Bloggity Blog Blog

Hi there. Preggo here. I know I had dropped off the face of the earth for a while, and I do apologize for that. I think that all I have to say about that is that I’ve had a lot of adjustments to make!

I think the last update that I made was catching up everyone on my new job. (I can’t really remember right now, though, because that’s been forever ago and I’m typing this from work.) Maybe it was the 25 More Reasons for You to Question My Sanity blog. I’m not really certain – “pregnancy brain” has taken me over in a big way. I’m lucky to be able to remember my own name on some days. Most of my conversations consist of “uh . . . well. . . er. . . the thing with the stuff . . .” J has been a fantastic translator most of the time, though I still stump him sometimes.

Back to the point, work is going well. I’ve gotten into the swing of things here and I’m doing relatively well. So far I haven’t made the bossman angry, only slightly perturbed. (Trust me, you know when he’s angry.) For those of you who don’t know (or in case I really didn’t tell you about my job), I’m the receptionist for an engineering firm who is working to bring fiber optic cable to rural areas of the U.S. That’s only 1/10^th of my job, however. My largest function is customer service specialist. Ideally I’m supposed to call customers when construction crews have repaired their lawns and make sure they’re happy with the work. Realistically I’m elevated customer support, tracking the complaints, relaying them to the appropriate individuals on the correct projects, and then conferring with those individuals if I hear that the work has not been completed to their satisfaction. I hear some relatively interesting stories. The folks I work with are all pretty cool which is difficult to accomplish in a company of 25+ people. Did I mention that the office is beautiful? It really is.

Annnnd more importantly, everyone has been really helpful and really supportive, especially after finding out that I have a little one expected to be on the way less than seven months after being hired!

Since I got past the morning sickness, I’ve been doing pretty well. I’ve been gaining enough weight but not too much and my blood pressure and circulation have stayed pretty good. I got a scare last week when they gave me a one-hour glucose tolerance test and I failed it with a 168 (140 is high and my personal norm is 100). I had to go back and have a three-hour glucose tolerance test which was absolute hell . . . and apparently I just barely made it through that one by the skin of my teeth. That’s a great warning, though – so I know now that I should be a bit more careful and a bit more selective in what I’m eating, then I should be kosher. Please no gestational diabetes for me!

Most of the time I’m just plain sleepy. Or hungry. At any moment I’m happy to accept a sammich or a nap, but both would be better. The little one has been flipping and turning like crazy. She’s alive in there! It’s still exciting and completely freaky to think about. My poor belly button has ceased to exist. But yay for me, NO STRETCH MARKS yet! My goddess tattoo has been hanging in there too, which I’m frankly surprised and oh-so-excited to see. I was expecting her arms to be reaching to Mars by now.

J and I have gotten her room cleaned up and I’m starting to arrange stuff. My brother-in-law floored us with a ton of gifts (he pretty much cleared my original Target registry plus a few things). I can’t thank him enough . . . everything from a pack n play to a bouncer to a diaper genie and a ton of other handy stuff. My mother in law went for the matching high chair and stroller/car seat combination for us. Thankfully that was the ice-breaker that J needed and he’s agreed to let me send a baby shower invitation to her, so hopefully we’ll be opening the lines of communication with her again. A lot of stuff happened . . . but it’s been a long time, we’ve all had time to think, and it’s time to move on. For those of you who are long distance, if you’d like to see our registries, both are under my name at Target and Wal-Mart.

Of course, emotionally I’ve been all over the place. I’m excited but scared to death. I haven’t envisioned myself a parent for a long, long time – quite the opposite, actually. So when someone changed my plans FOR me, it threw me for quite a loop. There are all the standard parent anxieties too, like “will I screw her up too badly?” but I’m sure that those never go away. For that matter, I’m sure that if I didn’t have those anxieties, then all of you should be seriously concerned. J is THRILLED. He’s literally bouncing off the walls. And he’s been so supportive and helpful. I have absolutely nothing but fantastic things to say about the way he’s adjusting to being a more attentive husband, and I already know he’s going to be an amazing father.

Father’s Day gift ideas anyone?

Well, before this gets any longer . . .

I can’t wait to meet our daughter!

Woo-freakin'-hoo!

Ladies and gents, it could not have come at a more appropriate time.

I had curled up in the bed and been catnapping for about 45 minutes after reveling in the miracle of a capable man being inaugurated into the White House when I got a phone call . . .

I got a job here in town. Yaaaay for no freakin' commute! My pay will only be about 65% of what it was before I got laid off, but it looks like that's just out of my hands with the economy the way it is. At least I'm employed . . . and just in the nick of time, too. My unemployment runs out NEXT WEEK.

I'll be a Customer Service Rep for an engineering firm. I'll be dealing with customer complaints and getting them resolved as well as other administrative duties within the organization. They work rather odd hours since they're an engineering firm (7-5 M-Th and 7-11 on Fri) and the boss still isn't sure EXACTLY what my position will look like (that's ok, been there before!). "We'll play it by ear," he said.

