Daylight is a good thing

I heard on the radio recently that from the beginning to end of January we gain 1 hour of daylight. Last night at 6:15 it was overcast and still light. I can definitely tell the days are getting longer. What good news indeed.

"We Sell A Lot of Cars Here"- UPDATE

When I got back from lunch today I had a voicemail from the car dealership where we recently purchased our new company vehicle. Though my conversation was with the same employee from Monday, it was like talking to a whole other person.

Title Clerk: This is X. How can I help you?

Me: Yes, I'm with Z Corp. I had a voicemail to call you. 

T C: I 'm finishing with December this week. I hope to be done Friday. I'm starting with (titles from my state) on Monday. You should have it late next week. We have to do checks and have the check signers come in.

Me: Thank you very much. 

I'm not sure who talked to her or what was said, but it worked. She was very nice and helpful. As I told my boss about this, he said "You shouldn't mess with {me}". My coworker has an alternate explanation. She thinks the lady got some desperately needed medication. Whatever the cause, the result definitely worked for me.

Preventative Maintenance Pays Off

After the recent lock freezing incident, I decided to do some additional winter preventative maintenance. I applied silicone to the door seals on both my vehicles. This is something my dad used to always recommend to keep the doors from freezing.

Sure enough, less than a week later we got what was either freezing rain or rain that froze after falling. Not sure as I was sleeping. It wasn't much, but I was expecting to have to gently rock the door open to break away the ice (Never try to yank a frozen door open. You can break the handle among other things.) No rocking needed. The door opened up nice and easily. There was ice inside the door frame, so I'm sure it would have been a different story without the silicone. My five minutes of preventative maintenance definitely paid off.

"We Sell A Lot of Cars Here"

We bought a new company car two weeks ago. We still don't have any paperwork to take the BMV, though the salesperson assured my boss we'd have it in a couple of days. Our state requires titling in 30 days. I called the dealership today to see what was taking so long. Here's the conversation I had with the title clerk.

Title Clerk: This is X. How can I help you?

Me: Yes, I'm with Z Corp. We bought a car two weeks ago, and we still don't have any paperwork to take to the BMV.

T C: I haven't finished with December yet. I haven't started January. (Me in head "You're a MONTH behind?!?) Your temporary tags are good for 60 days.

Me: We are in (not state where purchased), and we have to title in 30 days.

Title Clerk: We'll include $21 in your paperwork. (This is the late registration/title fee) (Me in head: "This is some kind of joke")

Me: So when will we get the paperwork?

Title Clerk: Well, it depends on how many interruptions I have (I'm pretty sure she was implying that I was an interruption). I'm only one person, and we sell a lot of cars here.


I was incredulous at almost every aspect of this conversation.
1. She had attitude.
2. What do you mean you're a MONTH behind on processing title paperwork?
3. You are behind so often that you customarily send the customer the late fee with the paperwork?
4. My talking with you is not an interruption. It's YOUR JOB.
5. Selling a lot of cars shouldn't be unexpected. It's a CAR DEALERSHIP. Part of being a CAR DEALERSHIP is processing this paperwork in a timely manner.

My next call was to the salesperson. I said we had not received our paperwork in a few days as promised. His reply "it usually doesn't arrive in a few days". Then WHY did you tell my boss it would? GRR. He said he'd have someone look into the situation and call me back. I don't have high hopes.

And car dealers wonder why people hating having to do business with them.

King Arthur & the Witch

My boss sent this to me.

Young King Arthur was ambushed and imprisoned by the monarch of a neighboring
kingdom. The monarch could have killed him but was moved by Arthur's youth and
ideals. So, the monarch offered him his freedom, as long as he could answer a
very difficult question. Arthur would have a year to figure out the answer and,
if after a year, he still had no answer, he would be put to death.


The question?...What do women really want? Such a question would perplex even
the most knowledgeable man, and to young Arthur, it seemed an impossible query.
But, since it was better than death, he accepted the monarch's proposition to
have an answer by year's end.


He returned to his kingdom and began to poll everyone: the princess, the
priests, the wise men and even the court jester. He spoke with everyone, but no
one could give him a satisfactory answer.


Many people advised him to consult the old witch, for only she would have the
answer.


But the price would be high; as the witch was famous throughout the kingdom for
the exorbitant prices she charged.


The last day of the year arrived and Arthur had no choice but to talk to the
witch. She agreed to answer the question, but he would have to agree to her
price first.


The old witch wanted to marry Sir Lancelot, the most noble of the Knights of the
Round Table and Arthur's closest friend!


Young Arthur was horrified. She was hunchbacked and hideous, had only one tooth,
smelled like sewage, made obscene noises, etc. He had never encountered such a
repugnant creature in all his life.


