We lost a very precious man over the weekend, Uncle Mike. Uncle Mike is my Dad's baby brother, and the last of five brothers from a family of nine siblings. He was the most adorable kind man, and he will be missed terribly.
Uncle Mike had been diagnosed with prostate cancer years ago, and typical treatment is a "wait-and-watch" approach, especially in elderly men, because prostate cancer is a slow-growing cancer. Unfortunately, the cancer invaded Uncle Mike's bladder, and a couple of years ago had to undergo the removal of the prostate and bladder which meant he had to wear a bag. This was so hard for him because Uncle Mike was always, always, always an active man who loved to hunt and fish and tinker in his "shop" in the garage. He and Aunt Dot would have been married 62 years on July 4th, and when I last spoke to him on Father's Day, he sounded really great. What we didn't know was that his lungs were apparently filling up with fluid and his body was starting to shut down his kidneys...he was 88 years old.
I am grateful that my cousins "shared" Uncle Mike and Aunt Dot with the rest of us who had lost our parents. I realized that my memories with Uncle Mike and Aunt Dot are longer in time than with my parents who never got to see my two kids. My kids are very saddened by the loss because they love Uncle Mike and Aunt Dot and always enjoyed talking with them, especially about the old days.
If there is truly a somewhere after the now, then I hope that Uncle Mike has a joyous reunion with my parents and his other siblings and parents and friends. I cannot imagine otherwise for such a wonderful soul. Love you, Uncle Mike.
Monday, June 28, 2010
Sunday, June 27, 2010
Pets and Plants
So, I went on a job interview Friday evening. The reason I went at that late time was to ensure that the person already in the role would not see me...sly, eh? It wasn't my idea, but what the heck, right?
The job was in biotechnology CEO's house about 30 miles north of where I live now in the upscale, and uphills of the northern part of our county. So, just for the fun of it, I dragged my son with me to do a "dry run" of the route the day before my meeting...such a good idea. The majority of the trip was fine, mostly on paved, main roads that had a lot of hills, but did I mention that they were paved MAIN roads?
We found the turn-off road (after a couple of missed times), read the "cattle crossing" sign and the "one lane road" sign and headed up the mountainous dirt road. It's a very good thing I had an AWD vehicle...it was an awful experience until we found the road (paved) where the CEO's house was located. As we made our way DOWN the mountain on the other side of the one-lane, dirt, cattle-crossing road, we encountered a rather large pickup truck towing a trailer with a mower on the back. I squeezed as close to the right side of the "road" as I could, and decided then and there, this job was so not worth it.
When my son and I got home and explained the trip to my husband, he suggested that perhaps there was another way to get to the good CEO's paved road, so we whipped out a county map and lo and behold, there was! So I figured, why not go for the meeting...what am I doing anyway, right? I leave myself an hour to do the 30-mile drive just in case I'm looking at another unpaved mountainous route. The new access road was about 2.5 miles north past the original one, and it was paved, although not clearly marked, so I missed it on the first pass. It was a lot easier to get to the CEO's paved road, but it was a long road and had a lot of ups and downs, past beautiful fields. I turn into the driveway and am greeted by a huge poodle who felt the need to stay extremely close to the car as I was parking it (kill the owner's dog...good for a first impression, no?). As I turned to look for the huge poodle, there he was, anxiously waiting for me to leave the car, with his paws on my driver's side window...sooo cute!
Fortunately, I love dogs, so it wasn't too bad, and when I met the little Scottie who was airborne with excitement, I thought, "hmmm...the guy has pets...good sign." I went up to the open front door and knocked as the dogs did laps in and out of the house. Wafting out of the house was heat and a smell I can only compare to a closed up museum...we're talking about 40 years of being closed up. The CEO motions for me to come in as he's talking on the phone, and I enter a HUGE great room (or is it a GREAT huge room) where there is a bison head over the massive fireplace and museum quality stagnant air and furniture. I believe there were other stuffed animals, but the heat and the smell was very distracting.
As the CEO, dressed in shorts and a polo shirt (that's Ralph Lauren's Polo brand polo), greeted me, I saw a 70-ish pleasant-looking man who apologized profusely because he would only have about 15-20 minutes to talk to me on account of the dinner party he was hosting at his home like soon. We walked out to a beautiful patio with a cool cat, flowers and other plantings and so many bees and wasps buzzing about...I hate bees and wasps, and he launched into his questioning of my skills including how fast did I type. Fast??? I told him I've been typing since dirt was invented, and had no way of knowing. He did a quick look at my resume, and asked me a bit more about my experience...rushing me through my answers, by the way, and then I asked him why was he seeking to replace the person who currently had the role. He went on that she was very nice and he liked her, but she was young and inexperienced in the ways of a professional office, and she did not understand what the word "privvy" meant or what "shuttle" meant when he asked her to look into a NY-to-Boston shuttle. I defended her inexperience and said that she needs experience to be experienced, but for him, he did not have the patience to be that guy, know what I mean?
