Today in the life of KTreva

Two weeks....I have been on my job for two weeks now. So far I have managed to update everything that needed it, write several new memos, and overall clean up most of the mess that was left me.

Today was my true test however....today I had to facilitate two meetings with all of our departments. I was naturally nervous, as I usually am the first time I have to do something like this. The first meeting went well...it was scheduled for an hour, but I managed to do all of it in 30 minutes. I made sure I was speaking slowly (when I get nervous I tend to talk REALLY fast) and clearly, but I paced. A LOT.

Since my husband had to be in this meeting I asked him for honest feedback, he told me about the pacing, and I made a note that yes, he was absolutely correct. The second meeting went better than the first. I again spoke slowly and clearly and this time I didn't pace...well, not as much anyway :) This meeting was also scheduled for an hour, but it was over in 40 minutes.

The feedback that I got from this was this:

"I love the way you didn't read the memo's to us!"
"It was written in a manner that I could understand!"
"I think we're gonna do great with you in this position!"

Normally I only want feedback when I do something wrong, however since I was changing the format of the meetings and the memo's, and usually change is not something that is exactly embraced where I work, I needed to know what I did right. Knock on wood, but I think I'm gonna be OK.

The next few weeks will be a real test. I begin a training class on Monday that will not end until May 12th. I will be required to assist with that WHILE doing the rest of my daily duties. I think if I can weather this, I'll do just fine :)

If only it came in PINK!!

So as you may have heard, I bought myself a James Bond Gun. A Walther PPK .380, so now I wonder...does this make me a Bond Girl??

And for those who think it's a girly girl gun....perhaps you haven't noticed but I am a girly girl, and I'm hoping I can get pink grips for it! *snicker*

Yeesh!

So I'm not having the best of days. There is currently a power struggle going on at work and I am right in the middle of it. I.AM.NOT.IN.THE.MOOD.

Even having the craptacular day that I am, I came across this and thought, "oh hell, it could be worse, I could be this guy!"

Quick Update

Here is a brief recap of my past week

Up at 5:30
work til 5:30
eat
sleep
start over

Wish I had more to offer, but that's about it. I promise, I will post something with more substance soon. In the meantime:

WIFE VS. HUSBAND
A couple drove down a country road for several miles, not saying a word.
An earlier discussion had led to an argument and
neither of them wanted to concede their position.
As they passed a barnyard of mules, goats, and pigs,
the husband asked sarcastically, "Relatives of yours?"
"Yep," the wife replied, "in-laws."

Today's post has been brought to you by the number 3!

Birthday Party at Burger King. Cake, french fries, and presents! What more could a 3 year old want! He got a bike, a play-doh fun factory, Rockem Sockem Spongebob, Whack a Mole, oh, and lets not forget the bubblemaker gun that Daddy thought he just had to have. He got so many items I'm not sure what I'm going to do with all of them....I may have to clean out the toybox and give some stuff away.

We've been playing all morning and we are both content and happy. For lunch I am taking him to McDonalds (at his request) and maybe we'll watch a movie together. I really enjoy Mommy and Son time.

Happy Birthday Munchman!

My baby boy is 3 years old today! I can hardly believe it! He's getting soooo big! I still remember when he was born. I kept telling my doctor that he was a big baby, but he insisted that he would be MAX 6 pounds. I had a scheduled C-Section on this day 3 years ago at 38 weeks pregnant. That's two weeks before my due date for those who don't know.

Went in, had the spinal block (yay no pain!) and the doctor delivered him with an exasperated "WOW THIS IS A BIG BABY!" He was 8 pounds, 3 ounces....2 weeks early. Doc said he'd have been over 10 pounds if he had gone to term. Soooooo glad I had a C Section!

He has grown so much, first teeth, learned to walk, learning to talk, and just being a joy!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MUNCHMAN! I LOVE YOU!!

Thanks for the years!

I have been a bit busy, but I wanted to post on this. Last Friday at work was my Supervisor's last day. She was retiring after ..... uh.... A LONG TIME of working for our company. She announced to all of us quite vehemently that she DID NOT want a big ta do when she left.
"if you insist, we'll respect your wishes" we lied said.

Me being me, I promptly began planning her retirement party. This woman has been THE ABSOLUTE BEST supervisor I have EVER had at any company that I have EVER worked. There are people at work who don't like her because she was A) Blunt, B) Honest and C) Hard to read. I on the other hand like that. Don't sugar coat crap when you are trying to give me feedback. If I screwed up tell me. I always knew that if I went to her that I would get a straight an honest answer and I SOOOO respect that!

