My rant for the day.

Today I figured I'd go on my rant. 

Yesterday Obama came out with a proposal to put a pay freeze on Federal Employees for the next 2 years.  Now before you jump to assumptions, my rant is not that Obama has done this, or proposed it.  Heck, not that I necessarily agree with it, but it is not surprising to me in the least.  Especially in the situation with the "your awful"/ "Obama" is the new 4 letter word, world we unfortunately live in with the nasty comments from the public Republicans (those on tv/radio, not the everyday person) who spew lies constantly.  Anywho, that's a rant for another time, this rant actually has only a little to do with that. 

Point....As a Federal Employee, I don't really think we (all Federal Employees) have much of a leg to stand on when complaining about a pay freeze.  My reasons:

1.  I know that we are well taken care of in our jobs.  The economy is not good, not that it isn't getting better, but it's still not good.  We are not the first to have a pay freeze.  We should Thank God and our country for our jobs, and that they are fairly secure.  We have good benefits.  We have all of this in a country where so many people are unemployed, have lost jobs, or have had pay freezes for the last 2-3 years.  State employees have had pay freezes for the last 2 years in many states.  Heck, Social Security hasn't had a cost of living increase this last year and won't for 2011 either.  Again, we should be thankful we have a job and get paid.  It is not a right to get a cost of living increase, it is a privilege.  Yes, it is a necessity ultimately, but a freeze for a couple of years, will not break us. 

2.  I haven't heard it yet, but I tell you if I do...I will not be a happy person.  I do hear grumblings about this pay increase, but if I hear them from those who have touted that the Government needs to cut spending then I will blow a gasket.  WE ARE THE GOVERNMENT, you cannot have your cake and eat it too.  If you want the government to cut spending, because of the flawed logic that that is the "only" fix (I personally believe it needs to be a mix of cutting spending and increasing income, like any other budget balancing), then you need to realize that one of the ways to cut spending is to cut personal and salaries...one of the biggest expenses of any business.  You cannot be upset....I don't want to listen to it.  Again I haven't heard this specifically, but I'm just saying, I don't want to. 

Don't get me wrong, I'd love a pay raise/cost of living increase, and if I don't get one for 4-5 years, then there will be a problem, because inflation will just surpass us, but I don't feel I can complain when there are people without homes/food etc.  I am fortunate and so thankful for my life and really want others who are not in a financial mess to stop and take a min to step back and look at things from outside their life and realize how good their life is and be Thankful. 

Do I actually think this will help the federal budget?

Maybe that will be a topic for another day.  Please be Thankful!

Love all!

Thanksgiving and the weekend

I trust everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving.  My Thanksgiving day started at 9pm Wednesday night, thank you midnight shifts.   It was all good, I at least I got to be home for Thanksgiving. 

Thanksgiving dinner was wonderful, and I looked forward to it for so long!!!!  I got to have homemade dinner rolls, Turkey, Pineapple casserole, fruit salad...etc. It was all so wonderful!! 

After a long day, I passed out around 10pm and slept for 12 hours. Friday my mom and I did a little black Friday shopping, but we aren't hardcore, we started at 11:30am.  We got some Christmas gifts and were on our way.  We also got the Christmas Tree up Friday night and started sewing on my new Christmas tree skirt.  Good times. 

It was a very productive weekend, but tiring.  I need some time to relax, and I won't really get that until the end of the week.  Super tired. 

Much love...December will be here soon.

Realization....

Each time I driven around the past couple of days, I notice that more and more people have their Christmas lights on.  My personal thought is that Christmas lights/music etc. can wait their turn...until after Thanksgiving.  So that was my thinking when I see all of these lights turned on...why can't these people just wait until after Thanksgiving.  ----Delving deep in my mind...."Christmas is ages away, as is Thanksgiving"---- Well obviously I'm having troubles with "feeling" the date of the season.  Cause this evening while on my way to band, I realized that ...OH... Thanksgiving is like 36 or less hours away, so it's really not that early that people are turning Christmas lights on....ok then. 

Sometimes holiday's don't feel like holiday's until your mind has the ability to rationalize and realize the fact, or get over the hump of whatever else is clouding the mind.  I'm not sure what mine is this week...likely work.

I'm Thankful for all of my Family! I love you all!