Then came the $64 question from him, how much did I want to make in the job...and I went to the high end of the salary scale that was posted because I felt with my experience and with the trip, that would be fair. That's when he told me that they were on "thin ice" with regard to funding, and that they would only be able to pay $20,000 less than that top figure for now...with no other benefits like medical insurance, etc. Right.
So then I asked him what were his expectations in terms of the person in the role, and he went through the usual junk which was fine (I had already figured, "no way, Bub") until he added that the person would be expected to water all his plants and...wait for it...take his pets to the vet's for their checkups...huh? I said, are you kidding? He never really answered THAT question. As the meeting came to a close, he apologized again for the hurried push, but that he would definitely call me because he'd like to talk more and show me the offices, etc.
Bottom line for me: I take care of ONE household's pets...my own...and so I'm breaking up with him before we get too serious...am I right? Even if he paid me the full friggin' salary and threw in all the insurance benefits, I wouldn't do it, especially after having to drive by way of the Big Rock Candy Mountain.
So, my search goes on...gawd!
The job was in biotechnology CEO's house about 30 miles north of where I live now in the upscale, and uphills of the northern part of our county. So, just for the fun of it, I dragged my son with me to do a "dry run" of the route the day before my meeting...such a good idea. The majority of the trip was fine, mostly on paved, main roads that had a lot of hills, but did I mention that they were paved MAIN roads?
We found the turn-off road (after a couple of missed times), read the "cattle crossing" sign and the "one lane road" sign and headed up the mountainous dirt road. It's a very good thing I had an AWD vehicle...it was an awful experience until we found the road (paved) where the CEO's house was located. As we made our way DOWN the mountain on the other side of the one-lane, dirt, cattle-crossing road, we encountered a rather large pickup truck towing a trailer with a mower on the back. I squeezed as close to the right side of the "road" as I could, and decided then and there, this job was so not worth it.
When my son and I got home and explained the trip to my husband, he suggested that perhaps there was another way to get to the good CEO's paved road, so we whipped out a county map and lo and behold, there was! So I figured, why not go for the meeting...what am I doing anyway, right? I leave myself an hour to do the 30-mile drive just in case I'm looking at another unpaved mountainous route. The new access road was about 2.5 miles north past the original one, and it was paved, although not clearly marked, so I missed it on the first pass. It was a lot easier to get to the CEO's paved road, but it was a long road and had a lot of ups and downs, past beautiful fields. I turn into the driveway and am greeted by a huge poodle who felt the need to stay extremely close to the car as I was parking it (kill the owner's dog...good for a first impression, no?). As I turned to look for the huge poodle, there he was, anxiously waiting for me to leave the car, with his paws on my driver's side window...sooo cute!
Fortunately, I love dogs, so it wasn't too bad, and when I met the little Scottie who was airborne with excitement, I thought, "hmmm...the guy has pets...good sign." I went up to the open front door and knocked as the dogs did laps in and out of the house. Wafting out of the house was heat and a smell I can only compare to a closed up museum...we're talking about 40 years of being closed up. The CEO motions for me to come in as he's talking on the phone, and I enter a HUGE great room (or is it a GREAT huge room) where there is a bison head over the massive fireplace and museum quality stagnant air and furniture. I believe there were other stuffed animals, but the heat and the smell was very distracting.
As the CEO, dressed in shorts and a polo shirt (that's Ralph Lauren's Polo brand polo), greeted me, I saw a 70-ish pleasant-looking man who apologized profusely because he would only have about 15-20 minutes to talk to me on account of the dinner party he was hosting at his home like soon. We walked out to a beautiful patio with a cool cat, flowers and other plantings and so many bees and wasps buzzing about...I hate bees and wasps, and he launched into his questioning of my skills including how fast did I type. Fast??? I told him I've been typing since dirt was invented, and had no way of knowing. He did a quick look at my resume, and asked me a bit more about my experience...rushing me through my answers, by the way, and then I asked him why was he seeking to replace the person who currently had the role. He went on that she was very nice and he liked her, but she was young and inexperienced in the ways of a professional office, and she did not understand what the word "privvy" meant or what "shuttle" meant when he asked her to look into a NY-to-Boston shuttle. I defended her inexperience and said that she needs experience to be experienced, but for him, he did not have the patience to be that guy, know what I mean?
