Racing the Sun - Baltimore, MD - October 2009

As the seasons change and the days get shorter I have found myself in a predicament during my 45 minute commute. It hasn’t been what book to listen to because my favorite authors and some new comers have kept me quite entertained through the audio versions of their newest books and some old classics I just can’t stop rereading. The problem is the sun. Yes, you read that right, that big giant ball of fire in the sky.

So over the past few days, I’ve noticed that I’ve been subconsciously changing the time I leave in the morning for work and the time I leave to come home. Meaning in the morning I am leaving closer and closer to 6:30 a.m. and in the evening I’m finding myself staying till after 6:00 p.m. So after looking at it more closely, I’ve been able to put my finger on it. It’s not that I am a workaholic, which pleases me to NO END!!! (Who wants that label!?). I’ve figured out that I’m racing the sun! I know this sounds silly since it’s going like a million miles an hour… Or is it that we are going a million miles an hour and it is standing still… Or maybe we’re all going a million miles an hour… But I digress… Here’s the proof.

My morning commute to work…

My evening commute home…

Note to Reader: Yes it is illegal to text and drive, but the law NEVER said you can’t take pictures and drive. Sooo... Yeah…

There is a point where in which you come around a bend and literally for about 15 or 20 seconds you can’t see ANYTHING!!! I drop my visor, but the sun is too low. I put my hand out to block the light, but to the other drivers who can’t see jack, I’m sure I look like I’m saluting a certain dead German dictator. So basically, we, the masses on the interstate at just the wrong time in the morning, have to hold onto the wheel and pray. Or we leave earlier and earlier each morning and later and later each evening. This really doesn’t seem fare! It’s not our fault that the sun can’t handle a normal work schedule.

My commute used to be 1 left turn, a roundabout, and 2 right turns. 5 minutes if I got all the lights green. Now I have to use my GPS… (well not anymore, but for the first month and a half) Is that sad?

Wish me luck tomorrow. Maybe I’ll win again!

Till next time,
Bon Voyage!

My Old Life / My New Life - Baltimore, MD - August 2009

For those that don't know, a couple of weeks before our move date, I found out that I'd be able to transfer with my company and work in the Baltimore, Washington, DC area. Due to my company's structure, I wouldn't be able to keep the same job, but they were very enthusiastic about my moving up to the area and happy about my joining the Washington, DC region.

In my old life, I got to wear cute clothes. I worked in Training and Development. I traveled a lot, but still had a very project oriented, corporate driven job. Lunch was almost always at 11:30am (never later than 12:30) and I ALWAYS has someone to eat with. My job was one where you think and rethink, check and double check, analyze and often times, over analyze everything. A lot of my development over the last 2 years has been to become a better critical thinker and be able to put multiple lenses over the same project. I LOVED almost EVERYthing about it.

In my new life, I wear a uniform and clock in and out. I manage one of our retail stores. I have 13 people reporting to me in some capacity. I open and close, manage inventory, I work 10+ hours a day, at least 5 days a week. I imake store schedules, I Interview, I issue corrective actions, and I try to nip gossip and drama in the bud. I set and reset planagrams and my new best friend is the RF Scanner gun you see to the left. My feet hurt, my back aches, I usually don't get to eat lunch till after 2:00pm and I almost always eat by my self. I have not yet been able to get through a day without crying on my lunch break when no one was around or in my truck on the way home, listening to all the songs Anna, Ashley, and I used to listen to on Zero Limits Radio.

I talked to Ashley this week and found out that they are in the process of filling my old position and that was hard to hear. Someone will be sitting in my old desk, talking on my old phone. Someone else will be traveling around the country working with the people I've grown so close to in the last two years.

Note To Reader: I don't want you to think I'm miserable, because I'm not. I don't want you to think I hate what I'm doing, because I don't. It's just that I'm sad. I miss my friends, I miss my family, I miss my job, and I miss the comfort of my routine.

I'm ready for things to feel better, to feel more natural, to feel comfortable. I'm also ready to not feel so hollow. A good friend suggested that I need to keep writing. Work through the hurt with words. put everything onto the page. so I will.

Tomorrow I'll post the first section of the Pick-A-Path project. I can't wait to see where it goes. I can't wait to see where you all take us. Thank you all for reading!!!!

