Thursday, June 19, 2008
More pics
I've just posted some more pictures on Flickr. There are a few of Benjamin and the rest are of the house. I like to keep a photo record of every place we live. I decided I better get this done before I start re-packing. I never did get anything on the walls other than a few shelves. At least I have less to pack.
Tuesday, June 17, 2008
Admitting defeat...again
Life has thrown us another curveball. The job transfer that we were so excited about and thought would be our ticket to finally settling down has turned out to be another dead end.
Starting a week or two before the move, things started to look not quite as solid as we had been led to believe. John found out that one of the Murdock brothers didn't even know John was being transferred to St. George. In short, this brother is a control freak and was NOT happy. He obviously feels that St. George is too far away for him to exert his control. He tried to halt the move, but relented when he found out we already had a deposit on the house. It's gone downhill from there. He has tried to thwart John at every turn. We have had to buy close to $1000 in tools because they refused to outfit the repair shop; they want him to do sales (yet the manager here likes to swoop in at the last minute to get the commission); they refuse to send him very many instruments so he has nothing to do (and gets sent home early); they have him cleaning the bathrooms; they won't let him do any marketing, including visiting the local schools to let them know he's here; and they've recently made him start doing instrument reposessions. Last week they sent him out in the company van that has no air conditioning. It was 100 degrees outside and 130 inside the van. John started to hallucinate and ran a red light. He got a ticket that of course the Murdock's will not take responsibility for. John has now put his foot down and refused to drive the van. We're waiting for their reaction. Either they will fire him, or try to force him and he will be calling OSHA.
The list goes on and on. We have realized that this job is going nowhere. There is no end in sight to the $8 an hour. They have cancelled all health benefits for their employees. We have agonized over our choices of what to do and have come back to John going to school to finish his degree. I am, of course, hesitant, but we can find no alternative. It seems to be the only way for John to get a stable job with reasonable pay in a field that he's interested in. So back we go to Warrenton. Mom and Dad are opening their doors once again for Benjamin (and the rest of us and our crap). John will be taking online classes while we save on rent, utilities, etc. Who knows where we'll end up when he finishes. They're also taking over our Optima since the Neon has finally given up the ghost.
We don't know yet when we'll be doing the move. The timing is mostly dependent on Dad's ability to take off the time to help us. John has pledged to survive his job as long as is needed, but we're hoping sooner rather than later.
We are very much looking forward to seeing everyone soon. Benjamin has no idea how much love, kisses, and hugs he's going to be smothered with. He'll be sure to impress everyone with his numbers, letters, signing, and growing vocabulary.
Starting a week or two before the move, things started to look not quite as solid as we had been led to believe. John found out that one of the Murdock brothers didn't even know John was being transferred to St. George. In short, this brother is a control freak and was NOT happy. He obviously feels that St. George is too far away for him to exert his control. He tried to halt the move, but relented when he found out we already had a deposit on the house. It's gone downhill from there. He has tried to thwart John at every turn. We have had to buy close to $1000 in tools because they refused to outfit the repair shop; they want him to do sales (yet the manager here likes to swoop in at the last minute to get the commission); they refuse to send him very many instruments so he has nothing to do (and gets sent home early); they have him cleaning the bathrooms; they won't let him do any marketing, including visiting the local schools to let them know he's here; and they've recently made him start doing instrument reposessions. Last week they sent him out in the company van that has no air conditioning. It was 100 degrees outside and 130 inside the van. John started to hallucinate and ran a red light. He got a ticket that of course the Murdock's will not take responsibility for. John has now put his foot down and refused to drive the van. We're waiting for their reaction. Either they will fire him, or try to force him and he will be calling OSHA.
The list goes on and on. We have realized that this job is going nowhere. There is no end in sight to the $8 an hour. They have cancelled all health benefits for their employees. We have agonized over our choices of what to do and have come back to John going to school to finish his degree. I am, of course, hesitant, but we can find no alternative. It seems to be the only way for John to get a stable job with reasonable pay in a field that he's interested in. So back we go to Warrenton. Mom and Dad are opening their doors once again for Benjamin (and the rest of us and our crap). John will be taking online classes while we save on rent, utilities, etc. Who knows where we'll end up when he finishes. They're also taking over our Optima since the Neon has finally given up the ghost.
