Life at a Lively Pace

It’s been nearly a year.

I have gone from enjoying my job, to outright loathing, and on to tolerance. Management has made some very interesting decisions - some are ok, others were poor and we’re seeing the consequences of those decisions now. My client is a nightmare of the spoiled-rotten-temper-tantrum-throwing-3-year-old variety. The demands were ridiculous and our team was forced to comply with everything - even requests that were clearly against the contracted agreements (why bother with a contract then?). Of course, management finally decides to examine our complaints 9 months after the nonsense began and is realizing that their injunctions to “keep the client happy” were just a corporate cave-in to the tantrums. Trying to undo 9 months of spoiling is not going to be easy.

On the up side, management has noticed one of my stronger abilities (writing) and plans to use me across multiple teams. On one hand, I’m thankful that I can stand out from the crowd (not be another cog in a very large machine). However, it destroys my attempts at flying under management’s radar. Management is extremely fickle and you can go from being the golden child to being the bastard child in a matter of minutes. So much for incognito…

Hubby got a job offer from a very large, recognizable company. It was a “spur of the moment” decision to apply to a job posting that he saw - he wasn’t actively seeking a different job. This came through (there’s a funny story in here I will have to tell another time) and he should be starting with them in the beginning of July. The salary offer was amazing. He is nearly doubling his current pay! (Finally, a company that is willing to pay him what he is actually worth.) God is sooo good! If things get really ugly where I am, we can afford to have me quit and search until I find something I really like instead of a) staying where I am until I find something or b)settling for something I may not like just to get out of a bad situation.

I survived the two weeks I was doing split duty between two offices.  Only by the grace of God.

This is my second full week at the new office and, as I’ve commented to several people, I hope that my husband’s health insurance covers traumatic brain injuries because my brain is going to explode.  Processing a lot of new information quickly is one problem but, of course, there are others.  There are three major systems I need to know in order to do my job effectively (and a handful of minor systems).  One is pretty self-explanatory.  I’ve been struggling with the second one for two weeks and I think I’m getting the hang of the basics and some of the intermediate stuff.  We haven’t even touched the third yet.  From what I’ve seen, they’ll need to send out a search party to find me when I get lost in the bowels of a mainframe.

Today, we just skimmed the surface of another mess.  It seems that my predecessor chose not to do much work and, when she did, it was done rather haphazardly.  I spent the bulk of the day today trying to figure out:

• the specifics of a project
• where she left off on the project
• where she left the pieces I would need to complete the project
• what to do with the leftover pieces (did I miss something or did she grab something unnecessary?)

This ongoing project, depending on constant incoming volume, needs to be done at least twice a month, if not more.  Finishing the piece of the project today was all well and good but it doesn’t bring us up to date.  There is still 6 weeks of catch-up work to do before we are current. Ick.

Overall, though, I think I’m pleased.  I was worried that some of the rote-ness might bore me.  While this isn’t the job that I’ve lived my life to get, I don’t loathe it either.  It’s not a bad way to spend my day.  The people at the company, for the most part, are friendly and willing to help.  While the basics of the job are on the boring side, enough nonsense comes through the pipeline that force me to use creative measures to get things done. I like that.

Now, if only someone would assign me my own network ID.  And get me my own desk. And computer. And phone…

:)

If someone had told me everything that was going to transpire between January and now, I would have either worried myself into an early grave or just lost my mind on the spot.  I’m very glad that God doesn’t typically let us in on the future.  Very few of us could handle it.  I sometimes wonder how the prophets were able to process and cope with the knowledge of the future that God gave them.

Besides the heart blip, I ended up with another physical issue.  Without going into details, I’m hoping and praying that my body will resolve the problem on its own.  If not, I’ll be in the doctor’s office in about two weeks for an interventionary procedure. **sigh**

Now, on to the good stuff.  Of course, none of it is simple - God doesn’t want me to get bored.

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Was our Christmas perfect this year? Depending on the specific point during the weekend, you would have gotten several different answers. Everything from perfectly lovely to perfectly frustrating. From an incredibly good time with family (laughing till you’re crying and your sides hurt) to having a cat get sick on the just-cleaned carpet (losing breakfast and, shortly thereafter, having an “accident”). From a beautiful Christmas Eve candlelight service to a malfunctioning garbage disposal and a kitchen sink drainage problem that backed up into the dishwasher, which, inevitably, began to leak out onto the floor. At one point yesterday morning, I was on the verge of tears and ready to call it quits.