Till next time,

Bon Voyage!

One Week – June 2009

So today marks one week until I go back to work. I’ve been blessed to be able to take three weeks off before I start my new job.

Note to Reader: Same company, TOTALLY different job.

So in celebration of my last week of housewifedness (if that’s even a word), below is the schedule I’ve been strictly adhering to… unless I change my mind and decide to do something else.

5:30am - Wake up with the Hub – This is a practice that started at the beginning of medical school in an effort for us to keep the same schedule and thus see each other a little more. Now it is a force of habit combined with the fact that I am an extremely light sleeper.

5:45am - Make coffee (for the Hub) and hot tea (for me).

6:30am - Ship the Hub out the door with pager, cell phone, metro pass, iPod, hospital i.d badge, and a kiss. Oh and I almost forgot, the 9 lbs of mail from the previous resident of our home, all marked “Return to Sender – No Such Person”!
Additional Note to Reader: When moving, please, for goodness sakes, CHANGE YOUR ADDRESS!!! Not only is it important that you actually get your mail, which includes the bill for your Fredericks of Hollywood credit card account, your Comcast, and cell phone bills, and your subscription renewals for fine living, Cosmopolitan, Readers Digest, and Guns and Amo magazines, It will also keep the future residents of your former home from lugging your mail up the 39 stairs from the mailbox to the front door, wasting their black Sharpie marker, and then lugging all that mail back down the steps to the out going mail box.

Note to Self: Verify that you indeed submitted your Change of Address form with the USPS as well as all those that bill you.

6:30 - 10:30am - rite outside on the deck in a happily uninterrupted writing trance. Sometimes this goes long, maybe as long as noon or 1:30pm depending on how far in the zone I am.

10:30 (or whenever) - Lay out at the pool reading The Time Traveler’s Wife and soaking up all the sunshine I can stand, which is a lot! Additional Note to Reader: One day I will tell you about my theory on how laying out is almost as healthy as working out.

2:00pm - Shower, eat, catch up on e-mail, and blogs, and clean house, while deciding what to make for dinner. Tonight is dinner with the residents, so I don’t have to worry with that, so maybe a nap, but tomorrow I think maybe a pot roast. Mmmmmmm!

3:00pm - Run to grocery. I must point out that grocery shopping used to be an all day event because we lived 30 min from the good grocery stores, but now, we are between .5 and 2.5 miles from EVERYTHING!!! So when I say “run to the grocery” I literally could run there if I so desired.

4:00pm - Cook dinner

6:30pm - The Hub’s home!

6:45pm - Dinner!!!

There’s a country song called “You’re Gonna Miss Thiss" by Trace Adkins that says exatly what I'm feeling. Although I think after a month or two, or three, or maybe even four, this might get boring, for now I can confidently say that I’m gonna miss this!

Till next time,
Bon Voyage!

Keep 'em Crossed

Important meeting today. Can't say more now, but keep your fingers crossed that all goes well.

Till next time,

Bon Voyage!

Good luck and God speed-dial! - January 2009

I have been doing this… ALL MORNING!!!

I call this the “Reach-for-the-phone-on-the-wrong-side-because-you-moved-it syndrome”!

Yesterday I felt it necessary to re arrange my desk at work. Basically the cubical walls were closing in on me and I needed a bit of a RE-ORG. This often happens when I am in the office too long. It’s normally cured by planning my next business trip, but as there were none on the horizon to plan for I had to take matters into my own hands and change the scenery.

This is where the phone used to be…
This is where it is now! I guess my problem lies in the fact that a formal introduction wasn’t made, so here goes

"Good morning left hand, I know that in the past, I’ve only asked you to display my engagement ring and wedding band, and you have been doing a GREAT job at this, but there’s been a little change in your job description. Left hand, meet Meridian (the telephone)”
“Left hand, effective immediately, you will now be in charge of all phone call answering and disconnection. ""You will also be responsible for all phone number dialing.""You will also be the one held responsible for any miss dials or prank calls, so please do not take your responsibilities lightly. Miss dialing the CEO’s extension will not result in a raise, but it may result in amputation!”

“I have complete faith in your ability to do this job and I support you 100%! Good luck and God speed-dial!”

