Week-End

This entire week has been such a waste of time! We have so many public holidays in this week that there are only two working days...for normal folks that is.

Monday - Public Holiday (I was off)
Tuesday - Work (half day then spa)
Wednesday - Work
Thursday - Public Holiday (I will be off)
Friday - Public Holiday (Working)
Saturday - Work (I will be working)
Sunday - Work (I will be working)

Because our company stipulated somewhere in their license agreement (15 years ago) that they will service the public 24/7/365 we're stuck working public holidays and weekends. I'm working Friday (alone), Saturday and Sunday (with one colleague's help). Balls.

Our anniversary was really nice. We spent the entire weekend at Boogaloo and Voldemort's house looking after their pets. Their pets are pretty high maintenance, one in particular. Their dog, Macy, has serious abandonment issues and requires attention 150% of the time. She also sleeps in the bed with them. Luckily Amber sleeps in bed with us so it is not something that freaks us out too much.

Rudi took me out to dinner on our anniversary. We ate at the Cattle Baron in Tableview. Rudi ordered champagne for us. He's never done that before. The food was really good and we enjoyed each other's company. We stayed at Boogaloo's house till Monday and headed home.

Yesterday I came in to work, but my team only worked till 12 so that we could venture off to our team reward at the spa.

There wasn't any food for us and we needed to wait quite long as they could only take 3 of us at a time for our full body exfoliation and hot stone massage. While we waited for the first group to come out we spent time in the sauna, steam room, jacuzzi and heated swimming pool. Swimming makes you hungry. There was a bowl of fruit, but fruit doesn't really satisfy my hunger for long periods of time. The massage was really good. I'm actually a little sore today, but that is to be expected.

I'm having a a lot of trouble motivating myself to work today. I'll be off tomorrow again, but it is my last day off for the next 8 days. I'm getting tired just thinking about it.

Now I am looking forward to our weekend away in Knysna. No disturbances, nobody wanting to drop by. I want to go and see the Knysna elephants and I'm sure Rudi will want to go and eat oysters by the ton (I can't stand the stuff...*shudder*).

I suppose if I don't finish my work now I'm going to regret it later.

Update:

OMG I feel like I've just seen a ghost! A lady that used to work with us who practically fell off the face of the earth just walked into our office. I haven't seen her in years! YEARS! We used to spend time together outside of work and got to know each other as friends, we weren't super close but we were friends. She then left the company and we never heard from her again. We spoke amongst ourselves (as little as one week ago) wondering aloud where she might be. Weird how that works.

Seriously?!

It is common knowledge in our office that Friday is crunch time. On a Friday all the portfolios try their utmost to complete the work till the latest hour possible to alleviate the work for the limited staff that work on weekends.

Every Friday for the last couple of weeks 'something' has come up and our supervisor has tasked us with extra work to do on a Friday. Granted, this probably comes from somewhere over his head, but we are simply not considered.

I was already feeling stressed out with all the responsibilities and work I had to finish by today. I worked really hard yesterday to finish as much as possible and felt that I could relax a little today as the majority of these tasks had been finished. That's not quite what they had in mind it would seem...

Again we have been given a massive task to finish by the close of business today. This was dropped in every one's lap this morning.

I am so grateful that it's long weekend and that I'm going to be able to relax and hopefully be spoilt by my husband (officially my husband for 1 year tomorrow, officially my partner for 7) on our anniversary.

I'm really looking forward to our anniversary (and some of our wedding cake, it was delicious a year ago - not 100% sure what defrosted wedding cake tastes like). I know that Rudi has something planned and I know that Boogaloo 'assisted' him with the plan, but I'm not at all sure what it is.

I don't want to get TOO excited about it, just to avoid disappointment. Rudi can be really romantic at times, but he rarely knows when he is doing something that I think is romantic....the result is that he has great difficulty planning romance.

Look at that...I'm in a better mood already.

Snowed Under

I must apologize for my absence. I am completely snowed under at work. My supervisor has assigned everybody tasks. I have two projects to complete for the course I'm doing. I was out of the office for one day and I need to finish my normal workload. I'm not even sure if I'll get everything finished by Friday (when everything is due), but I'm sure going to try.