Thankfully, I am married to a sane, compassionate man. He stopped what he was doing, grabbed me and hugged me until I calmed down. He told me that it would be OK, to let go of “perfect” - it doesn’t exist on this side of heaven. He was right (which, in and of itself, is annoying).

Reflecting on that thought now, several hours after the last of the disasters, brings to mind that first Christmas. Yes, the timing was perfect, the setting was intentional and everything about it was designed by God but, from a human perspective, it was all “wrong”. A very pregnant, unwed Jewish girl took an incredibly uncomfortable trip on the back of a donkey because the pagan (and greedy) government required her husband-to-be to go to his hometown for a head count for taxing purposes. She ends up birthing her “illegitimate” child in a stable alongside animals because the hotel reservation system didn’t work. Their first visitors were no one they knew, a band of smelly shepherds - a career that was considered to be at one of the lowest rungs of the social ladder.

Jesus didn’t have to leave heaven - He could have left us to our own devices- but His love for us compelled His choice to do so. He set aside the status and benefits of being God to become “God With Us”, complete with all of the messy, impotent trappings of humanity. Jesus came to us, born illegitimately, to make us legitimate heirs.

In the hustle and bustle of last-minute preparations, I lost sight of that. I was trying to create a perfect holiday. Jesus created a perfect way - Himself - to reunite us with God. So, was our Christmas perfect? Absolutely!

Many people vocalize the things they are thankful for around this time of year. I usually don’t don’t join the fray. It’s not that I have nothing to be thankful for because I most certainly do. While I have a lot of opinions on a lot of topics and will share them, those opinions are on things external and not a part of me. The closer the topic gets to who I really am, the more I am to keep those thought and feelings internalized.

However, I will join the fray this year. Foremostly, I thank God for who He is and what He has taught me in the last year Some lessons were harder than others to learn, but He never let me feel abandoned in the midst of the lessons. One of those lessons is best summed up this way:

If God is trying to teach me a lesson, it would behoove me to pay attention the first time. He’ll keep repeating the lesson in various scenarios and at various times until I “get it” - each occurence a little worse than the previous one. Trust me on this - sit up, pay attention to the whole set of instructions and follow directions. The lesson is shorter and there’s less aggravation.

Here’s my list (in no particular order):

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Ever since junior high, I have loved algebra. I “got” it. I was always a great math student but something about algebra made me fly and my math grades reflected that. Getting the right answer was necessary but was nowhere as exciting as was the problem solving process. There were plenty of rules to memorize; however, the rules did not hinder. Instead, as long as I played by the rules, I could twist, turn and sometimes invert the equation until the answer was naturally exposed - much like a peapod exposes its contents under pressure.

Because I understood it well, enjoyed it so much and was beginning to exhibit the ability to teach, I was asked by my teachers to tutor other kids in class that just weren’t getting it. Sometimes, a peer can go further than a teacher by explaining things in a language that another struggling student suddenly can grab onto. I tutored all the way through high school, into college and now, 10+ years out of college, I still do some tutoring though not as frequently. While it would not be accurate to say that I was prideful in my ability, I certainly was a bit smug.

At some point late in high school, it occurred to me that algebra wasn’t math. Yes, there were numbers involved as well as computational symbols and the necessary rules, but it was much more. Algebra wasn’t so much about getting the answer (though it was important) as much as it was an ongoing lesson in logical problem solving. You have to find a solution to a dilemma by using information that is known/revealed and you have to work within the confines of a framework of rules. Suddenly, the light bulb inside my head turned on. That’s not math - that’s life! Now I really “got it” . I understood the big picture and went on my merry way, spreading the knowledge around to others as I moved through life.

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I’m sitting here, waiting for my husband to get home from work.  Yes, it’s after 11PM and yes, he’s been at work since 8 AM.  His job recently has become hectic as the result of several large national projects occuring concurrently with some rather nasty IT issues that have all but prevented him from getting his work done.  All things considered, it is overtime pay.  While we’re not getting rich, it allows us to get ahead on bills and we are thankful to God for that. 

It just occured to me, however, that there seems to be another side to the blessing. Not a negative, mind you, but an underside/backside.  Just as we get a little excited about being able to catch up on bills, something else comes up that eats away practically all of the extra.  My latest “case in point” entails the last two weeks.  There was plenty of overtime and, theoretically, a decent sized extra to the paycheck which will be direct-deposited at the end of this week.  Until the visit to the mechanic yesterday.  My husband’s car had to have an oil change, get inspected, get new rear brake pads and new rotors put in. 