Oh yeah...back to the point of this post. My Supervisor (who I will now refer to as S) LOVES the Rockford Icehogs. She buys season tickets every year and goes to nearly every single game. She had mentioned to me once that as much as she loves the Icehogs, she refuses to buy one of their jerseys because they were just too expensive. I tucked that away in the back of my mind for future reference, so when the whole retirement thing came up I knew EXACTLY what to get her. I sent out an e-mail to our unit and told them that I wanted to take up a collection for an Icehogs Jersey, and that between all of us it would only run $10 a person. Everyone was game and the quest was on.

I decided I needed a partner in crime for this, and went to a friend of mine, BB. It just so happens that she is ALSO the daughter of S. I told her what we were doing and asked if anyone in her unit would be interested in going in on it as well. She had a better idea. She contacted a guy she knows with the team and made arrangements to have S's favorite player Robin Big Snake come and deliver the jersey to her on her last day!

We planned this for nearly a month, and with the exception of a late arrival, things went off without a hitch. She was shocked, surprised and incredibly happy! He signed her jersey for her, and we even had enough money left over to give to her so that she can get it customized for #19 Big Snake himself! He was incredibly gracious and so happy to do this for us. S really deserved this, and I'm so glad we were able to pull this off! We will miss you S!

Thanks Robin! GO ICEHOGS!!

Just love it

I have been doing my new job for exactly 4 days now. Yesterday I worked a 12 hour day but it felt like I was there for maybe 6. I absolutely LOVE my new job. It's extremely challenging and there is a lot left to do, but I feel I have made a teeny tiny dent in what has to be done.

Here are some things that I have noticed since my promotion:

• Some of the people who are were under me before now seem intimidated by me. Before they would ask questions and I would answer, now they smile nervously and walk away.
  
• The people who were my peers last week now come to me with questions.
• Supervisors are actually taking my opinion/input to heart.
• A couple of people who didn't think I deserved my previous job are now congratulating me on doing so well in my last position, and that I have EARNED this one.
• One person who went up against me for this position has finally accepted it and is coming to me with issues that she has (this is a biggie for me)

I know that there are going to be parts to this job that I don't care for. It's true of any position, but at least I realize it and can attempt to prepare for it. Tomorrow I get to find out what the training department expects of me because starting April 3rd, I will be assisting in a training class. I have a lot to get done before the class starts because if I don't it'll back up on me. I think I must be anal retentive when it comes to things like that. I like to do them and get them done NOW.

I, like my husband, still do not have access to do all of the things that are required of my position, but working there as long as I have, I've learned to improvise. When we update something, we have to save it to a common drive, and then it has to be published...well I can't publish yet, HOWEVER I have someone in the office who can publish. When I fix something she uploads it. I have also taken the initiative and gotten the ball rolling on a few other things that I will need to do my new job, like fill out the application for my corporate credit card BEFORE they tell me "oh yeah, by the way, we need you in Chicago (or Dallas or Tulsa) next Tuesday" and I have to pay for everything out of my own pocket!

I'm gonna send a big THANK YOU to everyone who gave me kind words and support during my nervous breakdown prior to the big interview. Without you guys, I don't know that I would have had the confidence to come off as well as I did!

VOTE!

I voted today! It's my honor and privledge to vote. I know what women had to go through to get this right and I cherish it. It really pisses me off when someone has the right and chooses not to exercise it and then bitches about the way things are run.

I have one thing to say to these people:
GET OFF YOUR ASS AND VOTE!

Thank you.

Ode to yuckiness

I went to bed last night and felt a bit....off. No other way to explain it, I just didn't feel right. Fell asleep and slept pretty well, then the alarm went off. I tried to grumble as I got up to smack the snooze button, but found that it hurt to talk. Oh great...I have a sore throat. That is ALWAYS my first sign that I am coming down with a cold.

I cannot afford to be off sick from work, there is WAAAAAAY too much to do. I am trying to clean up the mess that was left me from the person who occupied the position before. This is gonna take a while. Anywho, I get up, and do all of the normal morning crap and head off to work. Silly me, I wore a pair of boots that I adore to work today, not thinking about the fact that extended periods of time walking in them causes me pain.

I get home, my throat still hurts, I'm sneezing my head off, and because of my boots my ankles, knees, hips and lower back are KILLING ME! I think that I will go and take a nice HOT bath with some salts to ease the pain away and then hit the sack early. I will get over this quickly through SHEER WILLPOWER if that is what it's going to take!

