Finally.. maybe the monsoon is happening...
|
Posted:Jul 24, 2005 8:29 pm
Last Updated:Mar 5, 2006 9:27 pm
9950 Views
|
I love it when the lightening dances across the sky...just above the mountains... and the crack of the thunder just before the lightening makes it's appearance. So nice when it just pours and pours.... except if you have to drive in it.... but instead can sit on your porch and enjoy the storm. Also nice when after we've had a pretty good rain that it cools things down for awhile... I hope this monsoon season is highly active and we get a lot of good rain... we need it.
|
|
|
1
comment
|
|
|
|
Technical difficulties....
|
Posted:Jul 12, 2005 3:19 pm
Last Updated:Mar 5, 2006 9:27 pm
9625 Views
|
More ranting and raving about the heat. LOL...
Last Friday (07/08/05) the A/C in my office just wasn't working very well....but since I am still fairly new in this job and since I was the only 1 there that day....decided to just hang in there. I thought maybe the unit had simply "frozen" up, because sometimes they do especially if somehow the thermostat had been maybe turned down too low....which I admit... I might have. Oh'..alright... I did... but dang it.. it was hot.
So, I turned the thermostat back up to around 80 thinking that after a little while it would thaw out and then I would turn it back down (but only just a little). After about an hour and a half, I tried to turn it down...nothing, nada, zip...
So, then I decided to hell with it... it's Friday, it's almost time to go anyway... I'll just deal with the heat.
Weekend passes.... my co-worker who wasn't there on Friday, decides to come in on Saturday for awhile... A/C still not working.... it's too uncomfortable to work... so she goes home.
Monday..yesterday.... Same. No A/C. Finally, we decide to tell the guy who owns the building about it...and he says to me.. "well, did you check to see if any cool air was coming out the vent?"... I say... "no....sorry... I'm too short to reach that far up". Which is true.. I am. I'm only 5 ft 2 inches and the vent is way up the wall towards the ceiling...and it's a very high ceiling. No way I'm standing on chairs or stuff to try and reach, not with a herniated disc and risking losing my balance and falling. Nope, not this girl.
Anyway... yesterday it was just unbearable... both of us nearly sick from the heat...sweating like crazy...unable to concentrate on our work...but we hang in and get thru the day...vowing... that if it's like this again tomorrow.. (which is today)...then we're going home.
A/C guy came out... this morning. Motor burnt up, entire unit is ready to give up the ghost... he tell's the owner of the building he needs a new unit... I guess there's a dozen A/C unit's up on the roof... Anyway.. he replaces the motor...but the coils are all froze up and so we can't use the A/C until it thaws out. Now, there's this horrible burnt/fume sort of odor that just won't go away. Both my co-worker and I are getting headaches...and our sinus's feel extremely irratated. We both still feel like crap from the heat and from the day before.... it's still hotter'n hell in the office.
So, we send an email to our manager (who's in Phx) and we say we're taking what work we can do at home and buggin out.
So... now I'm home... taking a break... thought I'd write a blog entry, don't REALLY want to do any work... LOL.. but, at least my house is nice and cool... starting to feel better. Good thing theres a lot I can do from home...cuz the majority of it is a clearing house for electronic claims online. This manager we have is brand new.....and he's in Phx. We're hoping that we can convince him to let us work from home and just have a "virtual" office... maybe get a 2nd phone line at one of our houses.. probably mine...since I answer the phone 98% of the time...and since I'm normally the one who would be handling calls &/or patients of those . IE: Looking up transaction histories, and updating information...that sort of stuff. All we'd each need is a better copier/fax/scanner machine like we have at work except one at home...a heavy duty document shredder... (since we have to make sure we're HIPPA compliant) and we'd be good to go.... Even if we had to maybe drive up to Phx once a week or every other week... it'd be worth it if we could work from home. I'd love that.... but... I also know me...and I know I'd have to get very strict with myself...and not do stuff...like... write blogs on sex sites... LOL. Or surf and play online. I maybe could do a little chatting on the instant messanger stuff...but would have to set limits. LOL.
