Tuesday

The Best of September - Horror Stories From Advertising

I took a little drive this week. My home business has been booming... to the point I have to schedule with my local clients when I can come by to do pickups. This week I had 3 jewelers to visit on the South-West side of town, so I decided that once I was done collecting the repairs I would drop by my old company and hand-deliver Halloween party invites to my friends who still work for the agency.

I tend to drop in about once a month to have lunch with some of the gang anyways - but that usually consists of me coming in the front doors and then going down a hall and into one room. This week I made rounds throughout the whole place (with expressed permission from the all-important powers-that-be). I wandered around as though I had never left - chatting with people and just catching up. It was great to actually have time to stop and not feel rushed by my schedule.

Not surprisingly - there were many nervously whispered queries about my recent post regarding the state of the company. People wanted to know what I know - beyond what I would write here. Looking back at previous posts... I feel comfortable saying that I trusted my gut instinct the whole time I worked there. I just KNEW things were amiss at that place, beginning when I a temp-to-hire and I was called a racist for calling my college roommate Masami (The Boss thought it was a nickname - until I told her it was actually my roommates' name), and continued to have a bad feeling due to the inappropriate behavior of management and their lack of managerial skills, then because some smaller core clients were being ignored because a certain blonde control freak kept bending over and taking it up the ass trying to make bigger paying clients happy, then when my husband and I had our jobs threatened because we wanted to leave work on time one Friday because we had both put in 56 hours that week and were just mentally fried, then when I worked until 2 in the morning the night before I went on vacation to save The Boss' job, and many others you can check out through the course of this blog's history... the signs have been around for a long time.

There was a Friday night I can remember back in August of 2007 - where the department I worked in had put up with a full week of bitching from The Boss. At the end - I think we had all been cornered and screamed at a minimum of two times each. We needed BEER. Everyone went to a local bar - and started drinking (silently at first). Finally someone said to me, "It must be great knowing that you'll be able to quit soon." They were right - - my husband had left the company already, management knew I wasn't far behind, and really we were at the point I didn't need to work anymore but I just didn't have the heart to leave things undone. I told everyone at the table that night that the company would be falling on hard times very soon and they needed to jump ship and get planted in a new company before they didn't have a choice. Of all of the people at the table - I have been the only one to quit in the past year.

Can you guess who pulled me aside to pick my brain and get advice this week?

Three people from my old department.

All of them nervously whispered to me - checking over their shoulders to see if The Boss was watching. One person was close to tears... another was just frustrated with the aggressive recent changes and the new expectations on remaining employees. The overall feeling I was receiving while walking around was nervousness - the kind that makes the air feel charged with an uncomfortable energy.

I told everyone to just trust their instincts because I have no advice to give. My advice came out over a year ago and now it may to late to heed it.

Thursday

Oh Hell Yeah

So I just did my first Weigh & Measure since I started my new diet program. I'm down 3.5 lbs. this month - so a grand total of just under 10 lbs. since I started working out in May. Oh - and I'm down 14.5 inches!!!

Right now I can't keep my pants up without a belt - and all of my shirts look huge on me.

While all of that is fine and good... I can't get over how fantastic I FEEL! I can actually ride my bike uphill (steep uphill) for over a mile and not stop - I can tie my shoes without gasping for air - I can hike as fast as my husband, I can jog without knee pain... you get the point.

Right now I am only 15 lbs. from what I weighed when I got married! I've started pulling down the designer clothes I held on to from when I lived in Arizona - a few of the skirts fit again - and the jeans and blouses are getting VERY close.

Patriot Day - Never Forget

In the United States, Patriot Day occurs on September 11 of each year, designated in memory of the nearly three thousand who died in the September 11, 2001, attacks. Most Americans refer to the day as "Nine-Eleven (9/11)," "September 11th," "Nine-one-one," or some variation thereof.

U.S. House of Representatives Joint Resolution 71 was approved by a vote of 407-0 on October 25, 2001. It requested that the President designate September 11 of each year as "Patriot Day." President George W. Bush signed the resolution into law on December 18, 2001 (as Public Law 107-89). It is a discretionary day of remembrance.

Initially, the day was called the National Day of Prayer and Remembrance for the Victims Of the Terrorist Attacks on September 11, 2001.

On September 4, 2002, President Bush used his authority created by the resolution and proclaimed September 11, 2002, as Patriot Day. He has continued to make similar declarations every year since.

On this day, the President directs that the American flag be flown at half-staff and displayed from individual American homes, at the White House, and on all U.S. government buildings and establishments, home and abroad. The President also asks Americans to observe a moment of silence beginning at 8:46 A.M. (Eastern Daylight Time) marking the first plane crash on September 11, 2001.

NEVER FORGET!

Saturday

Identity Crisis

I'm sitting here giggling uncontrollably right now because my dog is attempting to play with two of the cats. The cats are climbing all over their jungle gym - then jumping down and running around the perimeter - then scampering up to the dog with their tails fluffed up - until the dog responds. Then the two cats run away as fast as they can and climb to the top of the jungle gym and stare down at the dog.

I can tell my Greyhound really wants to play - but doesn't understand how to climb on the little platforms like the cats. Too cute.

Wednesday

Que?

What the fuck, over? I have a Spanish auto advertisement rotating on my ad space in this blog! In case their little bots didn't catch it - my opinion is as follows:

IF YOU'RE GOING TO LIVE IN AMERICA - FUCKING SPEAK ENGLISH.

My grandparents did it when they came from Norway and Russia. My college roommate did it when she moved here from Japan. Hell, even my friend Ritchie's dad did it when he moved here from Mexico. I don't think it's necessary to cater to a population that doesn't have respect for the system of becoming a citizen by knowing the language and learning American culture (I don't care where you're from, either - China, Russia, Korea, Sweden, Spain, Africa, Italy, etc).

ARRGH!!!