Time to play catchup! The last few weeks...
It's been a bit of a disjointed couple of weeks, so I have some catching up to do. Here goes:
My four day weekend for the 4th of July was delightful. On Saturday I went to Coffee Station to read for a while. I started to re-read The Four Agreements while I was there. It's been a few years since I read it, and it felt like it was time to read it again. It was kind of funny, because as I was reading, it felt like a new book. Some of the things in it were very different than I remember, and exactly what I needed. Now that's a good book. As I read it, I realized it would probably be a good book for one of my very good friends in College Station, so I ran out to Barnes & Noble and bought her a copy. I also bought a book that I'd been wanting to get for a while now, called The Laws of Spirit by Dan Millman. It's another short little book that speaks great truths to me, and it's really helpful whenever I need a quick reminder. After buying twice as many books as I had intended (story of my life), I wandered over to Best Buy to look at PDAs, as I know I can't afford one of those *grin*. I also drooled on the new line of digital cameras, which have virtually eliminated the shutter delay that has been my biggest complaint about them up to now. I pine for my digital camera. It is somewhere in my apartment, or at a friend's house...unless somebody stole it (I really hope that isn't the case).
After wandering from store to store, I drove up to a Brie's house to hang out for a while. She was not well. Apparently her system was rather upset from alcohol, stress, dehydration, and lord knows what else. Scott and I went to the store and picked up a bunch of evil things to make her feel better. OK, that sounded really wrong. We just picked up some drinks and vitamins, and some cola syrup to settle her stomach. There was very little movement at her house, though, so I went to Luby's for dinner, and invited my friend Becca out with me. When they started banging chairs around us at 9:00 PM, we adjourned to Coffee Station, then on to Margarita Rocks for some really LOUD karaoke. Still funny as hell. Just don't ask about the Hanson Incident. And I definitely did NOT sing any Little Richard songs. Sunday night, of course, we all went to POETS, but not before I met a really interesting philosophy major and had some good conversation. Stacy met me at Coffee Station, and after some light conversation, we ambled over to the pool hall. 'Twas a good, (relatively) quiet evening, and I crashed on Becca's couch for the night.
Monday and Tuesday were devoted to a family visit in Houston, which was very nice. My grandfather came over to visit, and we had a good talk about some of his favorite topics, finances and jobs. My mom arranged a wonderful dinner and everything for the family. I do miss that sometimes. Let's see, what else...my dad thoroughly beat me on the fire station's pool table, even though it was rather tilted. We didn't do a lot for the Fourth; we just relaxed and enjoyed ourselves. While I was down there, I spent a lot of time detailing and washing my car. She's very clean now. I even shampooed the upholstery. I drove back up to B/CS on Tuesday night, so that I wouldn't have to drive so far on Wednesday to get to work, and also to hang out with my friends a bit more. I arrived during a Firefly marathon, which was wonderful, as I've been wanting to see the series, and Stacy was being subjected to it as mandatory education. She needs to know the sci-fi staples to know her geeky friends. I crashed on Brie's couch after staying up much later than I should have, but it was worth it, because I got to spend some time alone with Stacy, too.
I drove up Wednesday morning to start my 4 day work week, but my god, it was a slow week. For some reason, class got a lot more tedious during the last few weeks. It continued to be review, with rare forays into tools or techniques that I didn't know. Saturday was a complete write-off, as we didn't want to be there, the trainer didn't want to be there, and everyone was tired from the week and previous weekend.
I spent Sunday running minor errands. I got the oil changed in my car and bought a new steering wheel cover for my car. The foam has started flaking off of the steering wheel, so I wanted to stave that off as much as possible. After that, I had to call and complain to the store, as the mechanic had left a big greasy handprint on my just-detailed passenger seat. Grumble. I found later that there were handprints on some of my other stuff, and he'd left my door unlocked. He was either careless or stupid. I'm going to complain again, because I just got an acting manager the first time I called. After IKEA, I went home and played some serious World of Warcraft (is there any other kind?), something I hadn't done in quite a while. It was quite pleasant.
Monday was pretty slow. I woke up in time to head off to work, and was fairly alert at work. This turned out to be a blessing and a curse. I wasn't fighting the urge to doze, and I wasn't zonked out...but consequently I was painfully aware of how bored I was. I was spinning and fidgeting for the last few hours, as the TA was just reading the slides to us. Oh well.
Tuesday we took a quiz on the material we'd covered in the last week. It was the exact same quiz that I took when I was training for this contract at West. This made it kind of a silly exercise for me, but I was glad for the break. I went outside and enjoyed the warm breeze for about an hour. It was a nice break. Oh, and I went out with a few co-workers for pool and some social time. I have a lot of cool co-workers. Some of them can really shoot pool, too. I found it entertaining, because the bar was having karaoke, and the song that was playing was one of the most popular ones for karaoke at POETS, "Picture" with Kid Rock and Sheryl Crow. However, I was doubly amused when the next song was "Summer Nights" from Grease, which is the song I have to sing every time I'm at karaoke in College Station with Becca.