I would love to be able to work from home... be able to sit her stark buck naked...play my music...have my cigarettes without having to go outside to smoke. We don't get people coming to our offices...because there just isn't a need for anyone to. We get the mail...and other types of deliveries...but that stuff could all go to a P.O. BOX.
I'd love to hear from anyone who works from home and hear about the pro's & con's of it...and also any words of advise in terms of how to stay centered/focused on work. Also, any suggestions on how to convince the boss that working from home would be a good thing. Not to mention saving the cost of having to rent office space, etc. Does anyone have any statistics on cost showing advantage of working from home as opposed to working from an office? I know that there would be a wide range of circumstance....depending on what sorts of business other people run out of their homes, but an idea of what kinds of financial advantage would be great.
Thanks...in advance. I'd better get back to work...
|
|
|
0
Comments
|
|
Patriotic.....
|
Posted:Jul 3, 2005 12:22 pm
Last Updated:Mar 5, 2006 9:27 pm
9511 Views
|
I hope everyone has a great 4th of July.
|
|
|
0
Comments
|
|
This is funny... sorta/kinda... and somewhat true....
|
Posted:Jun 30, 2005 7:17 pm
Last Updated:Mar 5, 2006 9:27 pm
9597 Views
|
I got this in an email today from a friend of my mom's... so I thought I would share it. In some ways... there's a whole lot of truth to it. If you know what it's like to be in Arizona during this time of year.
BEAUTIFUL ARIZONA
Just moved to Arizona! Now this is a state that knows how to live!!Beautiful sunny days and warm balmy evenings. What a place!
It is beautiful. I've finally found my home.
I love it here.
June 14th:
Really heating up. Got to 100 today. Not a problem. Live in an air-conditioned home, drive an air-conditioned car. What a pleasure to see the sun everyday like this.
I'm turning into a sun worshipper.
June 30th:
Had the backyard landscaped with western plants today. Lots of cactus and rocks. What a breeze to maintain. No more mowing lawn for me.
Another scorcher today, but I love it here.
July 10th:
The temperature hasn't been below 100 all week. How do people get used to this kind of heat? At least, it's kind of windy though.
But getting used to the heat is taking longer than I expected.
July 15th:
Fell asleep by the community pool. (Got 3rd degree burns over 60% of my body). Missed 3 days of work. What a dumb thing to do. I learned my lesson though.
Got to respect the ol' sun in a climate like this.
July 20th:
I missed Lomita (my cat) sneaking into the car when I left this morning. By the time I got to the hot car at noon, Lomita had died and swollen up to the size of a shopping bag, then popped like a water balloon. The car now smells like Kibbles and shits. I learned my lesson though. No more pets in this heat.
Good ol' Mr. Sun strikes again.
July 25th:
The wind sucks. It feels like a giant freaking blow dryer!! And it's hot as hell. The home air-conditioner is on the fritz and the AC repairman charged $200 just to drive by and tell me he needed to order parts.
July 30th:
Been sleeping outside on the patio for 3 nights now, $225,000 house and I can't even go inside. Lomita is the lucky one.
Why did I ever come here?
Aug. 4th:
It's 115 degrees. Finally got the air-conditioner fixed today. It cost $500 and gets the temperature down to 85.
I hate this stupid state.
Aug. 8th:
If another wise ass cracks, 'Hot enough for you today?' I'm going to strangle him. Damn heat. By the time I get to work, the radiator is boiling over, my clothes are soaking wet, and
I smell like baked cat!!
Aug. 9th:
Tried to run some errands after work. Wore shorts, and when I sat on the seats in the car, I thought my ass was on fire. My skin melted to the seat. I lost 2 layers of flesh and all the hair on the back of my legs and ass.
Now my car smells like burnt hair, fried ass, and baked cat.
Aug 10th:
The weather report might as well be a damn recording. Hot and sunny. Hot and sunny. Hot and sunny. It's been too hot to do shit for 2 damn months and the weatherman says it might really warm up next week. Doesn't it ever rain in this damn desert? Water rationing will be next, so my $1700 worth of cactus will just dry up and blow over.