No time for a long entry today, but I'm looking forward to going away for the weekend. We're house sitting for Boogaloo and Voldemort. It's our anniversary on Saturday and my team has re-arranged our public holidays so that I will also be off on Monday (which was not the case before), so I'll get to enjoy a long weekend.

We've defrosted the top layer of our wedding cake which we saved for the occasion and I can't wait to see what Rudi has up his sleeve because as far as I know him and Boogaloo have been concocting something (with a little bit of encouragement from me).

The two weddings we attended on Saturday were great. Melissa and Nadia looked gorgeous. We had a lot of fun. I started feeling ill in the evening and we left quite early. I cried as I said goodbye to Nadia. She is leaving for Holland with her new husband for 3 - 5 years. It's one thing not seeing her, it's a completely different thing not to be able to see her.

I've got a ton of work to do...wish me luck for my deadlines!

YMCA

As you can see from the picture, I am working with the Village People today. This guy is generally very funny, he makes me laugh. He has great comedic timing and a dry sense of humour that I can appreciate. He also tries his hand at physical humour at times which is hilarious. Someones phone will start ringing with some funky ring tone in the office and he'll jump out of his chair and start jiving like a dork. You have to see it! Maybe I'll get a video clip one day and post it.

Rudi is upset with me and it's thrown my entire day off. I suppose if it has done that I'm wrong - Yes, I can admit when I'm wrong - for those of you who weren't sure. I do think that he is overreacting and that he doesn't need to be concerned about what he is concerned about, but I have to respect his feelings and his point of view. I'll be trying to modify my behaviour to make him feel more and ease. We don't need any problems with so little time till our anniversary (26 April).

I'm on leave tomorrow and Monday with two jam packed days in between. I'm going to stay in my pyjamas tomorrow and watch movies and sleep as much as possible. I can't remember the last time I've been able to do that.

Here's to sloth!

I win!

I am all chuffed today. I beat the load shedding this morning. Eskom is right when they say it's easier if load shedding is scheduled. The first time it happened I was lost. I got soap in my eye and had nothing to light the candles with.

The second time it happened I had a lighter and some tea light candles which alleviated the problem. This morning when it happened I was already done! I got up 30 minutes earlier and did all the things I need light to do. I brushed my teeth, washed my face, brushed my hair, picked out my clothes and put make-up on. It was perfectly timed as the electricity switched off exactly when it was supposed to and I was done.

I then crawled back into bed for a 30 minute snooze while Rudi was getting ready in the dark. It pays to plan!

We also received a free gift from work today (pictured above). It's a book lamp which is awesome! I love to read and sometimes wish to read when Rudi wants to sleep. Rudi can't sleep if the light is on, or even if the bed lamp or TV are on. Now I should be able to read even if he wants to sleep.

My week is almost over. I took leave for Friday and Monday because my weekend ahead is so busy. Hopefully I can get some rest.

She's Psychotic

She's psychotic and if a car ran over her today I would not shed a tear.

No, I'm not referring to my mother, but rather a customer that just keeps coming back. This woman has been told time and time again that she is wrong and that we are right. Her query has travelled the entire company and the Internet (various complaint sites). Management gets sick of her threats and screaming and offers her compensation as 'gestures of goodwill' and sure enough she's back again.

I assisted this woman's husband with his original query and because it was taking long to resolve offered him compensation. This was a mistake. She's been back claiming the same problem ever since. I keep telling management to stop giving her 'free stuff' because she'll keep coming back. Why do anything else? She's getting all this free usage, why not complain again? Why not scream again? Like Dr. Phil always says 'You teach people how to treat you'. All we are teaching this lady is that if you scream enough and slander us enough on the Internet, we'll give you free stuff.

I will just follow management's orders to avoid a disciplinary hearing for insubordination. She'll be back. Mark my words.

Speaking of psychos, I suppose it's apt that I update you on what is happening with My Evil Mother. She is currently still sponging off of my aunt and uncle. Their child is sleeping on the floor to give the woman a bed. She's still with her boyfriend, Coke Head, who slept with someone we are kind of related to by marriage. She says she is fine with that. She now says she is just using him so she can get a lift to work, until she "gets on her feet" (FYI: She's been 'getting on her feet' for 3 years now). I'm so sick of it. My grandmother said to me this morning "You're going to have a big problem when she is old and needs someone to take care of her. She has no money saved, no pension, no future". Really? There are tons of government funded old age homes where I think she'll be really comfortable. Maybe I should send her some brochures to show her what her future will be like.