Then came the $64 question from him, how much did I want to make in the job...and I went to the high end of the salary scale that was posted because I felt with my experience and with the trip, that would be fair. That's when he told me that they were on "thin ice" with regard to funding, and that they would only be able to pay $20,000 less than that top figure for now...with no other benefits like medical insurance, etc. Right.
So then I asked him what were his expectations in terms of the person in the role, and he went through the usual junk which was fine (I had already figured, "no way, Bub") until he added that the person would be expected to water all his plants and...wait for it...take his pets to the vet's for their checkups...huh? I said, are you kidding? He never really answered THAT question. As the meeting came to a close, he apologized again for the hurried push, but that he would definitely call me because he'd like to talk more and show me the offices, etc.
Bottom line for me: I take care of ONE household's pets...my own...and so I'm breaking up with him before we get too serious...am I right? Even if he paid me the full friggin' salary and threw in all the insurance benefits, I wouldn't do it, especially after having to drive by way of the Big Rock Candy Mountain.
So, my search goes on...gawd!
Thursday, June 17, 2010
May I Have My Life Back?
I have officially been out of work for six months. I had a great severance package for most of that time. Now, though, I am at the mercy of job posting websites, referrals, and submitting my weekly unemployment claims. I am in hell.
Don't get me wrong, this time off has allowed me to hang out with my older brothers who have had some serious and not-so-serious medical procedures, the most recent of which was last week. My oldest brother had arterial surgery in his leg to try to bypass the hardening of the arteries that comes to those who smoke(d) too much and is also a by-product of diabetes...he fits both of these categories. Basically, your arteries turn to rock and die and you are in danger of amputation. In his case, both legs were somewhat salvageable, and tomorrow is his week follow-up visit for the second surgery. He has a tendency to be rude when he should be saying "thank you" to folks helping him, and I've called him on it several times reminding him that I am not one of his kids, nor a girlfriend or wife (and they shouldn't be the target of his immaturity either).
I love my brothers, as weird as all three of them are for various reasons -- mostly to do with their blind adherence to their religions...pretty annoying stuff. All three of them were with the Jehovah's Witnesses (the two younger ones followed the oldest one) which caused all kinds of trouble within their families. A lot of time was wasted, as is the case with most fundamental religions, and the oldest one disassociated himself about 10 years ago which essentially means -- according to the Witnesses -- that the other two can no longer speak to him. Do you think God really supports this junk?
I am the Switzerland in the family; I do not follow ANY religion, so I can hang with any of them. I consider myself a recovered Catholic (we were raised Catholics...more or less) who told the priest presiding over my cousin's wedding that I was not going to confess anything to him, so let's not waste either of our times...I was 19 and didn't even French kiss let alone anything warranting spilling my guts to someone whose business it was NOT. So neither of my kids have been baptized or anything else to do with religion. They can make their own decisions. We did not bring them up to follow anything religious, but I have told them that I do have a belief in God and guardian angels (who else kept me from killing myself or others in the 70s behind the wheel after a night of drinking and dancing, right?).
Tomorrow I will drive to my brother's house with one of our larger vehicles, load him in the back so he can position his boo-boo leg on the front middle console, and drive him back to my neck of the woods to see his doctor...should be something out of Driving Miss Daisy, only NOT.
I'm glad I can be of help to my brothers, but I really need to get back to work, God,. I received a call from my former employer's staffing team who was reviewing my most recent application for re-employment. I know the young woman who called me to let me know that a lot of people who actually had the same type of position and did the same type of work in their current or former jobs had applied for the role...blah, blah, blah. I was totally kissed off by them. It was respectful that she called me since we do know each other, and she is a sweetheart, but it doesn't make me feel any better...I am POd. If you think ageism is not alive and well, try being over 55 and looking for work...HA!
I find myself envying people in movies and commercials who are sitting in office cubicles. I want to be back in my own cubicle and part of a team and a company. I don't need to make mega-bucks, just something that gives us benefits without costing my first-born male child (who is 25 now and not likely to go quietly, and did you notice that I got a biblical reference in there???).