Even the cactus can't live in this damn heat.
Aug. 14th:
Welcome to HELL! Temperature got to 115 today. Cactus are dead. Forgot to crack the window and blew the damn windshield out of the car.
The installer came to fix it and said, "Hot enough for you today?"
My sister had to spend $1,500 to bail me out of jail. Freaking Arizona.What kind of a sick demented idiot would want to live here??
Will write later to let you know how the trial goes.
|
|
|
0
Comments
|
|
Data Processing....woes
|
Posted:Jun 30, 2005 6:54 pm
Last Updated:Mar 5, 2006 9:27 pm
9795 Views
|
Well... let's see. My new job is in the "health care" field...medical billing/coding...that sort of thing and it's completely different than what I've been used to for the last 26 years or so, which was automotive, specifically... car dealerships. Anyway... I left the dealership I was at for 11 years, because basically in a nut shell... and 2 words will pretty much sum it up...and that being "BULLY BOSS".
Yep.. I had a cunt of a boss who was evil...you could see it in her eyes...and in her face... she just loved treating people bad... not only just me...but anyone she thought she could get by with it.
However...I finally got to the point where I had been startled out of my chair for the last damn time. Once...she came around the corner of my little cubby area....and startled me so bad I hyper extended my left shoulder. Arms flew every which way... including directions they ain't supposed to. LOL... which when that happened... of course I was in immediate extreme pain...and she totally forgot what she was coming to attack me on. I felt constantly attacked..and I was constantly on guard...until I quit, and piled all of my stuff on her desk.
I worked in warranty... processing manufacturer claims...and I handled well over 60+ companies, while 1 other person handled 2...and another handled 10-11. She (cunt/boss) handled about 10-11 also. Not to mention that when we would get another vender to submit claims to...no one... would accept another company.... except me. Especially if they were online. I forgot to mention that the rest of the office... could barely open email, let alone process claims via the internet... and numerous times a day... I would be called upon to help someone get out of something they didn't know how they got into... and of course.. on those times I was a "fucking genious". See.. I'm very mechanically inclined and have always pretty much been a "tech'y" sort of person.. and rarely need instructions on how to operate this gadget or that... cuz' I love that stuff so much.. anyway, life in a dealership isn't all bad... lot's of little perks and fun stuff going on.
Only thing bad about my job...was the boss.
So, middle of March.... after I have my epidural injection for my back...(I have a herniated disc..which that in itself is a long, long story)...I quit that job.
Now.. my new job...which I had lined up before quitting the old one was (I thought) going to be very cool... more $$$, closer to home... no micromanaging boss...no time clock...no time card... come in when I want... go home when I want.... Hell... I can go in at 2 in the morning if I wanted...(but I don't).
So one of my challenges, was learning something completely opposite of what I've done all my life. No problem.. I thought.. and actually for the most part it isn't. There's all sorts of different abbreviations to learn... different policies... dealing with medical insurance payers/companies.. like Medicare...and so on.
Here's where it gets fucked up... we have this "data processing center"... in India. Yep.. we have one of "those"... and they (the people there) are so difficult to understand it isn't funny. They write in their emails..."henceforth, and herewith...and this one I get the biggest laugh out of.. they say..."please do the needful"... HaHa. They also... play very "dumb"...and blame all of their mistakes on "cultural differences". My boss sent them an email about a week ago...telling them that "culture" has nothing do to with making the same mistakes over, and over again.
Anyway.. I'm mostly blowing steam here... because I got an email from the main guy over there telling me I need to do this and I need to do that... referring to the fact that I've scanned over to them... 33 different patient problems from 1 alone....where the "DPC"... kept making the same mistakes...over and over. He's telling me I need to research these problems... which I write back and say..."I did...that's why your getting them... and they need to be fixed"... (inside I'm thinking... asshole....) lol.
