Post-Birthday

It's one day past my birthday and since I haven't blogged in a quite a long time, what better time than now?

As I unwrap my red lindor chocolate eggs and pop them into my mouth to be melted slowly, I reminise about the past 4 days.  I was lucky to get Mar 18 & 19th off of work so I went to PG for an 'extended' weekend.  Thursday was fairly quiet.  I hung out with my dad as he had some days off, visited with my sister and her 'crickets', then shopped for new scrubs and new shoes.

(Me and the 'crickets').

Ok, guess the day wasn't too quiet.  My sister, Tenille, accompanied me to a store with scrubs I hadn't been to before.....what a selection! (http://www.scrub-inz.com/scrub-inz/)  I bought a cute "Alice in Wonderland" top, a butterfly/floral top, and black pants that don't even look like scrub pants.  I wore them all day yesterday, while shopping and in the house....so comfortable.  Trying these new stylish tops and bottoms kinda gave me some reassurance that I don't look too bad in them....these aren't frumpy like the others I first bought when entering the health field.  I also was successful in finding new running shoes by Saucony.

On Friday I did some errands and then at 5pm was picked up by my friend Diana and we bought tix for the 7:30pm "Alice in Wonderland" show and then met up with Brenda at The Keg for my 'pre-b'day' dinner.  It was fantastic!  I had the Filet Classic, medium well, with caesar salad, garlic mashed potatoes, and roasted veggies.  Afterwards because it was my b'day the waitress brought over a large piece of "Billy Miner's cake".  It was an ice-cream cake and sooooo delectable!  Man were we stuffed!  We had to walk around the block before heading to the theatre just so we weren't uncomfortable sitting in the theatre for almost 2 hours.

The movie was sold out so we sat on the side.  Good movie and fun to watch with the 3-D glasses on.  They weren't the usual red and blue paper ones though...they were identical to the eighties plastic black sunglasses. We looked good! (Diana wearing the glasses).

It was fun to hear the kids in the audience "ooooo" and "awwww" regarding the 3-D effects which I'm sure they've never seen before.  The first 3-D movie I saw was in Disneyland in either 1986 or 1987.  The movie was "Captain EO" with Michael Jackson.  That goes way back.

Saturday was my official b'day.  That was probably the quietest day out my whole long wknd.  Mom and I baked the creme de menthe cheesecake at 9am then went out later to bum around town.  At 5pm Caitlin, Brad and the 2 crickets came over for a pizza dinner and cheesecake.  I received some cards and a gift from them. 

Sunday was church, left overs for lunch, then left for BL at 2:30pm.  I'm bagged. 

So here's to year 31....may the road have less pot holes and frost heaves.

Life Change Update

Last Friday I received an email from the HR guy saying I wasn't eligible to 'bump' the position I was applying for. On the list of positions I was given, it was misleading, saying it was a Pharmacy Assistant position but with no classification behind the title (e.g. 1, 1A, 2 or 2A). I assumed it was a 1 or 1A but it turns out it was a 2. So with that my only hope to bump, I will most likely be taking the volunteer lay-off. My last day will be April 27th.

This coming Sunday, my dad will be coming to BL and load up a truck of my stuff from my storage space and take it to PG for storage in my parents' garage. (Bless their hearts!) Some good news is that I was able to donate my couch to a silent auction, donate my coffee & 2 end tables to a family in need, and possibly sell my kitchen table & chairs to a co-worker. That means less space needed for storage and others will be receiving some nice barely used furniture.

My feelings are mixed up right now regarding taking the lay-off....I'm happy for this opportunity to move to PG but am saddened to leave my good friends in BL. I do believe that when life closes a door, a window is opened and this may be my window.

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!