Till next time.
Bon Voyage!

Elevator Poot!!! - December 2008

Note to Reader: There are some things you just shouldn't do... This is one of them!

Additional Note to Reader: This subject, as my parents would tell me when I was little, is not conversation for the dinner table. My response was and still is, "It depends upon whose dinner table you are eating..." But I digress. ..

A couple of days ago I was returning from my last meeting before leaving for the weekend. The meeting had been on the 5th floor, and I was standing in the elevator lobby waiting with one other person, we’ll call him “B”, to be picked up and returned to our respective floors. The bell rings, the doors slide open and three men hurry out laughing. One wave to me and smiled and I recognized him as the manager of one of my good friends. I said “hey”, waved back and then followed “B” onto the elevator. We pressed our floors, his B2 and mine Lobby and just before the doors slid shut we saw those three men, still laughing, turn to take the stairs. We looked at each other in confusion, but in less than a moment we realized what we’d stepped in to… LITERALLY!!!

Instinctively, we both cupped our free hands over our nose and mouth. Without thinking I pressed the button for the 3rd floor.

“This is just WRONG!!!” - “B” said.

All I could do was nod my head in agreement as my eyes began to water. It was AWFUL!!!

FINALLY the doors slowly opened onto the 3rd floor and we tumbled out, and before the woman waiting had the chance to enter the car, “B” put his hand on her shoulder, looked her straight in the face and said “You’re gonna want to take the next one.” She nodded somewhat bewildered. “Trust me,” he said, and repeated “You’re gonna want to take the next one.” I’m sure that woman will never understand the full extent of what “B” did for her that day, but let this be a lesson to others.

DO NOT LEAVE YOUR POOT ON AN ELEVATOR FOR SOMEONE ELSE TO DEAL WITH!!!

Those guys getting off the elevator knew good and well what they’d done. That’s why they were laughing when they made their speedy escape. How hard would it have been to say “Stan pooted in that one you may want to take the stairs”? Or, they could have blamed it on someone else if that floated their boats. “Someone, which definitely wasn’t one of us, pooted on that elevator. For your own health and safety, do not go in there.” How hard would it have been to give a little Public Service Announcement?

We have these things at work called ERT codes standing for Emergency Response Team where they get on the loud speaker and say “E.R.T. Code – Whatever (number one through 10) ---”. Some codes mean someone has collapsed. Some are just a test. There are all sorts. Then someone on the Emergency Response Team does what is needed to fix the emergency. There should be an E.R.T Code for this sort of thing, because let me tell you… or do I even have to, Poot and runs should be against the law!

Till next time!
Bon Voyage

Adventures in the Windy City! - Chicago, IL - December 2008

Note to Reader: I need to start by saying “Thank You” to everyone that gave me tips for the City of Chicago. With as busy as my work schedule was I really didn’t have very much free time, but because of all of the great tips I got, I was really able to see more than I thought I would. But a big thanks to Manuel for recommending that I swap my hotel the last night and stay in the city. If I hadn’t done that, I wouldn’t have had time to do any of the tourist stuff. My total Chicago experience would have been in the stores of the company I work for and through the windshield of a car, which, as you can see, doesn’t even begin to do it justice.

After chatting with M, I got on Expedia.com and found a GREAT rate on the hotel that he and another of our co workers stayed when they came here last, and so for the final night of my stay I switched from the Country in and suites on the outskirts of the city to the Club Quarters right in the heart of downtown on W. Adams Street. One of the neatest looking hotels I’ve ever stayed in. VERY European (I think, but I'd have to defer to Mrs. Sabbe Spot the interior designer to be sure)! Check out the pics. There were watter bottle dispencers in the hall way!?We had dinner at the Elephant & Castle restaurant in the lobby of the hotel and called it a night a little bit early because I had a mission for the next morning. My plan was to, at the crack of dawn, head down to Millennium Park to find “The Bean”. So I set my wake up call for 5:00am and hit the sack. It took about 2 hours to actually fall asleep because I kept jumping up to study the walking map and plan my rout. I’m not kidding; I was almost as excited as a kid the night before Christmas. I was going to explore the city!!!