I guess over in India... if you have any computer/data processing skills... you can get pretty good jobs...according the the co-worker I have here... the one who's been training me... "the world is their oyster"... if they are skilled. She was sent over there for about 3 months...to train them. She said it was pretty weird... said the women over there.. get up real early in the morning...and sweep the "dirt" streets to the curb...every single day. People riding on little motorbikes... sometimes entire families... on 1 motorbike... hardly anyone had a car...and if they did...they were considered "rich".
Oh well..thank goodness for a long weekend coming up. I hope like hell I don't have another one like the last long holiday weekend.
I need to win the lottery.....
So.. anyone wanna hear how got a herniated disc? LOL... a little hint.. has something to do with the day my precious grand (Alarah...isn't that just the most beautiful name you've ever heard?) was born... over a year ago....
|
|
|
1
comment
|
|
I wish it would rain....
|
Posted:Jun 23, 2005 8:18 pm
Last Updated:Mar 5, 2006 9:27 pm
9327 Views
|
Here it is Thursday...haven't been home from work for very long...was so involved in what I was doing I hadn't even realized it was after 7 already. I can still do a lot of my work from home...if I wanted to. I might, or not. I'm in somewhat of a "so, so--blah" kind of mood.
Got my new glasses today.... regular glasses for everyday...and computer glasses for when I'm in front of the computer. I guess they are ok....I keep forgetting to take the computer glasses off and putting the other ones on.
It's still so damn hot you can barely stand it....or maybe I should say...I can barely stand it. The heat is making me tired/sleepy.
I think it's time to shop around for prices on air conditioning. What I have now is just a swamp cooler....and for those of you not from around here....swamp coolers work pretty well, in general...while the humidity stays low. Once our monsoon rains start, then swamp coolers don't do well at all...but they are still better than nothing.
I'm lucky though...because my youngest brother who lives on the property in the apartment attached to the house...is quite capable of doing the install, all I'd have to do is buy the system & materials and since he get's a gonga deal on his rent....he can install it...plus I'd make sure that his apartment got taken care of too. I'm such a good sister...lol. Actually, he's a pretty good brother too....he minds his business and I mind mine....I let him have "carte blanch"...with the "property"...as long as he fix's whatever needs fix'n and starts the cooler up in the summer and the furnace in the winter. He get's a pretty damn good deal though... real cheap rent, internet, gas, electric, cable, water...full run of the back yard....get's to use my washer/dryer. Me.. I get.. built in car mechanic...and plumber, and electrician...jack of all trades....security/protection if I needed it...he takes care of the yard...hauls the trash bins to the street...comic relief if I need a good laugh....
!!! Just saw lightening....woo hoo...now thunder... yippie. I hope it pours....!!!!
hmmm... just got notified someone has sent a message... guess I'll go check it out.
Later....
|
|
|
0
Comments
|
|
Too close for comfort....
|
Posted:Jun 15, 2005 9:54 pm
Last Updated:Mar 5, 2006 9:27 pm
9805 Views
|
Memorial day weekend... 3 days off. No major plans, just hangin out at home...doing stuff around the house. Rearranging furniture...back to how it was before I decided to have a room mate or 2 or 3 (not all at once... first 1 then gone, then #2...then gone...then #3...and now gone)... Now I finally had them all gone...and no one else needing help. I officially put out the word that there was "No more room at the INN"...and could finally put my house back in order the way it was. All was fine and good...
Went to bed around 2am on Saturday night..(technically wee hours of Sunday morning)....and was sleeping pretty sound...when all of a sudden I hear "male" voices outside my home...and they were shouting.... VERY LOUD...woke me up...which is hard to do in most cases. Now I always...always sleep naked.. and have for as long as I can remember...even when I go camping...or am sent to some seminar somewhere or...even when I go to visit my and her family... I sleep in the buff....doesn't matter where or why....I just do. Anyway...I hear very loud male voices shouting... I have no clue who it is or what they are saying...or why???? So, I roll out of bed... and walk around it to get to the window nearest my driveway to peek out...and just as I get to the window..and was reaching to lift up a slat in the blind... I hear "pop, pop, pop, pop, pop"...GUNS.. someone is shooting at someone in MY DRIVEWAY...IN MY YARD..!!!! SCARED THE SHIT OUT OF ME...