The joys of being a weathergirl

Well today, this morning really, was a perfect example of why sometimes it is just SO difficult to be a weather forecaster.  Don't get me wrong, I absolutely love it all, but the weather doesn't always play by my rules, well never plays by my rules really.  This morning we had a front going through the area, I watched the temperature increase in the middle of the night by 14 degrees in 10 minutes...that's a strong warm front.  However, this little front wasn't ever quite sure what it wanted to do and wavered across the area for the remainder of my shift.  Then just before I left it decided...heck lets get moving back south.  So...what does this mean, well with about 20 min to go on my shift, low clouds and fog moved back in and the temperature dropped mostly back to 44 degrees.  My goal with each shift is to do my best and leave a good forecast for the next forecaster, so I tried to amend and update the forecast as best I could with 20 min left to my game.  Needless to say, I felt like I'd left the day shift with a crap forecast and that never makes me feel good.  We have all dealt with this front for the past 3 days, but wanting to do the best, is just hard when the fronts of the world are out to get you.  I tried. 

On the upside, today should be an easier day. 

Love!

1 year

A year ago this weekend I moved into my home and spent the first night.  I closed a couple weeks prior, but used that time to paint and get other things moved.  That weekend and week leading up to it, was insanely busy as I tried to get everything ready for the move.  I worked a couple midnight shifts and moved and hardly slept, but that seems to be a theme in my life. 

It's hard to believe that it's been a year since I moved.  This house has been wonderful, and I love having my own home.  My mom has helped me decorate a lot of the home, with not only things on shelves etc., but curtains, bedspreads etc.  There's still plenty to be done, and now that I'm going to be here for a little while longer, I do hope to finish the basement, which will be more fun. 

Biggest moment: Probably the biggest moment was having 5-7 inch hail pound my home, which damaged the roof, gutters and my screens on the back of the house.  Dealing with the insurance was an experience.

Favorite moment: Decorating for Christmas last year...and I am so excited and looking forward to the same in the next couple of weeks.  Plus, I won't be moving at Christmas, so the house will actually be all Christmasy.  Fun. 

It's been a great year. 

Love

Skype

I've been skyped....

I've heard of this skype thing for a long time, but without the "need" I haven't ever signed up.  With someone finally requesting to chat with me, and a great way to talk to Mary-Beth who just headed way way up north, I signed up.  We've had a good time chatting via video chat.  It really is a great free technology. 

The video chat takes me about 7 years back when I first did video chat with my parents from England.  At that time, there was no Skype, and MSN video chat was the video chat method of choice.  The camera was a specially built separate entity that sat somewhere in the room where I could get enough light to make me visible.  I was connected via dial-up Internet with a VERY slow connection.  Needless to say it did the job, I got to see my parents and they got to see me, but it is nothing like is present now. 

  I can only imagine the ability to chat internationally now...heck my video chats now are coming from a camera built into the laptop and we're chatting over 6000 miles away from each other.  The speed is pretty good and other than a few "freezing" moments every now an then, it's almost like Mary-Beth is in the room.  Heck, I could even video chat on my cell phone if I really wanted to....oh the technology. 

  Skype...oh how long a way we've come....thank you for free services!

Love

Pretty Picture

Pretty flower from the Beautiful Bouquet my parents sent me to congratulate me on my new promotion at work.

Not sure where life's gone

Well It's been just about a year since my last post...I'm sure everyone...all zero of you that check this have missed me greatly.  Stories of life....hmmmm. 

This week has been insane! Between working the short term, Aviation desk and meetings, on top of all my other projects, I'm exhausted.  Thanks to the snow and rain mix yesterday for keeping me extra busy.  And a sincere thanks to the nice weather today for allowing my manic meeting day to go off without much of a hitch.  And thank you finally to the Lead on duty who was flexible to allow me to accomplish all that I needed, and trusted me to get what was needed done.  It's those people that make the job possible. 

My adventure for the week is driving my dad's full-sized super cab truck around Wichita.  I'm use to my small car, and this is by no means small.  I don't have any problems driving it, I've driven my dad's pickup's for many many years, but the size is just so much different.  I feel like I could crush anything that comes in front of me.

Question.

Why do they make garages barely big enough to fit a truck, let alone 2 cars?
I have a 2 car garage that barely allows the pickup to fit...with about 6 inches to spare split between the front bumper and the back bumper.  Talk about having two cars in there, that's not possible.  Good thing I'm not married or living with anyone, they'd have to park in the driveway.  Silly construction to maximize profit, not usability. 

Love