night, I went to Bingo with my mom, my aunt and Furman.  Lol. On the way to Bingo I stopped back into the office, just because I was nearby. That's how I saw that all of our stuff was gone and that my decorations were removed. She sure didn't waste any time. She forgot one though. Lol. They took everything except our clearly labelled recycling pails. Go figure.  But I said a last goodbye to my spot and was on my way. Hoping to return one day sooner than later. We will continue to fight. Keep us in prayer please. 

So, as I sit here to blog and mentally prepare myself for what I have in store for tomorrow, I want to once again bid adieu to my former colleagues and friends from my old office. Many, of whom have become my blog readers. Stay tuned....I will keep blogging the fight to return with hopes of a Victory for the new year!! My husband feels sorry for us, for me....but will be my rock!

Thank you all for being such awesome people to work with. 

I will definitely miss you guys and our fellowship at the Trough. lol

For those who wish, you know how to reach me!! But keep reading!

Love you guys.

SO LONG, FAREWELL!!

Last Days

I actually wrote a blog post about a week ago but forgot to publish it. Maybe i'll still do that. lol

It's been a tough time lately.
My colleagues and I are going through LAST DAYS.
Just makes me want to cuss all sorts of bad words when I think about it.
 

I'd like to say that doing that makes me feel better, but it doesn't.
Maybe I just need another Mental Health Day. But then again, that's just a temporary fix. The issue is still there. My colleagues and I are changing office locations to another location far far away from where we currently work. Oh...for Cohesiveness and Collaboration. It sucks. It really does. Not something that any one of us is happy about. And...don't you dare say that we must be happy we still have a job!!! Don't you dare!! lol Doesn't make us feel better.

http://www.anonymousartofrevolution.com/2013/02/im-in-very-bad-mood-so-nobodyd-better.html

                                     
What should?
The other day on Facebook I came across a news article posted about 7 other people that were being forced to move to the same office we are. Problem is, they are currently in an office like 5 hours away - in Ottawa! Yup....move or lose your job! Who cares if you've worked for the company between 13 and 34 yeras. That's how it goes. At least I am being moved within the city. Gheez. It kinda makes my gripe not seem as bad. But i'm still going to gripe about it because this is ridiculous. Unreasonable. Who even cares? I'll tell ya...Nobody!

Tomorrow is packing day. I'm not doing it a minute sooner.
I was thinking about bringing in a cake to share. Furman stopped me. lol And rightly so. "Ummmm No. You don't bring your own cake" lol Gotta love my husband for being the sensible one.  So yeah, no cake for us. What's to celebrate anyways?

Anyways....i'm about to get to work although I haven't been feeling very unproductive lately, for obvious reasons. But I just wanted to make sure and blog as I've been feeling absent. I may or may not publish the last post I wrote and didn't share. lol Smh.

Prayer Request:   That something happens to allow us to remain or move back to our current office location. That our travels to this new office next week are with minimal stress and tears. That our families that we no longer have easy access to remain well and without immediate issues that make it hard for us to address from farther away.