Go BIG red!!!

Life on this end is good! I am loving my new set schedule at Lowe's. It gives me days off and still allows me the freedom to do other things. This past weekend, I dragged Runner along with me to Waco, really Beverly Hills, to go to the Nebraska vs Baylor game. We met up with Hamersky and clan for a brewhaha before the game. I miss Hamersky but not the stress that came with the job we had!

Okay - all I can say is the weekend was a number of firsts. I have never been to a stadium where there was no one there for the Home team. My dad & brother thought we were crazy because we didn't go over to the other side and sit in the front row. It was a first that we part less than a block away from the stadium within two hours of kick off. That there was crazy. It was also my first sober football game...still not sure if that was good or bad.

It was a gorgeous, sunny day! Probably too sunny because my darn head was burned. But one should never complain of a nice tan the first of November! The Huskers played a little better than the Iowa State game, at least won! But I think one fellow Husker summed it up best when we recovered a fumble close to the end zone...kick the field goal....we are guaranteed points. Of course - the offensive went out and threw an interception.

We made it back to town in time for trick or treaters and Finn was sad to see the door close every time the kids left. To him they were there to play.

Challenge's

This has always been one of my favorite quotes from Ralph Marston. I just to have it posted on my cube wall and it is so true for all of us. We all need that reminder now and then!


Rise to the challenges
You can rise to the challenges or you can let them push you down. You can make the best of them, or you can let them get the best of you. It all depends on how you respond. It all depends on how you see yourself.
If you see yourself as a victim, you will be. Life's difficulties will quickly overpower you if you let them. When you see yourself as a participant in life, as an effective and positively focused force, not only will the challenges yield to your involvement, they will serve to make you stronger.

Look at each challenge as an opportunity. What can you learn from it? What can you do with it? How can you bring about something positive because of it?

When faced with a challenge, ask yourself this question. How can I respond to this challenge so that a year from now, looking back at the experience, I'll be overwhelmingly thankful that it came along?

The challenges are there and they will keep on coming. Rise to the challenges. It's a great way to powerfully lift yourself up.

-- Ralph Marston

Direct Tv

"Agggggggggggghhhhhhhhhhhhhh" to quote Charlie Brown.

I work in tech support, I know how the system works. But why, why must they make my life hell. I don't ask for much. I just want to record my shows, come home, sit on the couch and relax on my off nights watching those previously recorded. Unfortunately, Direct TV doesn't see it my way and last night took the cake.

For the past six weeks, my DVR and I have not been getting along. Either the receiver says searching for service or it is like watching a show with 400 hiccups in it. Of course, at first they tried to say it was the connection. No, it is not the connection, live TV is fine, and the box hasn't moved locations since it was installed and no one can get back behind with the cords (well except the fur balls). They have tried resetting, they have tried doing updates, blah, blah. In the end, it "fixes" the problem for a few days and then we are back to square one.

So, last night was the the breaking point for me. The past three days of work have just been hell and all I looked forward to was a good run and watching the Biggest Loser from the night before. Well, before I got that far, I tried to watch Y&R (my guilty pleasure). Last time I checked if you are watching a DVR'd show, an hour show should take you less than an hour to watch, not an hour and 45 minutes to get through it. So, I just couldn't take it and called the customer support and my saga crumbles.

The first lady I received was very nice but she kept telling me that my only option was to format the hard drive. Of course I will lose everything from there. The pay-per-views not fully watched nor my shows. I didn't want to spend another hour on the phone going through this and just was done with it all - send me a new DVR. Sorry mama, we can't do that. Fine, let me talk to your supervisor. My thought was that the supervisor would be more willing to work with me.

Big, big, HUGE mistake in thought. This lady redefined the word attitude. In no shape or form will I be compensated for anything and until I reformat my hard drive - I can't do anything else. Since I am just beyond frustration and at a boiling point, fine, do what you have to do. Well, I follow her instructions and why the system is formatting the hard drive, she asks me to confirm my address and reads it to me. I say yes. She was like Mame - I need you to confirm your address - so I yell yes thinking she can't hear me on speaker phone. No Mame, I need you to repeat your address to me. WTF - you just read it to me and now you want me to tell you what you said. So I give her my street address...hot under the collar by now. Not good enough - so I give her my city, state and zip - spelling it all out so she doesn't get confused. I know I am yelling by now but it is just because of the pure frustration and rudeness with this lady. She then tells me that she is going to have to terminate the call, tells me to have a nice day and hangs up.