For the history of My Evil Mother, click here.

*i* in TEAM

Being in a team that is everything but a team is utterly frustrating. The team I work with on a day to day basis have a lot of conflicts and we fight a lot, but when things need to get done, we get them done. Our team is very much like a family. We have family dynamics within the team and the disagreements and fights are just part of our family life. So, regardless of whether or not we are always a happy team, we are a productive team.

I am part of another team which has made me very despondent. I was nominated by my line managers to take part in a programme for 'Young Achievers'. We attend a workshop once a month. The content of the courses are industry related and often veer towards the engineering aspect and architecture of the physical network. We have also touched on processes and finance over and above services and basic GSM.

The course content has been tough and we have been given individual assignments to complete. I have done very well on all the individual assignments and pride myself on not having copied from anyone else at the last minute as most have. I have tried my best to complete all the assignments competently.

The company is investing a lot of money in this group of people, working in conjunction with motivational speakers and flying professors from an university around to our different regions to lecture us. We have been divided into groups and been asked to come up with a new product or an enhancement to a product that is currently available. It doesn't necessarily need to have anything to do with our company, but everyone seems to be veering into that direction since the company is our main focus. Bear in mind that whilst being employed here we remain the intellectual property of the company. Yes, they are sneaky. Very sneaky indeed.

The team I have been assigned to has come up with an idea and has started with a business proposal. We were graded 75% for the initial proposal and have handed in 1 progress report. There are probably 3 out of 10 team members who have made an effort and contributed to this project. It is impossible to get the team together to meet. When meetings are scheduled well in advance nobody shows up. We currently have two members on maternity leave (one of which we've never seen, the other has contributed a great deal).

I don't think that our main project is going to be as good as it could be. I think the work we manage to slap together at the last minute is sub standard. I resent the fact that I will be graded based on the contribution of 3 people as opposed to the contribution of 10.

This is the first year that the programme has been run and it is yet undecided how the programme will be accredited. I hope that the accreditation will endure beyond this company though. The programme should be over in June this year. I hope my team pulls together before then.

Boogaloo

This is a photo of Boogaloo, as he looks now. I thought I'd post some eye candy for all! He's a hottie!

Memory Lane

Music is such an incredible medium. It has this ability, this effect on me that I can't explain. I am sure others are affected by music in a similair way. How else would we explain the multi billion dollar industry run by the music moguls?

I heard a song on the radio this morning which took me right back into a memory I hadn't recalled for quite some time. What set this apart from the other times that this has happened is that this was a fairly 'new' song. It wasn't the first song I slow danced to, or the first song a boy dedicated to me or a song that reminded me of a specific person. I've heard snippets of this song as cell phone ringtones and decided I like it, but I heard it for the first in it's entirety this morning. I completely zoned out and took a trip down memory lane.

I dusted off the manilla folder holding the memory and opened it up for a look. A smile touched my lips as I recalled that time in my life. I thought about how silly I was. A question I often pondered when I was younger was "How will I know when I am a woman. When exactly does a girl become a woman?". Now I'm married and I see myself doing more and more things that I saw 'women' doing when I was younger. I guess I've crossed that line at some point, but I cannot pin point when that happened.

I love the way my whole mood can change just by listening to music. I'm going to download that song for my phone right now.

PINK!

I love this colour nail polish. Rudi doesn't like it, he thinks it's too bright. I think it's lovely. It really makes a statement. What do you think?

Where is the week going?

Time has been flying this week. I've barely blinked and it's Wednesday again. The electricity was out again when I woke up this morning. It looks like our scheduled power cuts take place on Wednesday mornings between 6am and 8am. At least I had a lighter handy this morning to light some candles.

Nothing exciting happened over the weekend. I've managed to buy and wrap both wedding gifts for next weekend. I'm quite satisfied with how they look. I bought lovely wrapping paper covered with red roses, a golden bow and a card for each couple. The price of cards is insane these days! It is something people keep though, so I guess it's an investment.

