change now and then.
Its been 9 months since I've posted last. A lot has changed.
I see my last post was October of 2011. In that time Ive done a lot, learned a lot and lost a lot. so What has happened in the last 9 months??
I lost a good friend and my dedicated dog Odie. For some reason in early December he got very sick and died. Im not sure if it was related to his hemolytic anemia or not but none the less I miss him all the time. What a great Dog lost at a young age. He was only 6 years old. It was tragic. He was sick December 2nd. I put him in his bed, and the next morning I found him nearly dead under the christmas tree. He could not stand up or move and on the way to the vet he died looking up at me in my arms. I'm Glad I got to say good bye to him and the last words he heard was "you are a good boy and I love you". I miss that buddy!
About a Month later on new year's day, I adopted a new dog. His name is Petey. Some of his personality traits are close to Odie's but he is far more in your face. He's not afraid to express his canine opinions/emotions to me, Ethan nor Tater. After nearly 7 months of his being here, he has challenged Tater a lot. It doesnt matter what it is, the rights to a dog toy, a blanket, or time with his owner, Petey is expressive, and sensitive to actions. I guess I forgot to mention he is stronger and bigger than Tater too, but Tater is way more aggressive and fears nothing. The traits I mentions makes Petey so not like Odie! Odie was passive, non-expressive but, loving. Petey sleeps almost identically to Odie. Petey prefers to sleep on his back but will sleep any other way if needed. Petey also rests in the exact same fashion as Odie. Back legs slightly cocked out to his side and loves to love his human with tons of kisses just like Odie.
February came by, and while It is typically the coldest part of Michigan's winter. I must admit 2011-2012 winter in Michigan was quite warm and mild. It rarely snowed this year plus it was often above 32 degrees. Also in late Feb early March, I unbarreled 6 month old whiskey that had been simmering above my wine tower since August 2011. While it wasn't that cold out, I wanted to warm up. So I had a few sips and it wasnt bad diluted, but pure whiskey doesn't taste that great. It certainly warmed me up! I currently have Vanilla beans soaking in it to make it much more flavorable. Ethan Seems to like it, but it gives me an after drink headache.
March came along and april too. I almost didnt see the difference in the two months because of work/job stress. I got news that Verizon Wireless was closing my call center in Southfield MI. I was totally mortified that I had found, enjoyed and loved a job, and now after 5 years I was no longer needed. All of my reps who wanted to keep their job was allowed to by simply signing up to go to another call center. Verizon also offered $10k to each of them as relocation assistance. My Fate however was far more unplanned and uninsured. As manager, I was required to re-interview along side of 200 other supervisors facing the same fate from my center and 2 other centers. If selected I would have had to move somewhere down south. Most likely Alabama, Tennessee or some other god forsaken place. Also If selected as a candidate for the same job I have been doing already, I would have been offered $15K to relocate. Ethan wasn't wild about moving but also wanted to try a change of venue. He understood he would have made nearly half of what he made now, but I think he liked the notion of moving to a new area.
So I started The interviewing process for a job I already had and mastered. It was this process I had prepared so many of my direct reports for but, where I had helped them with this in order to move forward in their careers, I was using these same skills to just keep my job within the company. I interviewed at two different places for my Supv position. The Tennessee and Minnesota centers is where I concentrated my efforts. I researched the sr. mgrs backgrounds and the established history of each center.
I received a very cold reception during both interviews. While Spring was budding colorfully in Minnesota and Tennessee, I got nothing but stormy treatment during the phone interview with them. I could tell they had muted the call when I was answering the interview questions because I was interrupted with an abrupt sigh of annoyance. Then the interviewer told me he was glad that he was about to ask me the final question. Tennessee told me that I did well but they really showcased that they too were tired of interviewing candidates and told me that they cant wait for the process to be over. I realized I wasnt wanted and that these mgr had gone through the process because he had to. According to my superiors, I got a lot of good feedback about my interviews and my expressed corporate philosophy during the sessions, but yet no job offer had surfaced. At this time I had still more than two months before I was out of work. I took refuge in the notion that others who had applied for the same job got rejection letters. Yet, all was quiet on my end. My Grandma always said "no news is good news", however the situation was maddening because I wanted to know where I stood. I wanted to know if I could move on or get ready to move. I applied to two of the two Call centers in Maryland. I had an interview set up for both of them, and they told me they were excited to see I had an interest in their center. It was good to know that someone was expressing other than annoyance in me, since Both Minnesota and Tennessee had given me such a cold shoulder. The Strangest thing happened though, both interviews were set up wrongly. the 1st was set up when the hiring mgr was on vacation. Also the other was set up but cancelled, yet the manager called me later on claiming I never showed. They told me they would reschedule the interviews but that meant more time would pass toward me being jobless. Pancking At this point, I started appling outside of Verizon Wireless. Two days after I started my venture outside of the company I got a call from Walgreens specialty Pharmacy. They were very interested me, my skills and wanted an interview on the same day as my birthday, April 4th. I asked for another date, and they said it was no problem. They truly wanted someone with my background. I interviewed two days later and a week after, They offered me a job to help run their call center. Verizon still was trying just set up re-interviews from Maryland and no job offers from Tennessee nor Minnesota existed.
