Can I fire my boss? No, seriously. I really dislike my boss, who has only been my boss since April.
I've been with my current company for 3 years. I'm on my 5th boss now. My first boss was wonderful. She left for a new company. My second boss was also wonderful. Then the company reorganized and I got my third boss. I think she was my boss for about a month, a temporary thing until I got my fourth boss, who was also wonderful. Then she took a new position within the company.
My fifth boss sucks. She is professional to the point of being cold. I don't deal well with cold people. I am a warm, friendly, personable person and I like to connect with others. And right now I'm trying to find a balance between my career and my family, and having a boss who doesn't understand the "family" part.
Number six, please!
Sunday, August 17, 2008
Tuesday, August 12, 2008
Just what he wanted for his birthday
Last week was the Urban Shaman's birthday. That morning USPS showed up with 2 packages and left them at our door. One was addressed to Urban Shaman, from his grandmother. Inside was a birthday present and a birthday card. Very nice. The other package was addressed to both me and the Urban Shaman, from his uncle and aunt who live way up north and with whom we have very little, and pretty much no, contact.
We opened the second package to find ... this
A box with about 15 beanie babies inside. Beanie babies. Addressed to us?!?!
There was a note inside explaining that Urban Shaman's mother had collected these for Urban Shaman (the first he's heard of that). They had been sent to his female cousins who, unsurprisingly, had no interest in them. The aunt had recently been doing some deep cleaning and decided to send these to the original intended recipient.
I laughed my head off at seeing the box. First, it was funny that the package happened to arrive on his birthday, but was clearly not intended as a birthday present (the note didn't even say "Happy Birthday"). Secondly, this is not something Urban Shaman was ever interested in, but totally something his mother would do. (His mother, despite repeatedly being asked not to, still gives her daughter, who is my age, a Barbie ornament for Christmas every year.)
So now we have a lovely box of Beanie Babies. Too bad they are not the collector's items everyone was hoping they'd be. Then we'd be rich.
We opened the second package to find ... this
A box with about 15 beanie babies inside. Beanie babies. Addressed to us?!?!
There was a note inside explaining that Urban Shaman's mother had collected these for Urban Shaman (the first he's heard of that). They had been sent to his female cousins who, unsurprisingly, had no interest in them. The aunt had recently been doing some deep cleaning and decided to send these to the original intended recipient.
I laughed my head off at seeing the box. First, it was funny that the package happened to arrive on his birthday, but was clearly not intended as a birthday present (the note didn't even say "Happy Birthday"). Secondly, this is not something Urban Shaman was ever interested in, but totally something his mother would do. (His mother, despite repeatedly being asked not to, still gives her daughter, who is my age, a Barbie ornament for Christmas every year.)
So now we have a lovely box of Beanie Babies. Too bad they are not the collector's items everyone was hoping they'd be. Then we'd be rich.
Monday, August 11, 2008
Got a tracking number? Tattoo it on your forehead.
Now that this is all resolved, I can finally blog about THE ISSUE that has been causing me anxiety and making me lose sleep this past week.
Back in June Urban Shaman needed a replacement cochlear implant processor (the external piece) as his was worn down and not functioning 100%. So the company sent us a replacement, along with a box with a pre-labeled FedEx box in which to return the old one. So the old one went into the box, got sealed up, and taken to a FedEx location and shipped off. The company said the old one needed to be shipped within 15 days or they would charge us for the replacement.
Fast-forward to over a month later... we receive an invoice in the mail for $4500. Apparently the company never received the replacement processor we sent back. So I started searching for the paper that had the tracking number on it. I searched, and searched.... and searched. Nothing. A feeling of dread came over me.
I called the company and they were really nice and totally acted like I had sent it, and we just needed to figure out where it was. Of course we needed the tracking number. The person on the other end of the phone stated she would check with the warehouse and call me back that same day. Well I never received a call back.
A few days later we got a second invoice for $4500. So I called them again and explained the situation again. They basically indicated I needed to figure out where it went. So I drove back to the FedEx location where I had dropped off the box to see if they could find it in their computer records. No luck -- they purge the records after a month, and at this point it had been more than 6 weeks. They did suggest I call 1-800-goFedEx.