Don't get me wrong, this time off has allowed me to hang out with my older brothers who have had some serious and not-so-serious medical procedures, the most recent of which was last week. My oldest brother had arterial surgery in his leg to try to bypass the hardening of the arteries that comes to those who smoke(d) too much and is also a by-product of diabetes...he fits both of these categories. Basically, your arteries turn to rock and die and you are in danger of amputation. In his case, both legs were somewhat salvageable, and tomorrow is his week follow-up visit for the second surgery. He has a tendency to be rude when he should be saying "thank you" to folks helping him, and I've called him on it several times reminding him that I am not one of his kids, nor a girlfriend or wife (and they shouldn't be the target of his immaturity either).
I love my brothers, as weird as all three of them are for various reasons -- mostly to do with their blind adherence to their religions...pretty annoying stuff. All three of them were with the Jehovah's Witnesses (the two younger ones followed the oldest one) which caused all kinds of trouble within their families. A lot of time was wasted, as is the case with most fundamental religions, and the oldest one disassociated himself about 10 years ago which essentially means -- according to the Witnesses -- that the other two can no longer speak to him. Do you think God really supports this junk?
I am the Switzerland in the family; I do not follow ANY religion, so I can hang with any of them. I consider myself a recovered Catholic (we were raised Catholics...more or less) who told the priest presiding over my cousin's wedding that I was not going to confess anything to him, so let's not waste either of our times...I was 19 and didn't even French kiss let alone anything warranting spilling my guts to someone whose business it was NOT. So neither of my kids have been baptized or anything else to do with religion. They can make their own decisions. We did not bring them up to follow anything religious, but I have told them that I do have a belief in God and guardian angels (who else kept me from killing myself or others in the 70s behind the wheel after a night of drinking and dancing, right?).
Tomorrow I will drive to my brother's house with one of our larger vehicles, load him in the back so he can position his boo-boo leg on the front middle console, and drive him back to my neck of the woods to see his doctor...should be something out of Driving Miss Daisy, only NOT.
I'm glad I can be of help to my brothers, but I really need to get back to work, God,. I received a call from my former employer's staffing team who was reviewing my most recent application for re-employment. I know the young woman who called me to let me know that a lot of people who actually had the same type of position and did the same type of work in their current or former jobs had applied for the role...blah, blah, blah. I was totally kissed off by them. It was respectful that she called me since we do know each other, and she is a sweetheart, but it doesn't make me feel any better...I am POd. If you think ageism is not alive and well, try being over 55 and looking for work...HA!
I find myself envying people in movies and commercials who are sitting in office cubicles. I want to be back in my own cubicle and part of a team and a company. I don't need to make mega-bucks, just something that gives us benefits without costing my first-born male child (who is 25 now and not likely to go quietly, and did you notice that I got a biblical reference in there???).
Wednesday, June 2, 2010
Are You Sure Today is Wednesday?
So my friend reminded me that today is Wednesday. You know, when you're not in a really structured existence -- like EMPLOYMENT -- days tend lose meaning except when you're into a TV show's schedule. And, even that is okay until the season finale. "Chuck," "NCIS," and the like have all had their season finales, so it's reruns or crazy summer filler shows.
Oh, and I received a "thanks-but-no-thanks-someone-with-a-better-fit-of-skills-got-the-job" letter from a place I was hoping to join. Just before I got the letter, I actually applied for another job in the same organization at the same company..."what could she be thinking?" they're saying to themselves.
Can we just talk about the humiliation that comes with signing up for COBRA medical coverage, shall we? First of all, getting the sign-up package was painful, and then being told that when you go to your doctor(s) you need to tell them you're covered by COBRA, just adds to the whole experience. (Um, yes, I am that kind of loser, M'am, thank you.) And the package...I just received the fourth enrollment package (we are already signed up) on the same day that we received our new medical and prescription cards.
Have I mentioned that I hate being unemployed???!!!
Oh, and I received a "thanks-but-no-thanks-someone-with-a-better-fit-of-skills-got-the-job" letter from a place I was hoping to join. Just before I got the letter, I actually applied for another job in the same organization at the same company..."what could she be thinking?" they're saying to themselves.
Can we just talk about the humiliation that comes with signing up for COBRA medical coverage, shall we? First of all, getting the sign-up package was painful, and then being told that when you go to your doctor(s) you need to tell them you're covered by COBRA, just adds to the whole experience. (Um, yes, I am that kind of loser, M'am, thank you.) And the package...I just received the fourth enrollment package (we are already signed up) on the same day that we received our new medical and prescription cards.
Have I mentioned that I hate being unemployed???!!!
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