My home is located in what most people refer to as Midtown or Central of Tucson...and it's a very old neighborhood... my house was built in the early 50's.... small, 2 bedroom...1 bath... very cute...lots of charm... looks like a little adobe house...but it also has a fairly large 1 bedroom apartment built onto the back of it...that I rent to my youngest brother.....
Okay.. so I hear guns being shot...I have no clue who it is or who is shooting at whom...I have no clue if someone is shooting at my brother...or the neighbors with whom I share a driveway with...I knew it couldn't be me...as I've had no one mad at me or enemy's with... So...??? I hit the floor right away... crawled around the side of my bed to get my phone... I'm shaking so bad...and so scared I absolutely thought Iwas going to puke... plus I'm naked... and it's dark in the house... I can't see diddley... but I did manage to find a hot pink sleeveless dress I had been wearing earlier... so I'm trying to call my brother first... to make sure he's ok... but his line is busy... which scares me more...'cuz I don't know if he's ok or not... I'm trying to also get this dress on...but I'm so scared I get balled up in it..and nothing going where it's supposed to... head trying to get thru a sleeve opening...wrong.... dress gets twisted.. I'm trying to dial 911...but hitting wrong button.. Just was a total scared mess.... finally get the phone dialed in... I tell them... gun shots.. my driveway/yard..?? don't know who...don't know why....didn't see anything...just loud shouting..then bang, bang, bang.. about 4-5 times...and while I'm on the phone with 911... I happen to see car lights go past the 2nd bedroom window/driveway area... towards the street... which I tell the dispatch...
operator says.. police on the way...etc. Ok.. so then I call my brother again... he answers.. and he's ok... Whew. Now...on the internet..there is a web site that has a police scanner function... so I bring that up...and between pacing the floor from the living room to the 2nd bedroom... I'm listening....and watching out the window...1 police car pulls in and I go out on my porch and I tell him what I heard...and he says ok... and that there will be more police coming to talk with me some more.... I say.. "ok..I'll be here"... duh..(stupid..lol)... still scared. so, I pace back and forth from living room to computer room... and smoke a gillion cigarettes...
and I'm listening to the scanner ..and pretty soon I hear them say..."going back to the crime scene at... Elderly woman in a pink dress at the residence"..... I hear "elderly woman"... and I don't know whether to be insulted or amused..... so I was both.. LOL. So, I go outside and wait for them on my porch... cuz after all.. I knew they were coming.
This all happened about 3:30ish in the morning.
My brother...heard a car pull into the neighbors back yard... He thought it was the neighbors coming home from being gone camping.... But it wasn't them, it was a car he didn't recognize.....
So 4-5 guys...pulled up into the driveway--which we share with the neighbor....but more on our neighbors side....and mostly clear up into the neighbors back yard..... and they all got out.... and walked past my brothers jeep (once) they got past the jeep...He couldn't see where they went) but his jeep is parked right outside my bedroom window.....and over to where my car is...but my brother had company....so there was Elaine's car next to mine.....(theres fresh foot prints because of the rain)......then....My brother could tell something was not right...and so he was calling 911 before the shooting started...Then
there was 4 or 5 gunshots.....
According to the cop who was still outside in front of my house at 7:30 ish that morning .. there was a lot of gun fire activity in our neighborhood....anyway... they caught some of the people involved in the shooting....but no one had been hit as far as they know....
They found a gun clip/magazine in the neighbors yard...and in his part of the drive way they found 3 shell casings...and they found 2 shell casings in the street.....then further down...next to the market...they found shell casings. But according to the police.... the casings were not matching the clip....and some of the shells didn't match each other..... I guess there were several areas in the neighborhood where shooting was going on....but I only heard the ones at my house....but the police were having a hard time finding the shells.
One policeman.... heard the gun shots that happened at my house...because they were already responding to the other calls. Neighbors across the street heard all of this too.