So, I call back. They ask how they can help. I give my best polite effort when mad and say I was on the phone with a supervisor. Well, she puts me through to a supervisor and happens to be the same one. Seriously - is this a cruel, cruel joke? Well, she is resident evil by this point. I didn't realize right away it was her and explain how I was hung up on, she then goes into you know why I hung up, don't you. Uhhh, I just tell her I am not calling to rehash this, I want it solved. She has complete attitude and really is making no effort. She even then starts bitching about how she works three jobs. Seriously, do you think I care. At no point in my career have I EVER considered telling someone I was on a support call with how many jobs I work, let alone a VERY frustrated & angry customer. Are you kidding me.

Well, some how - even though she wasn't on the phone while it did the reformat, she determined that I need a new DVR. Then proceeds to tell me that it is going to cost me $19.95 to send it out. Ah no, I am not paying for that. She was like "Are you telling me that or asking that". At that point I had enough of the attitude and said I would call back and deal with someone else. Please forget about it and I will deal with it tomorrow.

So, while I am typing up my letter to the Better Business Bureau, I receive an email informing me that my DVR has been shipped and they are billing me for it. I am so ready to hit the roof on this, it isn't funny. I tried to call on my way into work but apparently they don't support people until 8 am. So, guess it is going to be a drive home call.

Again, to quote Charlie Brown "Agggggggggggghhhhhhhhhhhhhh"

Go Time

Well, it is official, surgery has been set. Friday, November 13th is the day. Yes - Friday the 13th. But, see I think that since I have 13 permanently inked on my skin that it is a lucky number and not unlucky. Hopefully this holds true for the surgery.

It seems easy to schedule it but has been a lot of work to find the right date. Being single, I have just me to count on to get me to and from places. So, this means that I have to find someone that can take me home from surgery. Now, most in my situation call upon mom & dad to help out. Well, given that there is 807 miles between my front door and their front door, it doesn't make that as a real option. Although, there was some initial thought about doing it the Friday before Thanksgiving, my mom could fly in and then just drive with me back to NE for the holiday. Well, grand in theory but I will have to have the splints removed from my nose 7 days after the surgery, so that means I need to be in Texas to have that done.

So, plan B is in place. My aunt that lives in Houston has agreed to be a stand in mom for me. Her and my uncle will be on vacation the end of October and given that I have tickets to the Baylor/NU game - I had to coordinate around that as well. So - November 13th was the first Friday that would work for all of us and the doctor agreed that date would work to.

I am nervous but at the same time optimistic of what the surgery can do for me. I hope that the days of sinus infections will be few and far between! I look forward to being able to breathe out of my nose and not feeling so tired all the time! I'll keep you updated as things proceed. There will be more tests done between now and then as this is going to be an image guided procedure.

The Big Decision

It actually feels like a mountain weighing on me and I really don't know what I should do. Really I know what I should do but it scares me to do it.

For whatever reason, after college, my allergies were taken to a whole new level. Basically I can hug a tree without worrying and that is about it, the rest I am allergic to. That includes cats, most dogs, dust, mold, grass and a slew of other random stuff. For the most part life was some what in control with allergy injections in each arm, each week. On top of that I had the allergy meds and nasal spray to help with what the shots didn't.

Well, when I moved to Austin, I had to go off the shots for one year. They wanted to "acclimate" me to Texas and make sure I didn't have anything new. The good news is that I don't suffer from "Cedar Fever" that they have here, but the rest didn't go away. I am back to getting two shots to help get over the allergies. Now, they are trying to fast forward me through this, so I have been going at least once a week but there have been a few weeks that I have been in 3 times to get my two shots. Plus the oral & nasal meds. :)

Last winter I blogged about the sinus infection that wouldn't go away. After CT scans galore, they determined that I had an infection that was full blown, won't go away. I had a deviated septum, a sinus cavity developed incorrectly and something else was wrong. Long story short, two different doctors, same recommendation...SURGERY.

Well, they said I could put it off because I was training for the triathlon and that would of prevented me from training and doing the race. Well, all summer I was blessed with no sinus infections and the saline rinses seemed to be helping. Unfortunately that came to an end last Saturday, the sinus infection is back.