In Kalamazoo oo oo oo!

Just got back from an incredible weekend with my hubby in Kalamazoo Michigan! We went to a trade fair for re-enactors and had an incredible time. The show was just as awesome as it was last year, but by far the best part for me was getting out, just him and I for a weekend alone!

Since he has already posted about it I'm not going to bore you with the details, but let it be known that buying more shoes is WAY DIFFERENT than buying a cannon.

Oh, and HAPPY BELATED ST. PATRICKS DAY! I hope everyone had a most excellent day!

Memory Lapse

Now I know it's been a while since my post on the trip to the Wolf Park, but I didn't think that forgotten THIS MUCH!

Thank you Laughing Wolf, for reminding me!

I forgot to mark the calendar

According to Eric of Straight White Guy today is National Steak and Blow Job Day! Now, when I first read the title of the day, I thought it was STREAK and Blow Job Day, and I was wondering how that would work. Perhaps Richmond should write a haiku for that!

Free taxes!

Believe it or not, I found this Via Dear Abby!

This year, the Department of Defense is providing free access to the popular TurboTax filing program to all active duty guard and reserves (regardless of their activation status) and their family members via the Web site www.militaryonesource.com. This free program serves as an online "tax mentor" and helps in the preparation and filing of both federal and state taxes. Military OneSource can also refer you to certified financial counselors, tax experts and public accountants who can answer questions, also at no charge, by calling toll-free: (800) 342-9647. (To access the numbers for overseas, Spanish language and hearing-impaired tax filers, log onto www.militaryonesource.com.

We all know that military personel have a lot more on their minds than having to worry about finding the time to file. I was quite impressed they would do something like this!

How did I do this?

After work tonight, I came home and started making dinner early. We had a guy coming out to give us an estimate on some new windows in the house (yay!). I decide that I am going to make one of my favorite meals, Kielbasa Potatoes. Really easy, basically fried potatoes and onions with a cut up kielbasa, red pepper and salt. I have a wonderful instrument that I use from The Pampered Chef, called The Ultimate Slice and Grate. I can julian an entire bag of potatoes in under 5 minutes!

I wash the potatoes, cut out any bad parts and slap them on my handy dandy tool and slice them into bits. Apparently one of the potatoes didn't like it's fate, and it bit me. I.KID.YOU.NOT! There was a small eye on the potato that I went to pick off, and I'll be damned if I don't have a potato eye SPLINTER in the palm of my hand! It's not very big, but it's swollen up and is quite red. I think I'm going to have to have my husband perform surgery on me tonight!

Who knew potatoes could be so violent!

C is for Cookie

Your Fortune Is

It is better to lose a lover than love a loser.

The Wacky Fortune Cookie Generator

h/t LittleJoe

Good News Saturday!

From now on, Saturday is going to be known as Good News Saturday!

To begin, Tammi and I get to go shopping soon due to my big promotion! YAY! Watch out mall (and Kohl's, I just love Kohl's) Here we come!

Today Carmen is celebrating her birthday! HAPPY EARLY BIRTHDAY CARMEN! I thought that maybe you would like to get your car washed today, so here ya go!




Hope no one is reading this from work hehe, I haven't figured out the extended entry thing yet.

My 2,000 Visitor!

Congratulations to Laughing Wolf for being my 2,000 visitor!!

This is just for you!

Happy Blogiversary Tammi!

My Blogmamma Tammi is celebrating 2 years today! Head on over and give her congratulations!

Goodbye Hourly, Hello Salary!

The wait has been awful, but boy was it worth it! I got my promotion!! I worked my arse off to get this. They said they want me to start on Monday...Wow.

You never feel too good when your supervisor comes to your desk and says, "We need to see you in Breakroom C" and then walks away.

I had fully expected to be told I didn't get it. I have been turned down for several promotions in the past 4 years, so it was old shoe for me. I took a deep breath, locked my computer and headed to the breakroom.

There she sits with the crazy man from the role-playing portion of my interview. Trying to make myself ready for rejection I sit down. She begins by giving me feedback. Apparently my initial interview impressed the hell out of her, and told me that it was EXCELLENT...I kept waiting for the "BUT", and it didn't come. She said that the Role-playing portion was good, but that there was room for improvement. I was well aware of that. As I mentioned in my previous post I was shocked and therefore had to overcome, and I knew I could have done better, but hindsight is 20/20.