The ringing of my wake up call pulled me from my dreams and I was jolted into action. I had 3 hours before I was being picked up from the hotel and I had a lot to accomplish. I leapt from the bed and on my way to the shower I discovered that somehow, my conditioner had lost it’s cap (were talking completely disappeared off the face of the planet) and had spilled all over my plastic airport regulated clear plastic 1 quart reusable bag, but it didn’t even phase me. I was too pumped to let something like that get me. I just ran a sink full of warm water and dumped the contents of the bag in to soak, trashed the bag and jumped into the shower and used the complementary watered down 2-in-1 stuff the hotel left for me in my room.

Once out of the shower I flipped on the local news for the weather and dressed in the warmest clothing I brought. I glanced at the clock 5:45am, looked out the window, still pitch black. Hummm… “Come on sun, time to get up!!!”

FINALLY!!! At about 15 till seven the sun began peeking, and I was through the beautiful lobby and out the sliding glass doors. Four blocks east under the ‘L’ tracks (which by the way I NEVER got to ride) to Michigan Ave., turn left and up one block and into Millennium Park… they said, “you cant’ miss it” hmmmm… looks like I am missing it… Granted it’s still so early that the faces are sleeping, but where’s the BEAN? Up a set of steps, down a set of steps I still can’t feel that it’s cold out because I haven’t stopped moving since I left the hotel, and then I spot it…! Through the trees it’s peeking out at me. I can honestly say that my heart leapt. I was so worried that I’d built this thing up to be so glorious and then when I saw it in person it wasn’t going to hold up to what I’d created in my mind, but it did! It really really did!!!

I was snapping a couple of pictures when a nice park employee in a GIGANTIC yellow coat came up to me and said, “Would you like a picture taken with the sculpture?”

“Yeah, that’d be great” I said.

“Well ma’am, if I take your picture, I’m going to have to ask that you put your glove back on” he said.

“Oh,” I said, slightly surprised. “Well, it’s a mitten, but sure”. I slid my hand deep into the warmth of the mitten and practically skipped (yes like a little girl) over to the enormous mirrored bean. After trying to find a cool way to stand, which I discovered doesn’t exist when you are dressed in a puffy winter coat, snow boots, and a hat that makes you look like you are about to go rob a bank, I put my mittened hands on the shiny surface, smiled, and waited what felt like 35 min as my teeth froze together, for the dude to snap the picture.

When I reclaimed my camera, he informed me that the reason he’d asked me to put my mitten back on is because when the temperature gets this low, they have had several people freeze themselves to the bean. OH MY!!!

Come to find out, it was four degrees!!! With the mention of the temp I began to shiver a little, and a glance at the clock, revealed that I needed to get moving. I snapped a few more pictures in the park and started walking toward the lake, but by the time I got within a block of it, the wind was blowing so bad that I had to hold onto the street light post to keep from being blown back. By then my legs were completely numb, and I decided that this was close enough for this trip. I glanced at my watch again and not for time sake, but in order to keep moving, I pretty much ran the almost eight blocks back to the hotel.

Even now, as I am sitting in the airport gate, with the sum pouring through the windows warming my still slightly numb legs, I can’t help but smile as I remember the adventures of this morning. Waking up early was worth it, and even though it really was just under an hour, it was enough to get a taste of a really great city that I’d love the chance to get back to. I think I’d like to go back with The Hub in the warmer months, but to be quite honest, even in the cold; this city is one of the coolest cities I’ve gotten the chance to visit.

Till next time,
Bon Voyage!

Encore – August 2008

I consider myself to be a reasonably tech savvy person. I like computers and electronics, but this afternoon at about 3:00pm Central Daylight savings time, I met my match. The CS3 Adobe Production Premium Suite masks it’s self as a mild mannered suite of software that can do anything from take out the red eye on your family photos to… hummmmm… lets see… I don’t know… maybe… AUTHOR THE DVD’s FOR YOUR NATIONAL SALES MEETING (which happens to be in 5 weeks and they still have to go to duplication) with the stroke of a few keys.

Note to Self: I do love my job! I do love my job! I do love my job! I do love my job! I do love my job!

All was going smoothly, (well as smoothly as can be expected without any formal training on the software) when I open my project in Adobe Encore and began placing menus, slides, and end actions. I was trucking right along when all of the sudden, while attempting to add a song called Spare Parts by a band called BluesPower, my progress came to a screeching halt.