The police were waiting for the crime scene people to come and take pictures of the shells and the clip. My brother actually could tell the police more than I could....he actually saw the car and how many guys were in it.... The police cannot find the gun...(or couldn't during this time....maybe they have by now...but they didn't have it that morning)......
Right after my brother heard the gun shots.... he saw them walk fast...but not running and they got in the car and took off....
When all this happened...there happened to be a cop already coming up my street...going south....and was practically right here when they pulled out.... so he was the one who pulled the guys over... he (according to the cop outside) the one who pulled them over... had drawn his gun on them. The cop caught them at the corner
and they were still there when I went to bed
that morning at 8 ish......just after the crime scene people were here.
.... according to the cop that was outside...it was probably a random shooting/drug-gang thing going on. It bothers me to know that something like that was happening in my front yard.
As far as the police knew that morning....no one was hit/hurt...and they couldn't find anywhere where gun shots had hit at all....and they had a dickens of a time finding the shells.
Also according to the cop outside... these guys are not being co-operative. He suspects that it's gang/drug related....and also according to the guys that got stopped....they were supposedly being shot at...by someone. The police say about 20 or so people called to report the gun shots...in various areas of the neighborhood....so they were already out here when the gunshots happened in my yard....and before I called 911 and before my brother had called...
I only heard the ones that happened here. So the one cop who was guarding the crime scene evidence said they were "suspect/victim"....and there was 1 bullet hole in their car.
I told the cop that morning.... I heard the dispatch call me elderly....and we laughed...and I said.. "hell, I'm only 50....that's not elderly".
Very scary.... I'm glad no one was actually hit. I would have freaked out if there had been someone shot ... hurt/dead....laying in my yard or driveway...or even in the street in front of my house. Or worse... a bullet come thru my house....and hit me.
Sure don't like the idea of strange/gang stuff going on in my driveway/yard.
Okay... so now several days have passed... and I go to dinner with one of my girlfriends..and we're outside after dinner and talking..I'm smoking... and all of a sudden we see that huge earthmover going west on Grant Road...which we both looked at each other in surprise...because stuff like that is normally hauled around on a huge flat bed truck....
There was at that time...only 1 cop behind it...and he had his lights on..but no siren... but this huge earthmover...kept on going...didn't stop... Next thing we know... is power is going out at the resteraunt... and now more police and even undercover police are racing down Grant road...
Later... of course we all find out it's a 14 year old boy who has ADD and other emotional/mental sorts of problems...and had just found out his family is moving out of town... and apparently, he didn't take this news to well....and stole this earthmover...and led the police on a 12 mile chase that ended up with the police having to shoot him..because once he got to an area where he couldn't go anymore... decided to throw the thing in reverse... and the cops... were all packed in behind...where they couldn't get manuevered around to get out of the way... so they had to shoot him.
It's too bad they had to...but.... this had plenty of opportunity to stop....and also, the whole ordeal could've been much worse.. he could've killed people in their cars... he could've rammed into a building or someone's house... or he could've backed over all those cops....hard telling what could've happened....
I haven't heard how the is...but last thing I did hear about him was he was paralized and was n a drug induced coma... ?? Haven't a clue what's going on with him now....
What a hard, hard lesson this had to learn...
it's sad.
Thankfully, though...no one else was hurt or killed....
So... during the Memorial day weekend and the week following... that's what happened in my part of the world... Pretty wild...huh?
|
|
|
1
comment
|
|
To link to this blog (slidein2meplz) use [blog slidein2meplz] in your messages.
|
|
|
| Sun |
Mon |
Tue |
Wed |
Thu |
Fri |
Sat |
| |
|
1
|
2
|
3
|
4
|
5
|
6
|
7
|
8
|
91
|
10
|
11
|
12
|
13
|
14
|
15
|
16
|
17
|
18
|
19
|
20
|
21
|
22
|
23
|
24
|
25
|
26
|
27
|
28
|
29
|
30
|
31
|
|
|
|
