A Huge Life Change

Last Wed, my boss and I had a chat. Donna, my boss, asked me to have coffee with her at 915 but I said that's early, she said "That's ok, I need coffee". Ok, so I went to her office and what I thought was to be an early break, turned into a chat. She informed me that she just finished having a meeting with the HR guy and my position (1 FTE) is now been cut because of budget cuts. My position is now a 0.5 FTE (a.k.a 37.5 hr/week to a 17 hr/wk.). (Sigh.) I knew something like this was going to happen in the near future but neither of us knew what sort of change was going to happen.

I had a meeting the next week with the HR guy, my union rep and my boss to lay out the union's options regarding further employment after displacement. Options being: apply for an already vacant position, bump a junior position, go on the casual list, voluntary lay-off or termination of employment. My plan right now is to bump a 0.4 Pharm Tech position in PG and get on the casual list in pharmacy to pick up more hours.

I will send in my list of 'bumps' to HR on Monday. I don't know when I'll find out if I get the 0.4 position. If I do get it, I hope the amount of time for me to pack and give notice is sufficient.

This is quite the life change for me. I pray things go smoothly.

My Fujifilm Camera

Here is a pic of my camera that I purchased last April, courtesy of my income tax refund. In 2009 it was considered the "world's smallest 12x zoom". It's a pocket ultrazoom camera. I read online what the reviews were of the camera and everything looked to be good. I'm not a pro or even a novice when it comes to understanding digital cameras but I cannot seem to figure out how to not over-expose the pictures, figure out the lighting aspect of taking pictures, and the ISO and aperture lingo. I also have issues with grainy pictures.

Last night I did some research online regarding understanding the camera lingo and perhaps how to correct the over-exposure problem. I really didn't find any straight-cut answers but I did find a beginner's manual e-textbook. I'll give that a try. Hopefully that'll help.

In the meantime I have purchased another camera but quite a bit smaller and compact for the trips I will be taking this year. The Fuji camera is small but also bulky....it's not convenient to put into my purse for when I just want to walk around. The Fuji also has a fairly bulky camera case. I hope this next camera will be easy to use. I will admit to not researching much about it, but I can always return it. It's being shipped to me right now and I hope to have it this coming Monday. Since I didn't have to pay shipping/handling, I won't be at a loss if I have to return it.

Below is a pic of my new camera (and it will be red).

Well anyways, to end this blog entry....below is a very recent picture of my cat, Loomis. Yes she is on my parent's counter but she was watching and chirping at the birds through the window. (It's a cat thing.) The picture has nothing to do with my camera entry except that my camera did take a good picture of her.

Christmas 2009 - A Memory by Pictures

Christmas Eve after the church service, we went to Caitlin and Brad's place to open stockings and have sweet goodies. This is Saibry in her Christmas dress and Corbin....well....trying to reach the tree.
Christmas morning with mom opening her personalized digital scrapbook all about her. (Dad commissioned me to make it).
Dad with Metroid Prime 3 for the Wii from me. He gets a game every year either as a Christmas gift or by purchasing one on Boxing Day from Rodgers video. He takes a year to finish every game too.

Brad with his stylin' new tie from me....do I have good taste or what?!

I gave Caitlin a black and white plaid hat and scarf and watch.

Corbin, being such a big boy at 5 months (20 lbs), is very strong....he's lifting this gift (from me) all on his own!

Then he had to mash his face into it after opening it. Mmmmm plastic.

Saibry after opening her large pillow cat. She just woke up from her nap. I hope she enjoys it!

Here is our dinner family picture just before delving into the yumminess of Christmas turkey dinner. (Corbin is missing as he was sleeping).

An action shot for the evening gift opening. (Mom, Alicia, Tenille, Dave, and Cassidy)

Another action shot of the other side of the room. (Caitlin, Saibry, dad, Brad, Corbin and mom). Why aren't I ever in the pictures??

I made this gift. Each 4x6" picture is a letter of the alphabet. I ordered the letters from alphabetphotography.com. Brad & Caitlin's word is "FAITH".

Dave & Tenille's word is "UNITE"....great picture to go with it!

Saibry and Alicia goofing around.

And finally me receiving my Sirius satallite radio!

What a great Christmas! I think this years' Christmas was the BEST I can remember. Everyone was in a good mood, the food was great, watching everyone open their gifts from each other was fun, and having 2 little chillens ("children") around made it even better.

Now only 360 days until Christmas 2010! (But we won't think about that now!!)

Secret Santa Gift Exchange at Work

At work we also had a secret Santa gift exchange that went over quite well. There were 22 participants; up 8 from last year!! I received Christmas socks and a pumpkin & cinnamon oil infuser with reeds. Smells yummy!
The other participants.
This is Dolores. She received a total of about 5 lbs of m&m's and jelly bellys!! All her faves.
This is Jeremy from Lab. He was instructed to gown up before opening his gift.

He received 3 specimens complete with requisitions ordered by Dr. Santa. He had a swab, a urine sample, and a Clostridium Difficile (C Diff) sample. If you don't know what that is, check out this link: http://www.phac-aspc.gc.ca/id-mi/cdiff-eng.php It's quite gross really! (Sorry no pics available).

His real gift ended up being a bottle of beer from Yale, pretzels and a chocolate hockey advent calendar.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Christmas Decorating Contest at Work

Once again the hospital had a door/dept decorating contest. The pictures below show the enthusiasm of each dept. Check out the detail put forth!! This door belongs to the pharmacy dept (well sort of). I decorated it. I cut out all the snowflakes as well. Did you know there are patterns online for snowflakes?

This is my attempt at a panarama shot of the nurses' station.

This area belongs to the front office admin.

This door belongs to Medical Records. They won 2nd place.

The above 2 doors belong to the X-Ray Dept which turned into Santa's Workshop. This dept won first prize.

The above door belongs to Lab. It's a Charlie Brown Christmas.

And last but not least, this is Public Health.

Some of my Thinkings....

I'd say almost any female, at any age, has thought about what their wedding would look like, what dress they'd want to wear and who would be the groom.

Here's a link to my chosen dress, as of now:

http://www.kleinfeldbridal.com/index.cfm?pid=52&item_id=12107&rowid=5&page=1

It is from Kleinfeld in Manhattan, NY. I've recieved compliments from co-workers that this would suit me very well. Myself and some other girls were looking at the dresses at work, druing break of course. Do you have any thoughts?

Another thing I've been thinking about is what my next tattoo will look like. Where will it be on y body? I just became a fan of Kat Von D (tattoo artist in LA) on facebook. Her work is amazzzzzing!! Apparently she doesn't draw with colour much but rather black, grey and white. Take a look as this link....pay close attention to the water drop detail on the person's face. (Do you recognize the person?)

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=7919642&id=237437860453&fbid=237499365453

Now Corey Miller is also an amazing tattoo artist who works with Kat Von D. His work is also amazzzzzing!!

Check out his handiwork in this link. You'll be amazed but the picture is sad.

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=3619492&id=133715040020&fbid=138528535020

I had this random thought yesterday. This could be my all time trip of a lifetime. #1 - save up for a trip to LA and #2 save up for a custom tattoo done by either Kat or Corey. How about this....my youngest sister has voiced that she'd also like a tattoo one day....we could both go down there and have double tats done by either artist. Now that would be sick!!

I've had some thoughts on what my next one would be....either a portrait of my cat, Loomis, byt only done by a harsh portrait professional (Kat or Corey) and the other is a couple flowers and a vine to finish the honey bee one I have on my left ankle.

I'd love to hear comments from you about my thinkings. Feel free to share but please don't be too critical. :)