Note to Reader: I know, catchy car songs for Automotive training is cheesy, but hey what are you gonna do. We call it the “cool aide”.

An hour later, after much internal (and some external) huffing and puffing, I had tried every tutorial and still had gotten nowhere. I called or personally went to see three of my most valued Adobe experts, two of which had never even herd of Encore and the third was just as perplexed as I was. I called my dear husband, who on the rare occasion was off work and he immediately began downloading a free trial version on our home computer so that he could try to help me. I took a walk with squeezable stress balls in each hand to avoid throwing my computer into the trash, (because out the window wasn’t an option). If I were a smoker, well… you get the picture!

Additional Note to Reader: In all seriousness, if you know and can teach this program there is a pretty penny in it for you!

After my internal temper tantrum and my external separation from the said offending computer, I returned with a resolve to make this dang thing work… and I did. I don’t know what I did, or how I did it, but I made my DVD and even better, it has a soundtrack!

So regardless of the fact that I have a TON of stuff to do, I decided that I was going to end the day on a good note. So I headed home, leaving the rest of my battles to fight tomorrow.

Till next time,
Bon Voyage!

I'm Still here - August 2008

I PROMISE I am still Alive and Kickin'... And Screemin' too I guess! I actually have about 6 blogs that I've started but not been able to finish. Work has been well...you get the picture...

Things should get better Friday... I HOPE!!! Plus, we have a Sushi double date Friday woth S. and E. Dime so it HAS to get better!!!

A BIG Thank you to all of you that have been writing on your blogs. They have been much needed relief from my crazy 16+ hour days.

Till Next Time,

Bon Voyage!

I've been SPAMMED! - July 2008

NOTE TO READER: I don’t have a blackberry or any other PDA, but I do dream of the day our contract with a certain cellular provider ends and I can get a new one that actually gets service within the four walls of our home.

Additional Note to Reader: We have become a people at are VERY dependant upon our PDA’s and I don’t mean “Public displays of Affection”. Even I have become attached to Texting and being able to check the score of the Red Sox / Yankees game from the car or a restaurant. I also LOVE the idea of having the capability to receive happy e-mails from my friends in the most remote of locations.

HOWEVER, it is important to remember that a PDA is not a replacement for the real thing, and FINAL judgments on a sender’s true identity should be held until the e-mail is viewed on a real FULL SIZED computer.

So here goes, this week we held a workshop in Memphis for a few of our regional managers. And as with most of our workshops, a few “BIGS” seam to make an appearance. So I am sitting at a conference table as everyone is being introduced and it comes to me. “Hi, I’m Lili and I am the Field Training and Development Specialist, which basically means I am the ‘On the Ground’ resource for any of your training needs.” A few more introductions, one of which being a certain “Mr. BIG” whom never returned my e-mails, and who I was almost positive didn’t remember me, as I had only met him once in Milwaukee. A couple more people say there hellos and then we’re off to the races.

Through out this segment of the workshop I wasn’t presenting, but only contributing as needed, so I was able to look around and observe some of the participants. Some engaged, some typing on their Crackberries, some day dreaming, and one, “Mr. Big”, burning holes in me, as he is staring at me so hard through his smart man “Mr. Big” glasses. If I had been an ant, well you know the rest of that story. This, of course, sends me into somewhat of an internal panic. What’s wrong..? Why is he staring at me…? What have I done…? By the end of the meeting I was so wound up, I wasn’t sure if I should crawl under the table or run from the room crying. Needless to say, the workshop concluded and I proceeded calmly back to my desk.

About 30 min later my boss appears at my desk with a funny grin on her face. You’ll never believe what ‘Mr. Big’ did.”

“What?” I say with mounting intrigue.

“Well… he SPAMed you!” she said in a fit of laughter.

My jaw dropped “WHAT!!!??? WHY???”

Still laughing she told me the story of how he had stopped her in the hall after the workshop and confided in her the details of the SPAMing. He’d explained that the blackberry screen was very small and often times it would shorten the first name and only give you the first initial of the last name. He went on to explain that for me, that name read “Lil V”. Again, my jaw dropped.