She advised me that I was up against some pretty stiff competition and that she had agonized over this decision for days....*long dramatic pause* "However, (oh great here it comes) I would like to offer you the position."

For a moment I sat there staring at her, blinking...I had myself so convinced that I wasn't going to get this that I AGAIN was shocked. "really??" I squeaked. "yes" she smiled. Finally my brain kicked into gear, "OH MY GAWD! WOW! I MEAN YES! YES I ACCEPT!" and almost cried. I was told that I couldn't tell ANYONE until they had let the other applicants know, and that I needed to stay sitting there until I could wipe the shit eating grin off my face. Ok, maybe it wasn't in those words, but that's what I heard. I had to sit for close to 10 minutes before I could walk out of the room.

Tammi had mentioned shopping at the mall, well, I NEED TO DO THAT NOW TO!

For the Ladies

A WOMAN'S REVENGE

"Cash, check or charge?" I asked, after folding items the woman wished to purchase.
As she fumbled for her wallet I noticed a remote control for a television set in her purse.
"So, do you always carry your TV remote?" I asked.
"No," she replied, " but my husband refused to come shopping with me,
and I figured this was the most evil thing I could do to him legally."

The Phinlet is here!

8 pounds 14 ounces born really early this morning! There is now a photo up and he is adorable!
Congratulations Phin!

I got nothin done today

Got up, went to work. Was given a special project to do, 121 items, got 30 done in between two meetings I had to chair. Asked if I could work OT to get the rest of the project done, was told it could wait until tomorrow. Ok. Found out hubby got promotion, YAY!! Went home for the day, cooked dinner, fought with children, "PLEASE STOP STANDING ON YOUR BROTHER!", had to ground them from each other for the rest of the night. Now...I'm beat.

Maptacular

SIGN MY MAP! I NEED TO FEEL INCLUDED!

*sob*

Yep, that's a wierd one

Caltechgirl had this funky test, and being that I have an unhealthy addiction to quizzes, I took it. I guess I thought I was more empathetic than this.


My Personal Dna Report

Genuine Architect

Linky Love!

It appears after my snarky comment on Bloodspite's blog, he decided he need to give me some linky love! That's excellent dude! It was great meeting you AND you wife as well! Sorry it took me so long to notice....I've been a little busy (see below) :)

EEEEEEVIL!

I found this over at my Blogsis Machelle's place. Wow, I'm not as evil as I thought...I'm gonna have to work on that!

You Are 58% Evil

You are evil, but you haven't yet mastered the dark side. Fear not though - you are on your way to world domination.

How Evil Are You?

Interview Part Deux

I spent a good portion of Sunday night preparing for today's presentation. I had to take a 47 page document and condense it into a fifteen minute presentation. I didn't realize how good I was at summarizing until I took this on. I saved it as a Word document, and emailed it to myself at work. I knew I wanted to make a power point out of it, however I don't have that program at home. Once I got to work this morning I transfered the Word document into a Power Point, made it look pretty and prepared for my 10:15 A.M. interview.

I tried to get the proxima and a lap top so that I could present the information on a big screen, makes a better impression that way, however there was a minor snafu...my interview changed from a large room to a small room where there was no access to a computer. No problem, I can adapt to change. I printed copies of the power point presentation and when the time came, handed them out to the individuals.

Crazy doesn't begin to describe how they acted during the presentation! Two people arrived on time, a third arrived coughing and hacking his lungs up (claiming bronchitus) and the forth, who was late, came barging in hollaring about how she was late. It took me a few minutes to realize they were role playing, but once I did, I did the best I think I could have given the shock to my system. You have to understand, I HATE the roleplaying portion of interviews, mainly because the people who have been chosen to "act up" can't be calmed down no matter what you do. They have it set in their heads that they aren't going to listen to a word anyone says, and regardless of the steps you take, they continue to do the same thing. I decided to try a different approach after several attempts to get them to listen was fruitless. I continued delivering my presentation, walked around to them and set a hand on each of their shoulders. I couldn't believe it, without saying a word they were quiet! I removed my hands and continued to stand there delivering the remaining portion of my presentation, and of course asked the obligatory "do you have any questions?".

I wish I could tell you it went well, but my fellow readers, this was TOUGH. I think I did O.K., I just have to hope like hell no one else does better. By far the hardest part for me was trying not to laugh! These people who were in on this presentation are all supervisors in my department. The only man in the room who was claiming to have bronchitus had his arm nearly ripped from his socket by Ms. Late To The Meeting, telling him that to cure coughs you have to put one arm over your head, to which he announced he was really glad he had put on deoderant that morning! I may have inadvertantly chuckled at bit at that, but quickly smoothed my face into a simple smirk. That was as good as I was going to get!