The interviewing process with Verizon Wireless was grueling and completely stressed me out. I hadnt been told "no", I also hadn't been offered the same job I already had now. I wanted to stay with them, but I had another offer on the table that paid roughly the same. In addition to this offer, I didn't have to move. Also as a big plus, it was in Ann Arbor and less than 10 mins from my home. I had until the end of the second week of April to respond to the position at walgreens when Minnesota had called and told me they decided to not hire anyone at all. Later that same day, I met with my boss and described the job from walgreens to her. She told me that over 100 candidates had applied to the same supv job to the exact same locations that I did within the company. At that time I realized I had met my waterloo. I was leaving VZW. She encouraged me to explore new industries and being in the same predicament as I, explain her jealously that I had found a lucrative job so quickly.
So in late april I said my final goodbyes, then left a group of people who I had spent more time with in the last 5 years, than my own family and I started my new job as Group Supv of specialty Pharmacy at walgreens.
Im in charge of handling reps who process medication that go to MS, RA, Oncology, HIV, Hep C and Hormone replacement therapy patients. After nearly 3 months of being there, I'm pretty happy, and im totally NOT stressed out. The job is easier, and I have every holiday plus each weekend off. This is something that I never had before. Also Im learning how to build a call center form the ground up. Walgreens doesnt quite understand how call centers work yet. They understand how pharmacies work, but not how call center run. So yeah that is where I am now.... oh yeah just before my benefits ended with VZW I had an emergency root canal. ouch! I was in complete agony with my tooth. I was eating Advil like candy. I can see why my patients need my help! I learned that quickly! I did this and sent the other centers that I applied to at Verizon Wireless rejection letters/emails
May, June and July have gone by so fast, as a July update Ethan and I are planning on buying a house in Central Ann Arbor. we are just a few weeks from closing. The house is perfect for us and the dogs. Petey can run around and hunt squirrels, while Tater can play Emperor. We are looking forward to having our own place to call home. In August we are planning on Adopting another Boston Terrier.
That's all for now!
I see my last post was October of 2011. In that time Ive done a lot, learned a lot and lost a lot. so What has happened in the last 9 months??
I lost a good friend and my dedicated dog Odie. For some reason in early December he got very sick and died. Im not sure if it was related to his hemolytic anemia or not but none the less I miss him all the time. What a great Dog lost at a young age. He was only 6 years old. It was tragic. He was sick December 2nd. I put him in his bed, and the next morning I found him nearly dead under the christmas tree. He could not stand up or move and on the way to the vet he died looking up at me in my arms. I'm Glad I got to say good bye to him and the last words he heard was "you are a good boy and I love you". I miss that buddy!
About a Month later on new year's day, I adopted a new dog. His name is Petey. Some of his personality traits are close to Odie's but he is far more in your face. He's not afraid to express his canine opinions/emotions to me, Ethan nor Tater. After nearly 7 months of his being here, he has challenged Tater a lot. It doesnt matter what it is, the rights to a dog toy, a blanket, or time with his owner, Petey is expressive, and sensitive to actions. I guess I forgot to mention he is stronger and bigger than Tater too, but Tater is way more aggressive and fears nothing. The traits I mentions makes Petey so not like Odie! Odie was passive, non-expressive but, loving. Petey sleeps almost identically to Odie. Petey prefers to sleep on his back but will sleep any other way if needed. Petey also rests in the exact same fashion as Odie. Back legs slightly cocked out to his side and loves to love his human with tons of kisses just like Odie.
February came by, and while It is typically the coldest part of Michigan's winter. I must admit 2011-2012 winter in Michigan was quite warm and mild. It rarely snowed this year plus it was often above 32 degrees. Also in late Feb early March, I unbarreled 6 month old whiskey that had been simmering above my wine tower since August 2011. While it wasn't that cold out, I wanted to warm up. So I had a few sips and it wasnt bad diluted, but pure whiskey doesn't taste that great. It certainly warmed me up! I currently have Vanilla beans soaking in it to make it much more flavorable. Ethan Seems to like it, but it gives me an after drink headache.