He refused to force his friend to marry her and endure such a terrible burden;
but Lancelot, learning of the proposal, spoke with Arthur

He said nothing was too big of a sacrifice compared to Arthur's life and the
preservation of the Round Table.


Hence, a wedding was proclaimed and the witch answered Arthur's question thus:

What a woman really wants, she answered....is to be in charge of her own life.

Everyone in the kingdom instantly knew that the witch had uttered a great truth
and that Arthur's life would be spared.


And so it was, the neighboring monarch granted Arthur his freedom and Lancelot
and the witch had a wonderful wedding.


The honeymoon hour approached and Lancelot, steeling himself for a horrific
experience, entered the bedroom. But, what a sight awaited him. The most
beautiful woman he had ever seen lay before him on the bed. The astounded
Lancelot asked what had happened


The beauty replied that since he had been so kind to her when she appeared as a
witch, she would henceforth, be her horrible deformed self only half the time
and the beautiful maiden the other half.


Which would he prefer? Beautiful during the day....or night?

Lancelot pondered the predicament. During the day, a beautiful woman to show off
to his friends, but at night, in the privacy of his castle, an old witch? Or,
would he prefer having a hideous witch during the day, but by night, a beautiful
woman for him to enjoy wondrous intimate moments?


What would YOU do?

What Lancelot chose is below.


BUT....make YOUR choice before you scroll down below.

OKAY?








Noble Lancelot said that he would allow HER to make the choice herself.

Upon hearing this, she announced that she would be beautiful all the time
because he had respected her enough to let her be in charge of her own life.


Now....what is the moral to this story?


Scroll down





The moral is.....


If you don't let a woman have her own way....
Things are going to get ugly

That is no lie.

Lost and Found

I documented the below when it happened, at least a year or two ago. I found my notes while doing some cleaning this weekend. It's still entertaining.

One day I noticed one of our office people wearing her safety glasses and steel toed shoes. She said she was going to the plant to help one of our associates look for his wallet. He is one our forklift operators, and his job has him in and out of trailers and all over our plant during the course of the day. Thankfully, after much searching, his wallet was found at the end of the day. It had been in his truck all along. He had left it there and forgotten that he had done so.

That same week another associate came to me and asked if anyone had turned in a cell phone. I said that no one had. His phone was found the next day- by the roto-rooter man. It seems the restroom in the back of our plant was plugged. When the guy came to repair it, he found the missing cell phone.

It's Not All About You

Most of us realize that life doesn't revolve around us. However, not everyone grasps this concept, as evidenced by the following conversation my coworker recently had with her sister the princess.

Coworker: "Hubby and I are thinking about starting to try to have a baby in December."
Princess Sister: "You can't do that!"
Coworker: "Why not?"
Princess Sister: "Because Boyfriend and I will probably get engaged this summer. That means we'll probably get married next summer, and YOU CAN'T BE FAT AT MY WEDDING."

Interesting fact: This whole matrimonial time line was news to the Princess's boyfriend.

Thoughts
1. My coworker had said before that her sister was a princess. She was obviously not kidding.
2. Pregnant does not equal fat
3. Note, no "wow, I'm really excited to be an aunt". And trust me, being an aunt is awesome. It's all about the princess.
4. Yes, it's your wedding day. It's also someone else's birthday, anniversary, first day at a new job, day of death, etc. Life is truly not all about you dear princess.

Moms know stuff

I've written before about how much I love scones. However, what I don't like is making them. It's not difficult. It's just that you have to mix the ingredients with your hands. The mixture coats your hands, gets under your nails, etc. To quote my two year old niece "Yucky".

I was telling my mom about this, and she said "Why don't you use gloves?" Such a thought had never occurred to me. She said she uses them from time to time for various cooking activities. It seemed like a great idea to me.

Yesterday I gave it a try. I had a recipe for sun dried tomato bacon scones. Oh my goodness. It was a night and day difference. I whipped them up and had clean hands at the end. YES! And the scones were really good too.

Moms definitely do know some useful things.

It's the little things

It's amazing how the little things in life can bring us such joy. I had an experience that reminded me of that recently.

My red Christmas cactus bloomed before Christmas. My white one had nothing. I wondered what I had done. Too much water? Not enough? Or was it just being finicky? About a week and a half ago I noticed what appeared to be a blossom on the white one. Sure enough, a few days later I was sure it was indeed a blossom. I was so thrilled.

Did I have anything to do with it blooming? Beyond watering it when need, not a thing. It's just something in the natural world that brings me great happiness.

Never Had That Happen Before

Thursday we got our first "winter storm warning" of the season. From the hype you'd have thought we were getting 2 feet of snow. Actual prediction? Cold and less than 1 inch of snow. As my coworker would say "It's winter".