Anywho, I should know by the end of the week whether or not I got the position. They had one last interview today, and that person does her presentation on Wednesday. I was thinking of making brownies for her....with some ex lax....but I don't think I could stoop to that level. Oh hell, who am I kidding, YES.I.COULD! I won't, but I could!

Girl Time

You all may have noticed that my Blogmamma Tammi is having a rough week. I called her on Friday after I saw her "Terminated" post. Oh no... this can't be good. I just needed to make sure she was O.K., and she claimed that she was fine, but I could hear it in her voice. She.wasn't.fine. She told me that she was going to have to cancel our shopping trip for obvious reasons but that I was still welcome to come over and visit.

There was no way I was going to let her sit by herself and stew all day on Saturday. I told her that I would be over and started making plans. I arrived at her house at around 10 am and brought with me a dozen coral colored roses. I remembered her saying that she loved to have fresh cut flowers in the house. We sat and chatted for a bit and then I dropped the bomb on her.

Me: "We are having our girl day. I am kidnapping you, taking you to eat and taking you shopping where I will buy you a new shirt. There will be NO arguements."

Tammi: "well...alrighty then!"

Off we went. I took her to JMK Nippons for japanese cuisine, she ordered a drink smothered in cool whip and we both ate until we couldn't move. Big highlight was the little japanese man shaking his ass in her face, but I don't think it was intentional but we both enjoyed a good laugh!

Next was shopping, so we hit the mall....By the way, I might have forgotten to mention that I hate the mall on Saturday's because everyone is there running everyone else over, but I was on a mission, and NO ONE was going to get in my way. It's amazing how people will move when you stare them down while walking straight towards them. Found her a really great sweater, turquoise in color that makes her waist look so TEENY TINY it made me sick. She looked great! She tried to buy it herself, but I had my credit card out first and told the little girl behind the counter that I was paying for it all and to ignore the crazy lady.

We stopped to get something to drink, but since both of us were yawning our fool heads off we decided it would be best to head back to her place and take a load off. We talked a bit more before I left at around 8 P.M. I gave her big hugs and reminded her that yes, I will always be here even if it's just to talk.

Love you Tammi! You are the reason I am here.

Results

When I woke up this morning, I dressed in a black suit with a baby blue shirt, did my hair put on make up (I don't do that every day, too time consuming) and wore my best perfume. I donned one of my favorite necklaces with matching earrings and viewed myself in the mirror. I looked pretty good.

Once I arrived at work I had a 7:30 A.M. meeting, which lasted an hour, then I started shaking. Only 30 minutes til my interview....must....remain...calm! I did some deep breathing exercises, had a friend of mine adjust my collar on my shirt, and went outside to smoke a cigarette. This was as good as I was going to get. I had originally planned on putting together a handout to give to the interviewers, but it seems that this is the trend where I work now, and they expect the handout to do the work for them. I dared to be different and didn't make a handout, and decided I was going to sell myself through my body language and questions they might ask me.

The very first question they asked me was "tell me a bit about yourself". This was my opening. I began speaking and the flood gates opened. I proceeded to tell them all about myself and my history with the company, everything that I had done, and everything that I had learned. As I spoke I could see that I was making quite an impression. The interviewers try to write down everything that you say, so I spoke clearly and slowly, with only minimal pauses in order to give the second interviewer time to take down everything that I was saying. I even got to throw in that I am a Subject Matter Expert. The entire interview lasted for nearly an hour and I answered most of their questions before they had asked them in my opening statement. I have been given an "assignment" to work on and prepare for Monday morning at 10:15 A.M.

I will be spending most of the day on Sunday getting this together. I was told to use "any and all resources available to you", so after researching the subject in our corporate documents, I also sat with one of the employees that utilizes this knowledge to see exactly what it is and how it works. She was extremely helpful, and I am pretty confident I have a working knowledge of how this works, and will be able to produce an excellent presentation describing what it is, how it works and the advantages and disadvantages of the process, which are all requirements.

At the risk of jinxing myself, I felt pretty good about the entire process. I have tried to keep in mind that whether or not I get this position, it is all up to me and how I present myself and my knowledge. I know I can do the job, but it's convincing others that counts in this case. I should know the results by next Friday and will keep my readers posted.

D-Day

Friday
9 A.M.
Interview

Ack! Must study more! Must must must...*faint*