How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things!
Sunday, November 28, 2010
Thursday, November 25, 2010
I hope everyone has had a good Thanksgiving.
We went to F's apartment today, where I reheated a rotisserie chicken from Publix in her oven while cooking corn-on-the-cob and then squash, zucchini, and onion in her microwave. We had cornbread muffins too. I realize all of this is cheating b/c I was supposed to spend the whole day slaving in the kitchen, but we had a very nice meal together. I was mildly distressed to realize that I hadn't thought to get cranberry sauce to go with the chicken, but F produced a jar of guava jelly and that was a surprisingly good substitute.
It's been an interesting week or so.
Tuesday last week, of course, I had the task of telling everyone at work that they were shutting us down, and beginning to call clients. R and I went to Applebee's that night and unusually for me, I ordered a margarita. It turned out to be two-for-one margarita night at Applebee's and I drank them both.
On Thursday I met with a competitor lab a couple of hours away who'd heard that we were closing and wanted to talk about possibly employing me. Probably nothing will come of that but I enjoyed the visit, seeing their laboratories and talking to people.
Had previously bought tickets to see Harry Potter at the new IMAX in town, for F and her dad, for Saturday night; and for Sunday night, for F and me to see Elton John in concert. She was supposed to blow in on Saturday after getting her brakes done. But Saturday morning, R was taken ill suddenly with a stomach virus. He was so sick, in fact, that not only did I have to get him to ER, I had to call an ambulance b/c he was unable to walk at all. Unlike me, R never gets these viruses. I don't know whether he got so sick because it was a particularly nasty one or whether his immune system simply didn't know what to do with it. We were in the ER all day while they gave him IVs to rehydrate him, and very strong anti-spasmodic drugs every few hours. By late evening it was probably over, but they kept him overnight to make sure.
F did come into town, and my dear friend whose entire family had seen HP the previous day picked her up, brought her to the hospital so I could give her the tix (and she could give me my jeans; things had happened very fast and I was still wearing shorts from the early AM) and then took her to dinner; and she and my friend's daughter watched HP together. My friend's daughter wore her HP scarf, which F had knitted for her last year or the year before. She graciously enjoyed the opportunity to see the movie again, and of course F loved it.
Sunday morning R was able to come home. Of course he slept all day, but he felt enough recovered that F and I were able to go out a little bit in the afternoon, and then to our concert in the evening. Elton John is quite a performer. He's been doing these songs for decades, and it was a small venue though absolutely sold out, but he clearly gave the impression that he was enjoying singing his songs; tore up the piano; and seemed to have a good time. We did too.
F spent the night and went straight in to work in the morning. I had a job interview here in town ... more on that later, I don't want to jinx it ... and then came home at lunchtime before going in to work. R got up, put on his underwear, jeans, socks and shoes, and that was it for the day. Tuesday he came in to work with me in the AM but I had to take him home at lunchtime. Wednesday he worked all day and was really exhausted by late afternoon. I guess it's going to take a while for him to get his strength back. Kind of scary that he got so sick so fast. He's feeling better every day, though.
As for me, I am living in interesting times. Another competitor lab is apparently buying our facility. I don't know if they've totally finished their talks, but I was instructed by our corporate office to send out letters to our customers already. They would like me to stay, which is much appreciated. I am reviewing my options.
What a roller coaster.
We went to F's apartment today, where I reheated a rotisserie chicken from Publix in her oven while cooking corn-on-the-cob and then squash, zucchini, and onion in her microwave. We had cornbread muffins too. I realize all of this is cheating b/c I was supposed to spend the whole day slaving in the kitchen, but we had a very nice meal together. I was mildly distressed to realize that I hadn't thought to get cranberry sauce to go with the chicken, but F produced a jar of guava jelly and that was a surprisingly good substitute.
It's been an interesting week or so.
Tuesday last week, of course, I had the task of telling everyone at work that they were shutting us down, and beginning to call clients. R and I went to Applebee's that night and unusually for me, I ordered a margarita. It turned out to be two-for-one margarita night at Applebee's and I drank them both.
On Thursday I met with a competitor lab a couple of hours away who'd heard that we were closing and wanted to talk about possibly employing me. Probably nothing will come of that but I enjoyed the visit, seeing their laboratories and talking to people.
Had previously bought tickets to see Harry Potter at the new IMAX in town, for F and her dad, for Saturday night; and for Sunday night, for F and me to see Elton John in concert. She was supposed to blow in on Saturday after getting her brakes done. But Saturday morning, R was taken ill suddenly with a stomach virus. He was so sick, in fact, that not only did I have to get him to ER, I had to call an ambulance b/c he was unable to walk at all. Unlike me, R never gets these viruses. I don't know whether he got so sick because it was a particularly nasty one or whether his immune system simply didn't know what to do with it. We were in the ER all day while they gave him IVs to rehydrate him, and very strong anti-spasmodic drugs every few hours. By late evening it was probably over, but they kept him overnight to make sure.
F did come into town, and my dear friend whose entire family had seen HP the previous day picked her up, brought her to the hospital so I could give her the tix (and she could give me my jeans; things had happened very fast and I was still wearing shorts from the early AM) and then took her to dinner; and she and my friend's daughter watched HP together. My friend's daughter wore her HP scarf, which F had knitted for her last year or the year before. She graciously enjoyed the opportunity to see the movie again, and of course F loved it.