Speaking of which, a consultant came to see us yesterday. He assisted me in taking out policies when I was 18 and he came across my number again. He is going to try and sort Rudi out as well. It's a good thing because Rudi's employer does not have a pension plan and I've been thinking about getting him covered for some time.

I'm working this weekend as well, but I have applied for leave next Friday and the following Monday so that I might get some rest even with the two weddings and the District Apostle service.

I have found something I live for. I absolutely LOVE snuggling! There is nothing better than snuggling up to someone (well, ok, Rudi) and I am learning to appreciate it all over again. I suppose that might be because it's getting colder in the mornings and I'd rather snuggle than get out of bed!

My work is piling up, so I guess I need to get started on that.

So tired

I really wish I could come up with more catchy headings for my posts. Especially since they are flashing on my awesome headline animator. *sigh*

It's finally weekend and I'm really tired. I feel like I could hit the hay as soon as I get home at 16:30. Maybe I should take a nap and get up later to socialize. Actually that might be a bad idea because I usually wake up grumpy.

Somehow I don't get any rest on a weekend. It's the only time I get time off from work, but I generally feel just as tired on a Monday as I did on Friday. I feel like I need a week of leave. Just doing NOTHING. It seems like a waste of leave, really. It's not like I don't get time off...I get weekends off, some weekends at least.

There are talks of us having to work 'shifts' again. I've only recently moved to a department that doesn't work shifts. I've been working shifts since 2000 up until 2007. Somehow having time off in the week just gives you so much more REST. It also gives you the ability to do things that aren't really convenient to do on the weekend like going to the bank.

The department is up in arms about this looming change, but I'm not sure how much good it will do. I'm completely torn about this. On the one hand I feel like I'll be more rested. On the other hand I'll lose the majority of my off weekends. Working shifts is balls for spending time with your loved ones. One person in our department nearly lost his wife because of shift work, they are now back together as he is working office hours. It can really cause problems in your relationship.

I've run out of time! Be back Monday!

Load Shedding

I was a victim of load shedding yesterday morning. You don't really appreciate electricity until you don't have it. It is the first time I've been affected by load shedding since the 'power crisis' has ravaged our country and our economy. For those who do not live in South Africa and don't know what load shedding is...well...the company that supplies electricity to our country cannot supply the demand so they have implemented scheduled power cuts in certain areas at certain times to save power as they feel the public have not done enough to conserve during the crisis. If you need to know more, just Google 'Eskom' with any swear word.

The power went out the moment I opened my eyes. As winter is setting in it is already dark in the mornings. I found candles easily enough, but had nothing to light them with. I used the flash of my cell phone camera to navigate through the house and managed to get soap in my eye somehow. The soap decided to settle underneath my contact lens and a battle ensued.

Load shedding seems to be part of what it means to live in South Africa and something everybody needs to deal with so I'm not going to cry about it anymore.

Rudi and I had a huge fight this morning at approximately 2:00. I'm working on around 3 hours of sleep and feel like I could fall asleep sitting up. We've kissed and made up now (via SMS since we're both at work), but what he did is unacceptable and I hope he's realized I won't stand for it.

I've got a meeting to go sleep in....Zzzzzzzzzzz

Wedding Dilemma

I've got lots of work to do so I won't prattle too much.

Rudi and I have been invited to two weddings on the same day. It sucks so much because we really want to attend both weddings. We already accepted the first invitation we received. Everyone has, however, been waiting for the second couple to get married for about 8 years. The wedding has been eagerly anticipated and it completely sucks that we can't make both. The ceremony of the first couple begins at 15:30, the ceremony of the second couple begins at 14:00. The second couple are the same denomination as I am and I would love to attend there ceremony, even if I don't get to attend their reception. Sounds perfect? Maybe. The last two weddings I have been to the brides have been 45 minutes and an hour late respectively. I could attend the first ceremony and the second ceremony and reception if the first bride isn't late. The chances of that aren't excellent.

I will attempt to go to both weddings. I will also make sure of the location of the first couple's wedding as it is quite a distance from where we live and it might take a while to get there after the first ceremony.

Hmph. Why is the 19th of April such a popular wedding date?!