The day started with light rain, then turned to big fluffy snow flakes around 12:30. By the time I left at 4:30, there was way less than an inch of snow and the roads were dry. Upon getting to my vehicle, however, I did encounter a problem. My door locks were frozen- all 3 of them. I've never had this happen on any of my vehicles. This vehicle has manual locks, so the only way to unlock the doors is with a key. My coworkers and I tried several things, but we couldn't get any of them to unstick. Lucky a couple that I work with who live near me were still there, and they graciously offered me a ride home.

Getting to work on Friday wasn't an issue as I have two cars. However, if I drove my other car in, I'd face the problem of how to get both vehicles home. I was bound and determined to get in my Tracker and drive it home Friday. My nice coworkers let me ride into work with them. As soon as we got there, I sprayed lock deicer (which I'd went to the auto supply store and purchased as soon as I'd gotten home the night before) into all 3 locks. It didn't thaw any of them, but I could tell the driver door was definitely less stuck.

It was very cold and windy yesterday, never getting above freezing. I was somewhat concerned about getting in my vehicle. However, if I couldn't I had people who could take me home. I tried the driver door. Nothing. I tried the rear door, and it unlocked normally. I had to rock it back and forth a few times to break the door free from the ice in the seal, but SUCCESS. I then moved to the passenger door. Nothing.

My plan had been to zip out the back window and crawl in that way if the doors wouldn't open. However, since the back door opened, I flattened the back seat and I was in! YES!! I loaded up and drove off. I made one mistake though. I didn't secure one of the rear zip out windows that we'd partially undone the day before when trying to into the vehicle. As soon as I started driving it started beating against the vehicle loudly. I pulled into a parking lot and wedged it in through the top support, hoping that would keep it in on the drive home. Nope. As soon as I took off again it started beating wildly. I stopped in another parking lot, climbed out through the back, and put the window back in place. I crawled back in and drove home. I ran the heat on high the whole way (about 10 minutes), and by the time I got here both door locks were unfrozen.

So what did I learn from this experience? Two things for sure. First, when it's really cold I'm leaving the doors on this vehicle unlocked when I'm at work. Our parking lot is a busy, highly visible area, and I don't keep anything of value in it. Secondly, I'm glad I'm flexible and could contort myself in through the back door. Got to keep working out if for no other reason than that.

You know it's bad when

Today I witnessed the following conversation about a position for which we are currently recruiting:

My coworker: "What about X?"
My boss: "How old is she?"

Yes, that's my boss, our company's head of HR, wanting to discriminate based on age. You know it's bad when that happens.

As soon as he said it, my coworker said "Are you putting this on your blog?" I said "Yes." It's hard to pass up material this good.

It's like a Jeff Foxworthy Episode

Last week someone asked me if I'd seen the patio at work recently. I said no. After her explanation, I checked it out. Here's why-






























Yes, that's an array of toilets and urinals, sitting outside for the world to see. Jeff Foxworthy would have a field day. I can hear it now "You might be a redneck if...You keep your old bathroom fixtures on the patio "just in case"'.

Our facility is undergoing a major addition and renovation project right now. To complete the redneck look, we are using a portable bathrooms for the next 6-10 weeks (they are heated with running water, not port-a-pots). This restroom trailer is parked right in the front of our building. Next to it is a storage unit (think a pod, only less fancy). A few yards away is a dumpster. Today the dumpster was full, so they had a pile of demolition debris on the ground. It looks a tad rough now, but it should be really nice when it's done. That's if our facility isn't taken over for a Jeff Foxworthy TV Special of course.

That was easy

My driver's license expires this month. Due to some fluke at the BMV, there is a huge (possibly record) number of people who will need to renew their licenses this year. So many, in fact, that the state mailed a postcard to each person who will need to get a new license this year to prepare them for the onslaught of other people who will need to do the same thing. They are encouraging people to renew early, online, etc. Let's face it, a trip to the BMV is seldom on anyone's "Fun Things To Do" list. I thought I'd give the online approach a try. It was fantastic. You log in, verify your info hasn't changed, provide payment (the most important part for the state), and you're done. The whole process takes just minutes, and they mail the new license to you. I'm definitely glad I gave it a try.

Snow on the Ground

Yesterday my area had its first snow on the ground this winter. Nothing major, just a dusting. What's unusual is how late in the season. We don't get lots of snow here, but typically by the end of the December we've had a couple of dustings, and many years at least one day of challenging morning commuting.

Am I sad? NO! My idea of the perfect white Christmas is somewhere warm with white sand. The temperatures here have been quite a bit above normal for a while. Christmas Day was 55 and sunny, the warmest I ever remember. It's been cold the last 2 days, but mid 50's again by Friday.  This is not a big surprise to me, though, as I have predicted for several months that we'd have a mild winter. Why? Because I bought a 4 wheel drive vehicle of course.