Sunday morning R was able to come home. Of course he slept all day, but he felt enough recovered that F and I were able to go out a little bit in the afternoon, and then to our concert in the evening. Elton John is quite a performer. He's been doing these songs for decades, and it was a small venue though absolutely sold out, but he clearly gave the impression that he was enjoying singing his songs; tore up the piano; and seemed to have a good time. We did too.
F spent the night and went straight in to work in the morning. I had a job interview here in town ... more on that later, I don't want to jinx it ... and then came home at lunchtime before going in to work. R got up, put on his underwear, jeans, socks and shoes, and that was it for the day. Tuesday he came in to work with me in the AM but I had to take him home at lunchtime. Wednesday he worked all day and was really exhausted by late afternoon. I guess it's going to take a while for him to get his strength back. Kind of scary that he got so sick so fast. He's feeling better every day, though.
As for me, I am living in interesting times. Another competitor lab is apparently buying our facility. I don't know if they've totally finished their talks, but I was instructed by our corporate office to send out letters to our customers already. They would like me to stay, which is much appreciated. I am reviewing my options.
What a roller coaster.
Tuesday, November 16, 2010
Well, you probably won't believe this.
I don't think I believe it.
I had to tell my coworkers today that they are closing the business.
Yes.
This is the seventh job in a row that I have had crumble out from under me. I'm beginning to feel like Typhoid Mary.
Have some possibilities, though. The parent company wants me back in Memphis. Maybe there's something doing around here.
Once again ... I cannot stand the suspense.
I don't think I believe it.
I had to tell my coworkers today that they are closing the business.
Yes.
This is the seventh job in a row that I have had crumble out from under me. I'm beginning to feel like Typhoid Mary.
Have some possibilities, though. The parent company wants me back in Memphis. Maybe there's something doing around here.
Once again ... I cannot stand the suspense.
Tuesday, November 02, 2010
Back to the memoirs.
I had a little business in Palm Beach Gardens last week, a conference for environmental professionals. It's always a pleasure to connect with other nerds.
I brought my Toshiba netbook and used OneNote for taking notes - I really like it.
The fun part was that we finished at lunch time on Friday, and having no particular place I had to be at any particular time, I took the scenic route coming home. It was about a 3-hour drive going down on Tuesday, with only a brief pause for supper, but coming back I just drifted along the coast. Didn't worry about staying on the highway. I kept the sun more or less on my left and stopped four or five times at various public beach access spots, and got a nice sunburn on my shoulders from my boat-neck blouse. Rolled my pants up so I could walk in the edge of the water, and of course they got wet above my knees because I can't stay out of the ocean! I got to Melbourne about 5:00 or so, called F in Kissimmee, and met her for dinner at about 6:30, and eventually came on home. What a relaxing afternoon that was. There's actually no reason why we can't do that sort of thing on any weekend. And I have to go back anyway, to get F's picture with the sign at this beach before "On Stranger Tides" comes out.
We are thinking hard about buying the house we are currently renting. The floor plan is kind of different but we've gotten used to it. The cats like it. The swimming pool both terrifies and fascinates them. The previous owner's relatives kind of cleaned it out after she died, including whatever light fixture was over the dining area; they left the chain and wiring dangling from the ceiling, which looked kind of stark. We finally took care of that this past weekend, with this whimsical thing (Home Depot had it for less). We've talked a bit about other plans, should we buy the place - there are only two bedrooms with carpet and I'd like to pull all of it out. The master bedroom has doors that open directly onto the pool deck, so it's stupid to have carpet in there. Well, we'll see what happens.
I had a little business in Palm Beach Gardens last week, a conference for environmental professionals. It's always a pleasure to connect with other nerds.
I brought my Toshiba netbook and used OneNote for taking notes - I really like it.
The fun part was that we finished at lunch time on Friday, and having no particular place I had to be at any particular time, I took the scenic route coming home. It was about a 3-hour drive going down on Tuesday, with only a brief pause for supper, but coming back I just drifted along the coast. Didn't worry about staying on the highway. I kept the sun more or less on my left and stopped four or five times at various public beach access spots, and got a nice sunburn on my shoulders from my boat-neck blouse. Rolled my pants up so I could walk in the edge of the water, and of course they got wet above my knees because I can't stay out of the ocean! I got to Melbourne about 5:00 or so, called F in Kissimmee, and met her for dinner at about 6:30, and eventually came on home. What a relaxing afternoon that was. There's actually no reason why we can't do that sort of thing on any weekend. And I have to go back anyway, to get F's picture with the sign at this beach before "On Stranger Tides" comes out.
We are thinking hard about buying the house we are currently renting. The floor plan is kind of different but we've gotten used to it. The cats like it. The swimming pool both terrifies and fascinates them. The previous owner's relatives kind of cleaned it out after she died, including whatever light fixture was over the dining area; they left the chain and wiring dangling from the ceiling, which looked kind of stark. We finally took care of that this past weekend, with this whimsical thing (Home Depot had it for less). We've talked a bit about other plans, should we buy the place - there are only two bedrooms with carpet and I'd like to pull all of it out. The master bedroom has doors that open directly onto the pool deck, so it's stupid to have carpet in there. Well, we'll see what happens.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)