By now my entire team has gathered around my desk and they’ve made two assessments of the situation. One, “Lil V” should be my new rapper name. The second is far more scaring. If you didn’t know, there is a certain small, blue, diamond shaped pill that, on top of changing the lives of men around the globe, is also often referred to as “Lil V”.

Needless to say I have since been UN-SPAMMED and now it makes for a wildly funny story around the water cooler.

Till next time,
Bon Voyage

Catalytic Converters… Who knew!!!???

Note to Reader: I know I said earlier that I love to tinker, and I am pretty technically inclined. So please take this post for what it’s worth. I am a smart girl, I promise, but it must be said that I am a very literal thinker.

My most recent venture into the technical world of the AutoZOne Field (meaning the stores) brought me to a store that serves as an excellent resource for us “chair sitters” at the SSC (Store (Support Center). The purpose of the workshop I attended was to give me a little more technical knowledge so that when I am out in the field I feel a little more useful and can really get out there and HELP put Customers First!

Additional Note to Reader: I LOVE MY JOB!!! I’ve had some great jobs along the way that have shaped me into the “go getter” that I am today, but it must be said that I truly love where I am and the company I work for.

I returned to work the day after the workshop telling my team all about the wealth of knowledge that I had picked up.

1 - If your check engine light comes on, the first thing you should do is check your gas cap.

2 - Not every one that works on cars calls the parts they need by the correct name, but regardless, they expect you to know what they are talking about. (I still don’t know what a “dog bone” is, so if you do please let me know… hummm, could this be why dogs chase cars?)
One of the highest selling products on a rainy day are Duralast Gold wiper blades, and I now know how to install them! Yahoo!!!

3 - When you are standing all day in a store it really doesn’t matter how cute your shoes are. If you want to throw them out of the car window on the way down the interstate on your way home, you must at least consider the possibility of ugly, comfortable shoes.

4 - Working a cash register is really not as hard as some retail establishments make it look. If I can do it ANYONE can.

5 - Go Joe is AWESOME when trying to remove car nastiness from your hands arms, etc.

6 - And last but not least, when you upgrade your exhaust system to a “Flow Master” and they turn off your oxygen sensors that could be the reason your check engine light is on.

Our conversation turned to the fact that I learned how to use an ODB2 tester (see picture on right), which is the device you use to get the code that will then tell you the reason behind your check engine light being illuminated. I had tested a gentleman’s Cadillac Escalade and gotten both P14 and P17 codes, which are oxygen sensor and Catalytic Converter issues. Well after giving him a few of the listed suggestions and finding that he’d had an after market exhaust system installed (remember the above mentioned “flow master”). Using all the effort I could muster and trying not to laugh, I let him know that that was where the check engine light was more than likely originating. My whole team was proud and the conversation could have ended at that, but since this is a blog worthy story, you know it didn’t.

We started talking about Catalytic Converters in general and how they have become in recent months a VERY popular item to steel off of the under side of an SUV. Someone had herd that the thieves could roll under your truck snip a few wires and be out of there in less than 30 seconds. The motivation is that a Catalytic Converter is made from several precious mettles like platinum, gold, copper, and a few others. The bad guys are taking them and breaking them down and selling the mettle. I was flabbergasted to say the least. It is just beyond me why someone in general feels they are entitled to something that isn’t theirs. I made the comment that that was crazy and I wondered out loud how someone would even know to do that. Then I gave a big sigh and said that I was very glad that I didn’t have to worry about that with my car, because “it’s very low to the ground and also because it is a Ford.” All heads in the general vicinity turned to face me, but I wasn’t finished. I went on to say that I was also glad that we “decided on a Toyota for our SUV, one less thing to be worried about.”

“What do you mean Lili?” one of my co-workers asked.

I didn’t think it was a hard concept to grasp, but what the heck. “Well I mean that I was glad that we didn’t decide to buy a Cadillac so we don’t have to worry about a Cadillac Converter being stolen, that’s all”. Everyone laughed and I began to blush and my mind began to roll back the conversation. I had missed something and by the looks of it, it was big.

Without going into too much detail on my public humiliation it was explained that all cars have Catalytic Converters, not Cadillac Converters. This is a lesson I will never forget!

Till next time,
Bon Voyage!