So yesterday I called. Explained the situation to a nice woman. It was kind of complicated since the company was in the process of switching locations and thus had 2 addresses and they weren't sure which address was on the shipping label. And my information was not on the label at all. Worse, I wasn't sure exactly which day I had shipped the box, just a ballpark date.
However, Karen Smith at FedEx is my hero. After about 10 minutes of searching she found a package shipped on June 24th from Portland, OR to the company. The return address was one of the company's addresses, the "to" address was the other address. I am 99.9% sure that that is the package. So she gave me the tracking number.
A huge, great weight has been lifted off my shoulders. No longer are 4500 dollars floating around in the air.
So today I will call the company and give them the tracking number which clearly indicates that they received and signed for the package on June 28th. Bastards.
Back in June Urban Shaman needed a replacement cochlear implant processor (the external piece) as his was worn down and not functioning 100%. So the company sent us a replacement, along with a box with a pre-labeled FedEx box in which to return the old one. So the old one went into the box, got sealed up, and taken to a FedEx location and shipped off. The company said the old one needed to be shipped within 15 days or they would charge us for the replacement.
Fast-forward to over a month later... we receive an invoice in the mail for $4500. Apparently the company never received the replacement processor we sent back. So I started searching for the paper that had the tracking number on it. I searched, and searched.... and searched. Nothing. A feeling of dread came over me.
I called the company and they were really nice and totally acted like I had sent it, and we just needed to figure out where it was. Of course we needed the tracking number. The person on the other end of the phone stated she would check with the warehouse and call me back that same day. Well I never received a call back.
A few days later we got a second invoice for $4500. So I called them again and explained the situation again. They basically indicated I needed to figure out where it went. So I drove back to the FedEx location where I had dropped off the box to see if they could find it in their computer records. No luck -- they purge the records after a month, and at this point it had been more than 6 weeks. They did suggest I call 1-800-goFedEx.
So yesterday I called. Explained the situation to a nice woman. It was kind of complicated since the company was in the process of switching locations and thus had 2 addresses and they weren't sure which address was on the shipping label. And my information was not on the label at all. Worse, I wasn't sure exactly which day I had shipped the box, just a ballpark date.
However, Karen Smith at FedEx is my hero. After about 10 minutes of searching she found a package shipped on June 24th from Portland, OR to the company. The return address was one of the company's addresses, the "to" address was the other address. I am 99.9% sure that that is the package. So she gave me the tracking number.
A huge, great weight has been lifted off my shoulders. No longer are 4500 dollars floating around in the air.
So today I will call the company and give them the tracking number which clearly indicates that they received and signed for the package on June 28th. Bastards.
Saturday, August 9, 2008
Could you hand me the remote?
We're busy watching the Olympics. I LOVE watching the swimming, gymnastics, and beach volleyball. Whoop, whoop!
Wednesday, August 6, 2008
Some Updates
Il Tonino and I went over to a neighbor's house today -- this neighbor lives 3 houses up from mine. She has a daughter who was born just 2 weeks before Il Tonino, and has had a nanny for more than a year. She is open to having Il Tonino join her daughter at her house while the nanny is there from 9-1. That could be very cool and very convienent!! We will get together next week and iron out all the details, but I think that we'll give this a trial period. The nanny is open to then taking Il Tonino to our house from 1-4, when Urban Shaman gets home. We'll then just have to figure out the 6:30 to 9am time slot. But it is a start. The hardest part for the next week or so is that I have to somehow get Il Tonino into a different nap routine -- he's not going to be able to nurse to sleep when I'm not there. I think we'll get one of his stuffed animals and declare it the "naptime companion" and go from there. Any other suggestions are appreciated.
The no 'poo thing is going really well. My hair is happy and shiny! Weirdly, it has also gotten darker. I really don't know why. Not sure if the baking soda/ACV somehow stripped away all the highlight dye or ?? It still looks good. So that, combined with my new haircut, makes for happy hair and happy me! I'm most excited about how this is going to make my routine so much easier for traveling, but since I will be carrying on my baggage, I'm a little worried about taking little baggies of baking soda powder. Don't want any unfortunate incidents or strip-searches.
