(no subject)
I know, I know, it's been a rather long time since I've said or done anything, but that's because a lot of things have been happening in my life, some bad, but mostly very good, all of which I'll explain.
The beginning of January, I came down with what I can only call the Creeping Death, which was likely a pretty severe sinus infection. During this bout of Creeping Death, I also came due for a dentist appointment, where a molar extraction was handled by a Bone Saw of a dentist, who apparently didn't know the meaning of full local anesthesia. Likely one of the more painful things I've experienced, Rachael heard me all the way out in the waiting room, and was apparently prepped and ready to knife the good Herr Doktor.
The only other negative thing involved work, and this was a struggle that was only recently resolved. We were told during our training and orientation that we would be eligible to sign up for our health and life benefits after 60 days of our hire date. At that time, we'd have a 10 day window in which to enroll as per Aetna's open enrollment. Well, our hire date was 11-20-06, so, on 01-20-06, we began the process of signing up for our benefit package. The first hurdle was that we didn't have our login ID or the password. We asked several times, and at the end of the 10 day window, we finally got the information, and proceeded to sign in. Rachael's ID worked, but mine didn't, so, on our own time, we stayed, called corporate, and went through the process of resolving this. Three times I had to deal with "We'll get back to you in a couple of days." or "This won't be resolved today." Issues, and each time, all I could do was inform them that this was unacceptable, and to expedite the situation. Well, it all worked out, after 10 days and some of my free time spent stressing. Or, so I thought. The next day, we were informed that Human Resources were still trying to deny us our benefit packages because the time frame we were supposed to have was 10 days from our hire date.
So, this was a huge bunch of headache we had to deal with, and only recently did it all resolve. Fortunately, Rachael had taken some really clear and accurate notes, which we showed to HR and basically told them to blow us. Fundamentally, it seems like our local HR department is some kind of Cthulhoid and malevolent entity Hell-bent on the misery and ruination of their own employees. Apparently, we had just the right weapon. Incidentally, the person responsible for almost screwing us for a full year on our benefits, well, he's still training new employees. I've wanted, a time or two, to go visit the training section and ask him how it feels to make new hire's lives miserable. No matter, my coverage activates in 16 days, so why should I care?
The good news, ahh, the good news. Rachael and I got ourselves a place finally! It's a two story, two bedroom, with a back deck, built into basically the side of a large hill, and built actually on top of a very large limestone formation. I've taken to referring to the house as Blackrock, or the Imperial Citadel. We're still moving in, a bit at a time, but all of her stuff is in from her storage shed. I've got some pics I'll share.
The beginning of January, I came down with what I can only call the Creeping Death, which was likely a pretty severe sinus infection. During this bout of Creeping Death, I also came due for a dentist appointment, where a molar extraction was handled by a Bone Saw of a dentist, who apparently didn't know the meaning of full local anesthesia. Likely one of the more painful things I've experienced, Rachael heard me all the way out in the waiting room, and was apparently prepped and ready to knife the good Herr Doktor.
The only other negative thing involved work, and this was a struggle that was only recently resolved. We were told during our training and orientation that we would be eligible to sign up for our health and life benefits after 60 days of our hire date. At that time, we'd have a 10 day window in which to enroll as per Aetna's open enrollment. Well, our hire date was 11-20-06, so, on 01-20-06, we began the process of signing up for our benefit package. The first hurdle was that we didn't have our login ID or the password. We asked several times, and at the end of the 10 day window, we finally got the information, and proceeded to sign in. Rachael's ID worked, but mine didn't, so, on our own time, we stayed, called corporate, and went through the process of resolving this. Three times I had to deal with "We'll get back to you in a couple of days." or "This won't be resolved today." Issues, and each time, all I could do was inform them that this was unacceptable, and to expedite the situation. Well, it all worked out, after 10 days and some of my free time spent stressing. Or, so I thought. The next day, we were informed that Human Resources were still trying to deny us our benefit packages because the time frame we were supposed to have was 10 days from our hire date.
So, this was a huge bunch of headache we had to deal with, and only recently did it all resolve. Fortunately, Rachael had taken some really clear and accurate notes, which we showed to HR and basically told them to blow us. Fundamentally, it seems like our local HR department is some kind of Cthulhoid and malevolent entity Hell-bent on the misery and ruination of their own employees. Apparently, we had just the right weapon. Incidentally, the person responsible for almost screwing us for a full year on our benefits, well, he's still training new employees. I've wanted, a time or two, to go visit the training section and ask him how it feels to make new hire's lives miserable. No matter, my coverage activates in 16 days, so why should I care?
The good news, ahh, the good news. Rachael and I got ourselves a place finally! It's a two story, two bedroom, with a back deck, built into basically the side of a large hill, and built actually on top of a very large limestone formation. I've taken to referring to the house as Blackrock, or the Imperial Citadel. We're still moving in, a bit at a time, but all of her stuff is in from her storage shed. I've got some pics I'll share.