Given this pattern,  it appears that God sends the circumstances to set up the overtime because He’s providing for a future need before it happens.  While I am grateful, one side of me - the very human side - wants to know if there’s any other way this can be handled.  I would rather have God prevent the need from occuring.  That way, hubbie can work decent hours and we spend time with each other rather than being two ships that pass in the night.  This, of course, is not up to me and I am learning to be thankful in all situations.

Blessings can be a little ironic.

I just realized I haven't posted in a month and a half. Sorry! I am not dead (yet). A number of things happened, all in rapid succession, which kept me otherwise occupied.

While it didn't look it was ever going to show up, spring has finally come to stay in PA. The birds are back, bringing friends with them to our birdfeeder. The assortment is rather impressive.

Something the my husband & I have been praying for is finally happening. We are finding people to hang out with that are just as crazy as we are, if not more so! We :

• are relatively intelligent (rather geeky, IMHO)
• love to grapple with questions that may not have a "pat" answer
• have an endless stream of random thoughts and questions on a variety of topics
• hold nothing so sacred or unmentionable that it cannot be discussed/laughed about

That last item is the rock in the gears. By and large, we have been able to identify with various folks over points 1-3 at the churches we have attended over the years. However, it takes a special breed to handle point #4. We've been looking for folks that we can have a deep conversation with about a toilet or a silly laugh-fest about some of the church's (universal, not necessarily local) "sacred cows". The 2 couples that we went out with last Friday night most definitely fit the bill. There's another couple that we have yet to spend time with socially, but we've got a pretty good inkling that are of that "breed".

God is good.

Today started on a really rough note.

When I got to work, I was greeted by Boss #1 and the bookkeeper. The words after "Hi" were "There's a mystery to solve - $xxxx is missing. Do you know what may have happened to it?"

I very nearly had a heart attack (yes, $xxxx is a four-digit amount). The person that did my job before me was fired because she stole from the company (in more ways than one). I would like to believe, over the course of the last year, that I have earned the trust of my employers and co-workers. In a situation like this, however, I couldn't help but feel that I was not only in the hot seat, but also under a microscope.

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Last Tuesday night, Bob’s grandmother (father’s mother) passed away. After some research, it was determined that there was no way that we could afford two last-minute plane tickets. We opted to drive. Fortunately, Bob’s brother Rick, in VA, was in the same boat and offered to rent a minivan to make the family pilgrimage. The plan was for me, Bob and Carolyn (Bob & Rick’s sister) to leave from here, drive to VA, spend the night with Rick & family and leave VA early Friday morning for FL. We all had to be back to our respective homes by Monday evening because we all had to be at work Tuesday (today).

Thursday: did not leave until 9 PM, due to Bob having to work until 8:30PM. We didn’t get to VA until 1:30 AM because we were driving through the remnants of hurricane Cindy. Pouring rain and darkness did not make for ideal driving conditions.

Friday: Had to be up at 5:30 AM to pack minivan (4 hours sleep). The plan was to leave by 7, but were delayed until 8 because of some minor things. Most of the day was uneventful. Then, 4 PM came. Thankfully, I was reading at the time the “incident” occurred and not know anything until it happened. Otherwise, I would still be having nightmares …

We were traveling in the leftmost lane on I-95 in South Carolina. A vehicle two cars ahead of us swerved suddenly. Rick was driving and tried to move over into the next lane, but could not because there were two other cars in the way. Apparently, there was a “road gator” (we learned that this is what the police in SC call the re-treads from tractor trailers) - not the flattened type, but the full round. As the vehicle swerved, they clipped the gator, pulling it from the left shoulder near the median and into the roadway. The car in front of ours had no choice but to drive right over it. As the car passed over it, the gator flipped up, became airborne, hit our front hood, bounced up onto our windshield, bounced off and flew over our car. The windshield was smashed, completely destroying visibility.