March came along and april too. I almost didnt see the difference in the two months because of work/job stress. I got news that Verizon Wireless was closing my call center in Southfield MI. I was totally mortified that I had found, enjoyed and loved a job, and now after 5 years I was no longer needed. All of my reps who wanted to keep their job was allowed to by simply signing up to go to another call center. Verizon also offered $10k to each of them as relocation assistance. My Fate however was far more unplanned and uninsured. As manager, I was required to re-interview along side of 200 other supervisors facing the same fate from my center and 2 other centers. If selected I would have had to move somewhere down south. Most likely Alabama, Tennessee or some other god forsaken place. Also If selected as a candidate for the same job I have been doing already, I would have been offered $15K to relocate. Ethan wasn't wild about moving but also wanted to try a change of venue. He understood he would have made nearly half of what he made now, but I think he liked the notion of moving to a new area.
So I started The interviewing process for a job I already had and mastered. It was this process I had prepared so many of my direct reports for but, where I had helped them with this in order to move forward in their careers, I was using these same skills to just keep my job within the company. I interviewed at two different places for my Supv position. The Tennessee and Minnesota centers is where I concentrated my efforts. I researched the sr. mgrs backgrounds and the established history of each center.
I received a very cold reception during both interviews. While Spring was budding colorfully in Minnesota and Tennessee, I got nothing but stormy treatment during the phone interview with them. I could tell they had muted the call when I was answering the interview questions because I was interrupted with an abrupt sigh of annoyance. Then the interviewer told me he was glad that he was about to ask me the final question. Tennessee told me that I did well but they really showcased that they too were tired of interviewing candidates and told me that they cant wait for the process to be over. I realized I wasnt wanted and that these mgr had gone through the process because he had to. According to my superiors, I got a lot of good feedback about my interviews and my expressed corporate philosophy during the sessions, but yet no job offer had surfaced. At this time I had still more than two months before I was out of work. I took refuge in the notion that others who had applied for the same job got rejection letters. Yet, all was quiet on my end. My Grandma always said "no news is good news", however the situation was maddening because I wanted to know where I stood. I wanted to know if I could move on or get ready to move. I applied to two of the two Call centers in Maryland. I had an interview set up for both of them, and they told me they were excited to see I had an interest in their center. It was good to know that someone was expressing other than annoyance in me, since Both Minnesota and Tennessee had given me such a cold shoulder. The Strangest thing happened though, both interviews were set up wrongly. the 1st was set up when the hiring mgr was on vacation. Also the other was set up but cancelled, yet the manager called me later on claiming I never showed. They told me they would reschedule the interviews but that meant more time would pass toward me being jobless. Pancking At this point, I started appling outside of Verizon Wireless. Two days after I started my venture outside of the company I got a call from Walgreens specialty Pharmacy. They were very interested me, my skills and wanted an interview on the same day as my birthday, April 4th. I asked for another date, and they said it was no problem. They truly wanted someone with my background. I interviewed two days later and a week after, They offered me a job to help run their call center. Verizon still was trying just set up re-interviews from Maryland and no job offers from Tennessee nor Minnesota existed.
The interviewing process with Verizon Wireless was grueling and completely stressed me out. I hadnt been told "no", I also hadn't been offered the same job I already had now. I wanted to stay with them, but I had another offer on the table that paid roughly the same. In addition to this offer, I didn't have to move. Also as a big plus, it was in Ann Arbor and less than 10 mins from my home. I had until the end of the second week of April to respond to the position at walgreens when Minnesota had called and told me they decided to not hire anyone at all. Later that same day, I met with my boss and described the job from walgreens to her. She told me that over 100 candidates had applied to the same supv job to the exact same locations that I did within the company. At that time I realized I had met my waterloo. I was leaving VZW. She encouraged me to explore new industries and being in the same predicament as I, explain her jealously that I had found a lucrative job so quickly.
So in late april I said my final goodbyes, then left a group of people who I had spent more time with in the last 5 years, than my own family and I started my new job as Group Supv of specialty Pharmacy at walgreens.
Im in charge of handling reps who process medication that go to MS, RA, Oncology, HIV, Hep C and Hormone replacement therapy patients. After nearly 3 months of being there, I'm pretty happy, and im totally NOT stressed out. The job is easier, and I have every holiday plus each weekend off. This is something that I never had before. Also Im learning how to build a call center form the ground up. Walgreens doesnt quite understand how call centers work yet. They understand how pharmacies work, but not how call center run. So yeah that is where I am now.... oh yeah just before my benefits ended with VZW I had an emergency root canal. ouch! I was in complete agony with my tooth. I was eating Advil like candy. I can see why my patients need my help! I learned that quickly! I did this and sent the other centers that I applied to at Verizon Wireless rejection letters/emails
May, June and July have gone by so fast, as a July update Ethan and I are planning on buying a house in Central Ann Arbor. we are just a few weeks from closing. The house is perfect for us and the dogs. Petey can run around and hunt squirrels, while Tater can play Emperor. We are looking forward to having our own place to call home. In August we are planning on Adopting another Boston Terrier.
That's all for now!