I do know that they have benefits though I don't know at this point what or how much or even if they pay for them. I should find out in the next day or two when I receive an info packet in the mail to have filled out when I start at 8 a.m. Monday.

Wish me luck, guys!

She reappears!

Seriously, it's been a while. I can't believe that I posted a blog post-termination in July and haven't posted since. Hell, I really haven't communicated since.

To those of you that were confused, I apologize. I've been known to take a couple or few days and hibernate away from other humans for a period of time to "regroup", but it's never been known to last so long. The funny thing is that, once I started thinking about it, I realized that I've been off work for six weeks at most since I was sixteen, and that was when I moved to this city to go to school and my car was broken down.

Over ten years with no more than six weeks off between jobs, the average being about two weeks between places. Man.

So . . . I started thinking maybe I was due a vacation, and with the thought that I was due a vacation, well . . . I took it a bit overboard and truly ended up curled on the couch for weeks on end.

I seem to be coming more awake now. =)

I'm taking small steps and I'm getting better at answering phone calls and answering messages.

For a work update . . .

I'm trying to find an organization I can truly get behind and a place that I WANT to devote my time to. It will take some time, and if time runs out I'll have to grab whatever is available, but for now I'm trying to choose carefully. I'm tired of grinding myself down for places that don't appreciate me and don't offer any personal fulfillment, either. Meanwhile, I've got some great references and an awesome reference letter from ex-dude at my old office.

Anyhoo . . . hello again!

You know how stuff just sucks sometimes?

Sure you do! I'm feeling it today. I suppose the one good thing is that yesterday, when I went to work, I thought to myself, "Damn, I wish the weekend wasn't over!"

Be careful what you wish for, kiddies!

I was dumb as hell, doing my job as normal and having no idea what was going on. Then, about 2:30 in the afternoon, I got asked to join M in the conference room. I figured it was another meeting and wrapped up what I was doing, then went on in.

Well . . . turns out that after all their planning meetings last week, they have decided that the best course of action is to dissolve my position. That's right - dissolve my position. Just add water and watch it go "poof".

The man who never made any sales calls on time is now going to be in charge of all sales. They're not doing any marketing whatsoever for the rest of the year. Therefore, sales and marketing manager (or whatever the hell I was)? Pah - not needed! Position dissolved.

I got this information at 2:30 in the afternoon. They asked if I had any questions. I told them I didn't think so, and thanked them for the experience. Then, very unlike those two gentlemen, I didn't even get a handshake as we all stood around the table. Not even a handshake.

By 4:30 yesterday afternoon, my desk was cleared, I said goodbye to my pretty, pretty computer, and I walked out the door.

Well, all THAT stuff's the negative. Now for the positive.

- I got out while the gettin's good. If they're not planning on marketing at all, that place is about to go down like the Titanic. This one ain't on board. As a matter of fact, I got two weeks' severance plus my unused vacation time. That's a helluva lot more than people will get if they have to close their doors.
- I was getting restless anyway.
- I'm so damn loyal I may not have left if they didn't fire me . . .

So there are plenty of reasons here why this is a positive issue - but yes, I'll be locking myself in a hole for a bit. And if I'm not online (at least until we can get connected at home so I can job search in my underwear), this is why.

Wooooooot! Kinda.

She’s baaaaaaaaaaaaack . . .

I'm sitting here at my cozy desk once again. It's good to be home, especially when you think that PERHAPS you've finally caught back up on your sleep.

Yaaaaay sleep.

Anyhoo, I had a great conference in Baltimore. I don't think that I actually brought back any strong prospects BUT I had an amazing time. The topics they covered were interesting, the speakers were great, and the booze was even better. (These professional conferences - always trying to get you drunk and take advantage of you.)

I had a BEAUTIFUL view of the harbor from my 31st floor hotel room (which I learned later that, because of my boss' platinum status, I could have gone and hung out in the Platinum Lounge to get free stuff at the hotel, but . . . eh). It was a lovely hotel room - even bigger than the one I stayed with in New Orleans, and with more pillows, too. You can't go wrong with more pillows.

The only complaint I had was that the bed was TOOO soft. I sank into it and my back and hips were hurting within a mere half-hour. One night I got to hear Stevie Wonder playing at the amphitheater next door to the hotel from the balcony where the pool is - how awesome is THAT?! But that fun resulted in me forgetting I had a bed by the time I got back to the room much less feeling the softness of the surface on which I was sleeping.

By the time I got home I had a couple of numb toes from standing on my feet for three days straight (and I think honestly that I've bruised a nerve or two because I still can't feel anything in the general toe-ish area there) and I was EXHAUSTED. That's what those damn conferences do to you - they feed you, get you drunk, and then wear you down with all their little educational seminars and networking. Evil bastards.

I'm just glad to be back home in my own bed. Maybe this weekend I'll be recuperated enough to do . . . something, but I think right now my preferred method of being is to kick back and watch some movies.

Speaking of movies? Watch Fracture. It's the schiznit - I swear it.

OK, Loves - I'm off to work some more. I have piles and piles and piles of work in front of me, and today I'm ever-so-thankful that I can type faster than hell or I never would have gotten all this out.