The rest of the week was pretty uneventful, except for a little altercation with one of my co-workers, who took the handset that I was using for an exercise. When I confronted him about it, he decided that he never wanted me to talk to him again...I did my best to defuse, and he moved to a different seat. I want to know what I did. I don't always try to make friends, but I do try to avoid making enemies. Everyone seemed on-edge that day, though, so maybe that's all. I'm not going to worry about it any more; it's his problem if he wants to be about it.
So let's see...I'm caught up to last weekend.
On Saturday I went to a co-worker's house for a cookout and get-together. It was great fun, and I stayed there until around 2. His friends are interesting people, and we get along well. This is good...now I don't feel quite so alone on this side of the world. Sunday was very pleasant, as I got to meet for a late lunch with my friend
marcheurreveur, whom I've not seen in a long, long time. It was a bit of a drive, but it was worth it. Her kid is adorable, and she's smiling more then I ever remember her smiling before. I'm very happy for her.
Oh, I forgot to mention that beginning last week at West (my last job), my friends were getting fired or written up for lots of stupid things. I found out Saturday that one of my best friends (and the company's best coaches) got fired, which was bloody ridiculous. He seemed OK, though. When the site director got back, he personally called everyone and invited them back. I respect that man a little more, now.
Monday we took a little test and wrote a short essay to determine who was going to take the first call for the Frisco Technical Care team, which was fairly easy, though I goofed up on one question. Apparently I wasn't the only one to miss the fact that the phone in the question wouldn't work in Germany, where the customer was said to be going. It must not have mattered, because today I found out that I was chosen out of about 50 people to take the first call. I'm pretty excited, though some would call it a dubious honor. This company is great to work for, so I'm actually happy to be representing T-Mobile. Novel concept, eh?
This little surprise was kind of a nifty thing to get today, of all days. Today is my 22nd birthday. I've got dozens of text messages and phone calls to prove it. It makes me feel all warm and fuzzy to know that there are lots of people that find it worthwhile to call me on my birthday and wish me well. Oh, and I got my last check from West, too. *smiles* I'm looking forward to visiting friends this weekend. That's right, B/CS crew, duck and cover!
Wow, that's a lot of words. It feels good to be caught up again.
My four day weekend for the 4th of July was delightful. On Saturday I went to Coffee Station to read for a while. I started to re-read The Four Agreements while I was there. It's been a few years since I read it, and it felt like it was time to read it again. It was kind of funny, because as I was reading, it felt like a new book. Some of the things in it were very different than I remember, and exactly what I needed. Now that's a good book. As I read it, I realized it would probably be a good book for one of my very good friends in College Station, so I ran out to Barnes & Noble and bought her a copy. I also bought a book that I'd been wanting to get for a while now, called The Laws of Spirit by Dan Millman. It's another short little book that speaks great truths to me, and it's really helpful whenever I need a quick reminder. After buying twice as many books as I had intended (story of my life), I wandered over to Best Buy to look at PDAs, as I know I can't afford one of those *grin*. I also drooled on the new line of digital cameras, which have virtually eliminated the shutter delay that has been my biggest complaint about them up to now. I pine for my digital camera. It is somewhere in my apartment, or at a friend's house...unless somebody stole it (I really hope that isn't the case).
After wandering from store to store, I drove up to a Brie's house to hang out for a while. She was not well. Apparently her system was rather upset from alcohol, stress, dehydration, and lord knows what else. Scott and I went to the store and picked up a bunch of evil things to make her feel better. OK, that sounded really wrong. We just picked up some drinks and vitamins, and some cola syrup to settle her stomach. There was very little movement at her house, though, so I went to Luby's for dinner, and invited my friend Becca out with me. When they started banging chairs around us at 9:00 PM, we adjourned to Coffee Station, then on to Margarita Rocks for some really LOUD karaoke. Still funny as hell. Just don't ask about the Hanson Incident. And I definitely did NOT sing any Little Richard songs. Sunday night, of course, we all went to POETS, but not before I met a really interesting philosophy major and had some good conversation. Stacy met me at Coffee Station, and after some light conversation, we ambled over to the pool hall. 'Twas a good, (relatively) quiet evening, and I crashed on Becca's couch for the night.