We had several folks praying for our safety on this trip. I can honestly say that their prayers made the difference between an inconvenience and a deadly disaster. Had the gator not bounced off of the hood, it would most likely have gone straight through the windshield instead of bouncing off of it. Fortunately, Rick had incredible reflexes and managed to slow the car and get us off of the road and onto the shoulder without involving us in an accident with any other vehicles. (car photos taken after 10PM)

Due to the force of the impact, the top center of the windshield detached from the frame and hung inwards. Glass went everywhere. Rick (driver) and Bob (co-pilot) were covered in glass. I was on the bench behind them along with Jaymie, Rick’s 17-year-old daughter. While Rick and Bob received more nicks and cuts than we did, none of the injuries were serious.

After we managed to get to the right shoulder (yes, all the way across I-95), Bob & Rick got out and removed their shirts. We have to wash them down with many bottles of water to get the glass shards off of them. We also called 911 and started to empty the contents of the van onto the grass along the highway. Bob ran back up the road, waited for traffic to pass, and proceeded to pull the gator off of the road, which had been knocked towards the rightmost lane by this point in time.

The police showed up in two vehicles. Bob and his sister went with one to town to see if a deal could be worked out with the local rental place (long story short: no). In the meantime, those of us remaining on the side of the road decided, since we were going to be sitting around in the grass for an extended period of time, that we should move our stuff another 50 yards up the road into the shade. After schlepping stuff to the new location, we began to open up some sleeping bags to sit on. However, on her last trip back to the new location, Jaymie inadvertently stepped on a red ant hill, thereby angering its occupants. We had to pick up our stuff and move it again a few more yards, but not before we sustained bites from the ants. (photo:Jaymie removing sock and inspecting foot; Rick on cell phone with rental agency)

Ultimately, we were able to procure another rental vehicle, but it was another hour away. The police arranged for a trip to a local agency not affiliated with the company we were doing business with. The company we were working with (local division) sent a 12-passenger van to pick us (and our stuff) up. We traveled to their office, filled out paperwork, loaded the new minivan and went on our way. It wasn’t until we were most of the way back to I-95 that Bob realized he had left his glasses in the dashboard of the damaged vehicle. We had to track down the lot that it had been towed to and went there. That’s when the car photos were taken. We lost a total of 6 hours and didn’t get to our hotel in FL until 5:30 AM Saturday morning.

Saturday: unloaded new minivan and headed to bed at 6AM. The viewing was at 2PM, followed by the funeral at 4PM, so we only had 4 hours or so to sleep until we had to get moving again. By 5 PM, the funeral was over and the church had graciously provided a dinner meal for those of us attending the service. Just as dinner was starting, the outer bands of hurricane Dennis hit. The tin roof on the gymnasium we were in made a racket and all you could see out the windows was sheets of rain. Fortunately, the worst of it was over by the time dinner was wrapped up and we were ready to head out. We spent a couple of hours at Bob’s aunt’s house with the rest of the family, but called it quits around 10PM. We went back to the hotel and got the only 8-hour night of sleep the whole trip.

Sunday:We couldn’t leave as early as we had wanted to. When we rented the new minivan from the local division in Charleston, SC, they made it clear that they expected the vehicle to be returned to them in SC. So, we had to rent a second vehicle from the national division, the closest branch being in Orlando, but it wouldn’t be ready until 11 AM. Hence, we left a little after 9AM. After losing time leaving the main highway to get to the rental agency (almost 2 hours), filling out paperwork, transferring luggage (again!!), and working our way back to the highway, we were finally on our way to SC with 2 minivans. We lost another 2 hours leaving I-95 to return the one minivan. We made one more stop, for sanity’s sake, and ate at a sit-down restaurant (as opposed to the fast food junk we had been eating the entire trip for time’s sake). That was another hour out of our time. After leaving our hotel at 9 AM that morning, we did not get to Rick’s house in VA until 5 AM Monday morning.

Monday:slept from 5:30 AM until 10:30 AM. Bob, Carolyn and I got up, pulled ourselves together, and were back in our car by noon. We were home in PA by 4:30 PM. After a quick dinner at Carolyn’s, we came home and were in bed by 8:30 PM.

The accident and the ensuing dilemmas were a hassle. Thankfully, it was not the deadly disaster it could have been. I have to admit, though, that I would do the trip again. Bob’s family is crazy (a “good” crazy) and we did nothing but laugh, both before and after the accident. We never lost our sense of humor, despite circumstances that would have made even some of the bravest souls into lunatics. As a side note, we did some tallying and found that we had packed and unpacked our stuff a total of 11 times during the course of this trip. We are now experts in the art of packing a minivan.

We are thankful to God for His protection and deeply grateful to family and friends who upheld us in prayer before, during and after the accident.