I am lucky in that I don't get the blinding headaches but I do live with the feeling that my ears are floating in water. The over counter meds are helping somewhat but not making it go away. So, yesterday and today I have been talking about the surgery with the ENT doctor to see what all is involved.

Lovely insurance means that minimum it will cost is $500, plus 90% of doctors, hospital and anesthesiologist. Of course, no one can tell me what my total out of pocket would be because they all bill separately. Thanks for nothing.

I think the biggest fear is not knowing. Is this going to solve my problems or most of them? Will I sleep better at night? Will I not be constantly tired anymore? Ma says she would not do it again if she had to but that was 20 years ago - things have had to change, right? Then there is my struggles with surgery and anesthesia. Out of my six surgeries in which I was put out, half have turned from an outpatient surgery to 3 day hospital stay. This is suppose to be a relatively short surgery, so since I did okay on the other short ones, I should be fine on this one - right? UGH! Can I be a kid again and have my mom and dad make the decision for me?

Career Change

Yep, that is what I am considering right now. I know - I hit 35 and suddenly decide I don't know what I want in life.

As we know, I was the coach in Nebraska. I loved it. Okay, maybe not the success I didn't have at the last high school but did love the coaching and the kids. I use to think that if I would go back to school, I would be a teacher once I am married so I could stay home with the kids in the summer and still be allowed to do the coaching thing.

Well, fast forward to my conversation I had on Friday night. One of the gals I work part time with at Lowe's also is a teacher. Yes, she works two jobs but it is because she is trying to put three boys through college without her Ex's help. We know how that goes! Anywho, she was giving me the run down on all of it. Basically, I would start out at less than $100 a month than I make now. However, they cover the insurance (savings of $62/month) and also contribute to a retirement plan - which I currently don't have through work. Never mind that I get summers off, Christmas, two week breaks. Or on top of that I will get 10 sick days and 10 personal days to use each school year that roll over. Am I crazy? Isn't this a no-brainer? In addition, I would get a raise every school year which is more than I can say for where I am at now, I have had a 2% raise in my 26 months of employment. Pathetic & sad.

So, that is what is on the mind today. I am suppose to be getting some information on what additional classes I would need to take to become teacher certified. The positive is that I still have a job and can get myself up & running on this in my free time!

To date or not date....

that is the question.

In high school, I had a boyfriend. But then in college I dated my fair share of guys, but nothing serious. Then a tragic event happened my junior year of college and caused me to be pretty jaded towards guys and really never dated much after that. When I turned 30, things changed and I met the EX. Things seemed good at first but obviously again, judgement was clouded and not a grand choice in men.

So, fast forward to the fall of 2008. I met the Chef and things seem to go well. We are just so opposite and I have blogged about that before. Plus, there just doesn't seem to be a lot of effort on either part to see each other. Then there was NY Man. We click on a lot of levels and have a lot in common. BUT, he has his things that he needs to work out first and really the only way he and I could date is if he takes his time and works through those things.

So, fast forward to last night. I have known Pimp for over a year now. There is the attraction factor and he is a super nice guy. A few of us typically go out for drinks on Friday night after we close Lowe's. There has been an occasion or to where it just ends up being the girls and Pimp. Hence we changed the song My Girl to "My Pimp" one night while drinking because he is always there with the girls and it has always stuck since then. Well, last night, TMK, Pimp and I went out for one or two drinks. TMK bowed out because she had to be back at 10 am. Pimp and I ended up playing pool and closing down the bar. For the record, I still SUCK at pool. We got the closing call at 2 and closed out our tab and headed out.

Pimp and I headed out and were chatting. At some point chatting became a make out session in the parking lot. Yes - a teenager all over again. But level heads won out and I resisted the offer and headed to home to my own bed by myself. Pimp is an excellent kisser, I will give him that. :) He almost was very persuasive getting me to come over too. I just said I didn't want a drunk thing and he told me he would call tonight after he gets off from work so we could watch a movie...we'll see.

So, what is the problem one asks? Oh, about 10 years of age difference. He is much more mature than his age but freely admits he isn't ready for a serious relationship. I on the other hand feel like my biological clock is tickin. So, do you date him knowing it isn't serious until someone else comes along? Or do you pass just because the age difference? Or just date and see if it evolves into something but does that make me a cougar?

I know you silent lurkers are out there and never post, but I am expecting people to weigh in on this one. We know that I have had a terrible track record of picking guys so really not sure what to do on this one.