Last night K tells me his quarterly meeting is being held in Hawaii in July and spouses are invited. His schedule has changed and he will not be spending the month in St. Louis so he’s attending the meeting. K asks me if I want to go. I tell him I’d love to go but I don’t have any time off. Being a contract worker means I have to request time off at least three months in advance. So K gets to spend a week in Hawaii while I toil away at work in Denver.
Archive for May, 2011
Aloha
Posted in my life on May 27, 2011| 2 Comments »
Updates 5/25/11
Posted in friends, my life, work on May 25, 2011| 3 Comments »
The new tile for the kitchen backsplash has arrived but it will not be installed until June. I didn’t want to start a kitchen project before K’s business dinner at our house. I still need to buy a stainless steel refrigerator. I’ve been watching the sales and I bet this weekend there will be one I like on sale.
Work is stressful again this week. I was given some of T’s work because she told our manager she was overwhelmed. I’ve been working at home as much as possible in order to avoid her bad moods.
Cindi’s business is having a record year. It’s on track to pull in seven figures this year. Last weekend she worked on a million dollar wedding. The décor budget was $200,000. Cindi told me she thought the bride’s mother was trying to bankrupt her husband. In addition to spending a million on the wedding the bride’s parent’s donated two million to the school where the wedding was held. This must be a really swanky school because the tuition is 65k a year and it’s a K-8.
My mother is doing better. She’s doing three more forty-five minute radiation session for the new tumor on her lung. She needs to quit smoking but wants to wait until after the radiation sessions are finished this week.
My brother and SIL are pressuring me to visit. It looks like I’ll be going to St. Louis in June. I dread the hot humid weather. I really don’t want to go but I know I need to visit. I’m trying to prepare for seeing my mother frail and bald but I know I’ll be shocked. At least it’s only a weekend trip.
Question Of The Day
Posted in my life on May 19, 2011| 3 Comments »
How would you feel if your husband, wife or significant other invited nine peers and their husband, wife or significant other to your house for a business celebration dinner but did not consult you first?
It’s A Tough Life
Posted in friends, my life on May 13, 2011| 1 Comment »
It was a long tough week at work. I’m working with a developer who is a bit odd and lacks personality. I’ve never worked with this guy before so I’m not used to his ways. The project is complex and I’ve found a lot of mistakes in his code. I’m not trying to make him look bad but the number of issues with his work points to a lack of attention to details.
I headed to the gym around three for a workout. A good long workout was needed to relieve the stress of the week. I finished my cardio workout a little before 5 and headed to locker room to wash my hands and retrieve my backpack from the locker. Scotty has just finished his workout so we gathered our belongings and walk out together.
On the way to our cars Scotty told me he and his partner had to attend the birthday dinner for one of the rich guys that bought the mansion in our neighborhood. He was dreading going but had excused himself from too many dinner invitations so he had to go. I found this rather odd. Scotty doesn’t mind flying on private jets that the rich gays charter but sitting through an expensive dinner they were paying for was a burden. I should have such troubles.
I didn’t see Scotty’s Mercedes convertible sport car in the parking lot so I assumed he parked in the garage. Scotty stops at black Range Rover and asks if I want to see his new car. He goes on and on about the features. I couldn’t help but wonder if one really needs air conditioned seats. Then he tells me he wants to trade his two year old 5 series BMW for a new one because he likes the new body style better. He doesn’t want to trade in the Mercedes because he likes driving a convertible when the weather is nice.
It‘s a good thing Scotty’s oncologist husband has gone back to work. Scotty is being forced into retirement in June because of budget cuts in the school district he works for. I doubt his pension will pay for all the toys.
Can She Ever Be Happy?
Posted in family on May 9, 2011| 1 Comment »
A week or so ago I brokered a peace settlement between my sister and my mother because I got tired of my mother complaining about my sister not calling. My sister claims my mother hung up on her back in December and my mother doesn’t remember doing it. I got them to wipe the slate clean and start fresh. My sister and my mother agreed to not bring up the past. My sister now calls my mother. Wonders never cease.
The other day I’m talking to my mother and she starts bitching about the conversations she’s having with my sister. It seems that my sister talks about her life and doesn’t ask how my mother is doing. Every phone conversation I had with my sister is about her life. She’s always been self centered. Why did my mother think she had changed? My mother bitched about my sister not calling for four months and now my mother is bitching about what they talk about. I wanted to tell my mother to put on her big girl pants and learn how to control a conversation but I held back.
I called my mother on mother’s day. My parents were spending the day at my brother’s house. The goal of the day was to get my mother to eat. My mother told me she was looking forward to getting a good meal. She then started to criticize my father’s cooking. He could just buy her Arby’s or Burger King every day but he’s making an attempt to cook. My mother can’t be grateful that my father is cooking for her. My mother has to be a bitch and complain about his culinary choices. Once again I held back since it was mother’s day.
I don’t think my mother can ever be happy. My brother told me she complained to him because I’ve been nagging her about eating. I wasn’t surprised. My mother will never discuss an issue but will complain to a third party instead. I don’t think my mother can ever be happy unless has something to bitch about. How sad is that?
Updates 5/6/2011
Posted in family, friends, my life on May 6, 2011| 1 Comment »
I can’t believe host fast the work week flew by. It’s Friday afternoon and I’m bored. Most of the office took the day off so I’m monitoring my email while waiting for code to be delivered. K will be working most of the weekend on a project bid in Kuwait so we don’t have any plans other than going to Aimee and Steve’s for an early dinner on Sunday.
K and I had dinner with Cindi last Thursday. Cindi had just returned from a road trip through southern Colorado and New Mexico with the guy she’s been seeing. The guy was teaching skiing in Winter Park but has gone home to England. He’ll be leading bike tours through Austria this summer. He’s hoping to return in the fall to teach skiing in Vail. While at dinner Cindi told us her house is in foreclosure. She assured K and me that it was all a mistake caused by a payment that was lost when the bank bought the mortgage company holding the note. She’s turned the matter over to her attorney and doesn’t seem too concerned about the matter.
My mother will have her first CyberKnife radiation treatment on Monday. The treatment consists of three treatments. Each treatment lasts forty minutes. Hopefully, she’ll be on the mend soon.
Tom and Sheila are flying to New York on Sunday to meet with Tom’s new editor and sign the book contract. The book will be published in the second half of 2012.
The pond reconstruction went better than expected. The pond still needs a few landscape finishing touches.
Our tile guy, Dmitri, came by this week to give me a bid on replacing the back splash. The installation will cost more per square foot than the tile. Dmitri emigrated from Russia around the time the Soviet Union fell apart. He’s got a chemical engineering degree but does tile work and glass blowing. For some unexplained reason his degree is not recognized in U.S.
That’s it for now. Have a great weekend.
What Else Could Go Wrong?
Posted in Uncategorized on May 3, 2011| 1 Comment »
My mother has been through a lot in the last two weeks. She had another CT scan because the previous scan showed a spot on her brain. The follow up scan was clean so she doesn’t have brain cancer. My mother came down with shingles and is in the final stages of healing. The doctor put my mother on an antidepressant. My mother’s hearing is getting worse. She’s not eating and stays in bed all day. My father told me that my mother can barely walk from the bedroom to the kitchen. Her muscles have atrophied and she doesn’t want in-home physical therapy. She has decided to have CyberKnife radiation to treat the new tumor on her lung. My SIL told me that my mother would not qualify for surgery since she is too weak.
If things don’t change my mother will die soon. She’s wasting away. She’s afraid to die but is doing nothing to try to stay alive. It’s a shame.
The Corporate Slave 