We don't know yet when we'll be doing the move. The timing is mostly dependent on Dad's ability to take off the time to help us. John has pledged to survive his job as long as is needed, but we're hoping sooner rather than later.
We are very much looking forward to seeing everyone soon. Benjamin has no idea how much love, kisses, and hugs he's going to be smothered with. He'll be sure to impress everyone with his numbers, letters, signing, and growing vocabulary.
Friday, June 13, 2008
Birdy
Everytime Benjamin catches me writing or responding to an email from Grandpa, he points at the eagle on the screen and says "birdy".
He also likes to identify the date when he sees it on my sidebar.
He also likes to identify the date when he sees it on my sidebar.
Thursday, June 12, 2008
We hate Sprint
So ever since we moved into this house, we've been having intermittent cell phone issues. Monday I missed a couple important phone calls because my phone was in analog roam. The phone was sitting right next to me while I waited for a call and it simply did not ring. Later when I discovered that I had missed the call, I tried to check my voicemail. No such luck while roaming. We spent a good deal of time on the phone with them yesterday. We were hung up on, called liars, and one guy swore at John in a foreign language. One lady was quite rude and told John they are not responsible for coverage inside our home. They are happy to cancel our contract, but want to charge us the early termination fee of $200 per phone. Since these are our only phones, we're really upset. If we had just signed up with them and didn't bother to check coverage, it would be our fault. But we just moved here and are obviously in a dead zone. What happens if there's an emergency and I can't call 911? What happens if someone else has an emergency and they can't call me?
So if you try to call us and we don't answer, this may be why. We're trying to get this resolved, but they may be unwilling to work with us.
So if you try to call us and we don't answer, this may be why. We're trying to get this resolved, but they may be unwilling to work with us.
Monday, June 9, 2008
A Must Read
I just finished reading a fantastic book for any dog lover. Even though it came out a few years ago, I'm just now getting around to reading it. It's "Marley and Me" by John Grogan. It's a true-life telling of his family's "mis"adventures with an extra-large, rambunctious yellow lab. It's funny and sad and hits close-to-home for anyone who's ever had a dog as part of the family. I found it especially fitting that I picked this up at the library around the time I found out Jake wasn't doing well. Be warned--you should have a kleenex handy in the final chapters.
Monday, June 2, 2008
A new record
****WARNING--BODILY FUNCTION RELATED POST*****
The other day we moved Benjamin's train stuff inside the Thomas hideaway. So this morning he was in there playing with them. I peeked in at him and he had trains and track spread all over the place. I noticed a strong odor, but decided to try and eat my breakfast before dealing with it. So, I'm sitting there eating when I looked over and he was standing in from of the desktop computer watching Sesame Street. His entire rear-end and down one leg were saturated. I escorted him to the changing table and pulled his pants down. There was chunky poop all down one leg and oozing out the top of the diaper. As I assessed the situation, I decided the only solution was to hose him off in the bathtub. Of course while I was cleaning out all of his toys, he peed on the bathroom floor. He was perplexed by the mid-day bath, but handled it pretty well. Unfortunately now I need to scour the bathtub before his regularly scheduled bath tonight. I'm just very grateful there wasn't anything on my couch or inside Thomas and that the smell was not portortional to the quantity. I guess we need to cut down on the grapes despite how much he loves them.
The other day we moved Benjamin's train stuff inside the Thomas hideaway. So this morning he was in there playing with them. I peeked in at him and he had trains and track spread all over the place. I noticed a strong odor, but decided to try and eat my breakfast before dealing with it. So, I'm sitting there eating when I looked over and he was standing in from of the desktop computer watching Sesame Street. His entire rear-end and down one leg were saturated. I escorted him to the changing table and pulled his pants down. There was chunky poop all down one leg and oozing out the top of the diaper. As I assessed the situation, I decided the only solution was to hose him off in the bathtub. Of course while I was cleaning out all of his toys, he peed on the bathroom floor. He was perplexed by the mid-day bath, but handled it pretty well. Unfortunately now I need to scour the bathtub before his regularly scheduled bath tonight. I'm just very grateful there wasn't anything on my couch or inside Thomas and that the smell was not portortional to the quantity. I guess we need to cut down on the grapes despite how much he loves them.
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