Urban Shaman is doing really well. His apadravya piercing is healing beautifully (a lot less blood than we expected) and looks soooo good!! He's amazed at his experience, and what he went through, but at the same time so proud of having gone through that ritual. I'll have to give another update in about 2 weeks when we can play with it ;)
Okay, must go spend time together as a family -- Urban Shaman returns to work tomorrow and I am not sure how many weeks I have left (1? 2? maybe 3?) before I start traveling.
The no 'poo thing is going really well. My hair is happy and shiny! Weirdly, it has also gotten darker. I really don't know why. Not sure if the baking soda/ACV somehow stripped away all the highlight dye or ?? It still looks good. So that, combined with my new haircut, makes for happy hair and happy me! I'm most excited about how this is going to make my routine so much easier for traveling, but since I will be carrying on my baggage, I'm a little worried about taking little baggies of baking soda powder. Don't want any unfortunate incidents or strip-searches.
Urban Shaman is doing really well. His apadravya piercing is healing beautifully (a lot less blood than we expected) and looks soooo good!! He's amazed at his experience, and what he went through, but at the same time so proud of having gone through that ritual. I'll have to give another update in about 2 weeks when we can play with it ;)
Okay, must go spend time together as a family -- Urban Shaman returns to work tomorrow and I am not sure how many weeks I have left (1? 2? maybe 3?) before I start traveling.
Monday, August 4, 2008
Not Your Typical Birthday Present
We celebrated the Urban Shaman's (US) 30th birthday today by going to Nomad, the awesome piercing studio here in Portland.
US got an apadravya piercing! If you don't know what it is, google images of it, but be warned, you will see some X-rated images :)
It was an intense experience for him. He feels like he's undergone a rite of passage. Pretty fitting since I gave birth to Il Tonino, at home, just months before my 30th birthday. Initiation into the 30's!
US got an apadravya piercing! If you don't know what it is, google images of it, but be warned, you will see some X-rated images :)
It was an intense experience for him. He feels like he's undergone a rite of passage. Pretty fitting since I gave birth to Il Tonino, at home, just months before my 30th birthday. Initiation into the 30's!
Friday, August 1, 2008
No 'Poo
And before you get all sorts of crazy ideas in your head, I mean no shampoo. (Donny, I KNOW that was not your first guess!)
I'm actually mostly tired of buying $7-8 bottles of shampoo and conditioner and then having to throw away the caps and recycle the bottles. Just all seems like a waste. Plus my hair has never been that great -- I can go 2 days without washing but more than that and I look like I've been rolling around in grease. Not pretty.
I found this blog post explaining all the details about going shampoo-free, so I resolved to begin trying it as soon as I used up the last of the shampoo. There is, however, still plenty of conditioner left. Isn't that the way of it? Why is there always leftover conditioner after the shampoo is gone? Makes it very difficult to ever even that out or switch to a different shampoo/conditioner set. Luckily, I have discovered that conditioner is awesome as a cream for shaving my legs. So the leftover conditioner will be used up that way.
Anyway, I'm on day 2 of the baking soda wash/apple cider vinegar rinse. So far so good! My hair was silky smooth yesterday, except for underneath, where I didn't get the baking soda to touch. Today it is better. I'm hoping to be able to go longer without having to wash my hair and to have it look better (i.e. not have me looking like a grease monkey).
I'm actually mostly tired of buying $7-8 bottles of shampoo and conditioner and then having to throw away the caps and recycle the bottles. Just all seems like a waste. Plus my hair has never been that great -- I can go 2 days without washing but more than that and I look like I've been rolling around in grease. Not pretty.
I found this blog post explaining all the details about going shampoo-free, so I resolved to begin trying it as soon as I used up the last of the shampoo. There is, however, still plenty of conditioner left. Isn't that the way of it? Why is there always leftover conditioner after the shampoo is gone? Makes it very difficult to ever even that out or switch to a different shampoo/conditioner set. Luckily, I have discovered that conditioner is awesome as a cream for shaving my legs. So the leftover conditioner will be used up that way.
Anyway, I'm on day 2 of the baking soda wash/apple cider vinegar rinse. So far so good! My hair was silky smooth yesterday, except for underneath, where I didn't get the baking soda to touch. Today it is better. I'm hoping to be able to go longer without having to wash my hair and to have it look better (i.e. not have me looking like a grease monkey).
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