Monday and Tuesday were devoted to a family visit in Houston, which was very nice. My grandfather came over to visit, and we had a good talk about some of his favorite topics, finances and jobs. My mom arranged a wonderful dinner and everything for the family. I do miss that sometimes. Let's see, what else...my dad thoroughly beat me on the fire station's pool table, even though it was rather tilted. We didn't do a lot for the Fourth; we just relaxed and enjoyed ourselves. While I was down there, I spent a lot of time detailing and washing my car. She's very clean now. I even shampooed the upholstery. I drove back up to B/CS on Tuesday night, so that I wouldn't have to drive so far on Wednesday to get to work, and also to hang out with my friends a bit more. I arrived during a Firefly marathon, which was wonderful, as I've been wanting to see the series, and Stacy was being subjected to it as mandatory education. She needs to know the sci-fi staples to know her geeky friends. I crashed on Brie's couch after staying up much later than I should have, but it was worth it, because I got to spend some time alone with Stacy, too.
I drove up Wednesday morning to start my 4 day work week, but my god, it was a slow week. For some reason, class got a lot more tedious during the last few weeks. It continued to be review, with rare forays into tools or techniques that I didn't know. Saturday was a complete write-off, as we didn't want to be there, the trainer didn't want to be there, and everyone was tired from the week and previous weekend.
I spent Sunday running minor errands. I got the oil changed in my car and bought a new steering wheel cover for my car. The foam has started flaking off of the steering wheel, so I wanted to stave that off as much as possible. After that, I had to call and complain to the store, as the mechanic had left a big greasy handprint on my just-detailed passenger seat. Grumble. I found later that there were handprints on some of my other stuff, and he'd left my door unlocked. He was either careless or stupid. I'm going to complain again, because I just got an acting manager the first time I called. After IKEA, I went home and played some serious World of Warcraft (is there any other kind?), something I hadn't done in quite a while. It was quite pleasant.
Monday was pretty slow. I woke up in time to head off to work, and was fairly alert at work. This turned out to be a blessing and a curse. I wasn't fighting the urge to doze, and I wasn't zonked out...but consequently I was painfully aware of how bored I was. I was spinning and fidgeting for the last few hours, as the TA was just reading the slides to us. Oh well.
Tuesday we took a quiz on the material we'd covered in the last week. It was the exact same quiz that I took when I was training for this contract at West. This made it kind of a silly exercise for me, but I was glad for the break. I went outside and enjoyed the warm breeze for about an hour. It was a nice break. Oh, and I went out with a few co-workers for pool and some social time. I have a lot of cool co-workers. Some of them can really shoot pool, too. I found it entertaining, because the bar was having karaoke, and the song that was playing was one of the most popular ones for karaoke at POETS, "Picture" with Kid Rock and Sheryl Crow. However, I was doubly amused when the next song was "Summer Nights" from Grease, which is the song I have to sing every time I'm at karaoke in College Station with Becca.
The rest of the week was pretty uneventful, except for a little altercation with one of my co-workers, who took the handset that I was using for an exercise. When I confronted him about it, he decided that he never wanted me to talk to him again...I did my best to defuse, and he moved to a different seat. I want to know what I did. I don't always try to make friends, but I do try to avoid making enemies. Everyone seemed on-edge that day, though, so maybe that's all. I'm not going to worry about it any more; it's his problem if he wants to be about it.
So let's see...I'm caught up to last weekend.
On Saturday I went to a co-worker's house for a cookout and get-together. It was great fun, and I stayed there until around 2. His friends are interesting people, and we get along well. This is good...now I don't feel quite so alone on this side of the world. Sunday was very pleasant, as I got to meet for a late lunch with my friend
marcheurreveur, whom I've not seen in a long, long time. It was a bit of a drive, but it was worth it. Her kid is adorable, and she's smiling more then I ever remember her smiling before. I'm very happy for her.
Oh, I forgot to mention that beginning last week at West (my last job), my friends were getting fired or written up for lots of stupid things. I found out Saturday that one of my best friends (and the company's best coaches) got fired, which was bloody ridiculous. He seemed OK, though. When the site director got back, he personally called everyone and invited them back. I respect that man a little more, now.
Monday we took a little test and wrote a short essay to determine who was going to take the first call for the Frisco Technical Care team, which was fairly easy, though I goofed up on one question. Apparently I wasn't the only one to miss the fact that the phone in the question wouldn't work in Germany, where the customer was said to be going. It must not have mattered, because today I found out that I was chosen out of about 50 people to take the first call. I'm pretty excited, though some would call it a dubious honor. This company is great to work for, so I'm actually happy to be representing T-Mobile. Novel concept, eh?
This little surprise was kind of a nifty thing to get today, of all days. Today is my 22nd birthday. I've got dozens of text messages and phone calls to prove it. It makes me feel all warm and fuzzy to know that there are lots of people that find it worthwhile to call me on my birthday and wish me well. Oh, and I got my last check from West, too. *smiles* I'm looking forward to visiting friends this weekend. That's right, B/CS crew, duck and cover!
Wow, that's a lot of words. It feels good to be caught up again.