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Dave and Teds 2014 Adventures
This will be our new thread for Teddy's Adventures in 2014.
:clap::yes:Teddy & I hope y'all have had a Great Holiday season these past couple of weeks :yes::clap:
Sorry we've been so quiet lately, but we've been dealing with a lot of changes lately.One of which is that I lost my job :yikes: Hold up, its not as bad as it sounds, tho my initial reaction was probably very similar to yours at the reading of that statement. Let me clarify. Yes, I lost my job that I've had for the past upteen years, and yes, its totally against my will and not my choice. Those of you that have been following along for years probably know that I kind of had it made & thought my co-worker Mary & I would be in our respective departments here at work til they phased our departments out in the summer time, and that's what we thought and kind of planned on. But the last day before our Christmas break another employee came up to me and informed me that I was on our plants reassignment letter & that he'd be taking my job. To say I was totally shocked is an understatement. I pulled it up on the computer & sure enough, there I was, being moved to another department and being forced to go to the plants AWS (Alternative Work Schedule) which I have absolutely no desire what so ever to do, but alas, have no choice. You'd think with 13 years of seniority I'd have enough time in to hold my position, but sadly, that's just not the case. There was a department phased out at the end of the year & all those employees were displaced & everything we do employee wise in the plant is based on seniority & I was bumped from my position & replaced.
Was kind of like a kick in the gut & I tried everything I could but policy is policy & nothing could be done to change it. So now I'll be going back on Sat. and work 4 - 12 hour shifts from 5am-5pm then have 3 days off then work the next 3 days of 12 hr shifts and off the next 4 days. UGH!!! Just thinking about trying to plan any trips gives me a headache.
I guess like most humans, change takes me out of my comfort zone & this is going to be a major change. Going from a 1 person department where I basically had it made & did as I pleased with only my boss to worry about to a dept having 12-15 other employees & all the drama that goes along with it......UGH!!! I've done it before & know I prefer not dealing with all that drama. I'm trying my best to keep an open mind tho & give it a chance, especially since I don't really have a choice.
Teddy & I have been working daily on fixing up our condo & getting it ready for our next challenge ...... the possibility of a room mate. Its amazing the change that can come about when one takes a tooth-brush to your refrigerator.....lol Even tho I thought I really needed to replace all the kitchen appliances cause they are all original to the condo and over 23 years old, they all still work and once detailed with a tooth-brush, they once again look really good:clap:
So much change...... Thankfully we've still been getting out & ryding almost daily, and now have right at 45,011 miles on the OD on Teds Red Sled:doorag:& that's been helping greatly for me to maintain my sanity :bowdown: I'd hate to think of how we'd be without our Spyder Therapy :yikes:
If anyone knows of anyone local to the Cincy area that may be looking for a place to live, here's a link to our Craigslist post about our condo. We've had 2 scammers that were weeded out & 2 more interested ppl I still need to talk with, and even tho I really don't like this path forward, there's little other options besides just selling and moving outright, so we'll see how this goes.
Not sure how often I'll be able to update here as I'll no longer have Web access in the new department I'm going to, so all the normal daily posts are probably not likely, but we'll update as much as possible;)
D and T's Adventures in 14
Hang in there with the new position, it too shall become second nature. ???Did ya get your winter suit squared away??? or did I miss that update? Just think you will have 2 full days to bug about town on the sled a week. The 12 hr shifts might bog ya down some but you can do it!! Skyde says HI paw five!!!
Another renter suggestion..
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Originally Posted by
kawakii
Dave, I'm sorry to hear about your loss of job and change of department. A suggestion on renting - you might want to contact local realtors offices as well. The do help people find renters/roommates. You also may be able to rent out your master suite as a travelers condo, they rent month to month. You just provide it furnished.
Looking forward to hearing yours and Teddy's adventures in 2014 :) I hope 2014 brings you financial stability and good health for both you and Teddy !
List with school districtd, fire/police dept..other "stable" industries....your odds of getting scammed are lowered. I used to be a landlord and I never listed publicly always went to those I listed....and if/when I need to rent a room to survive that is where i will again go..
Change, if embraced, can become a blessings. YOU have much to be THANKFUL for...:thumbup:
The end of a routine..... almost
Had to take Teddy in to the vet for his anual checkup yesterday & the poor lil guy was upset. He always likes going to the vet, just despises getting his temperature taken :yikes: & will actually hide his behind as much as he can, but this visit yesterday left him feeling assauted & he actually turned down treats from his favorite vet when she tried to make up with him, he just wasn't feeling it:mad: I was a little speachless myself, cause Teddy rarely ***If Ever*** turns down treats, but he did yesterday. Guess with the blood draw, temperature and having his glands expressed, it was just more than the lil guy could cope with :lecturef_smilie: Good news is, everything looks good so far & we're just waiting to hear about his blood work, but all indications are that all is well :clap: & I'm sure, with a little more time, he'll make up once again with his favorite vet :bowdown:
Since he had such a traumatic visit, I figured he could use some fun time, so even tho it was snowing like crazy yesterday, we headed to Lowes so he could make his rounds with some of his favorite employees, not to mention all the other shoppers that he gets to meet as well. Was our first big snow of the New Year, got around 3-5 inches yesterday, so we were cage'n it in the cougar & not on his Red Sled, but we still made the best of it.
While there, my phone rang & I saw it was my co-worker Mary calling, so I happily answered, knowing she was most probably going to be sad with me not joining her on the first day back from X-mas break, since I got reassigned to a new department & schedule. Sure enough, she was sad, "Its just not the same, its not right." "I know babe, but its life..... left foot, right foot, breath.... its all we can do." I said to her. "Well, I talked to the SuperIntendant, & I just can't do it, run my department & train your replacement at the same time, it aint right. I explained to him if he wanted any parts he needs to give me some help, & I suggested since your already having financial difficulties & your taxes are due, why not let you come in tomorrow which is your regularly scheduled off day & work overtime & help train the new guy. What do you think about that?" She asked. I was a little stunned at first & my initial thought was ***F them, their screwing me, so why should I help them out when I suggested that they needed someone to help train***
TBC.....................
A word about our absense of late
A couple days before Christmas found Teddy & I sitting in our Cougar outside the GoodWill store and eating our dinner as we watched the throngs of people doing their Christmas shopping. The parking lot was totally full, so we parked on the side of the lot in a small snow bank and it gave us a perfect view for people watching as Teddy eagerly scavenged his dinner from my fingers. Have to admit, it had been a while since I had visited a GoodWill store and seeing all the people shuffling in and out brought back many memories of my childhood. We could see all of the gleeful faces on so many of the kids, so excited to be visiting the GoodWill in hopes 'Santa' was going to get them something good.... something that they really wanted.... I remember that feeling, remember being that kid, cause that was just the way I grew up. When you don't have alot when your growing up, it seems even the little things from a GoodWill store can be life altering when your just a little tike. Being the youngest in our family, I grew up 'spoiled' amongst my siblings, cause I was the only child that was young when my dad relented and finally allowed my mom to get a job and we didn't have to live on social security alone. When didn't have much growing up, but I had what I needed.... my mothers love. The part about me being spoiled however, I wouldn't really agree, exept the part that I was the only child that didn't get beat on a daily basis by our father like the rest of my siblings did. Being the last, and the youngest, and my dads advancing age (seeing as he was 62 when I was born) my mom finally stood up to him & told him if he ever laid a hand on me, she'd kill him.....and she meant it..... and he never did. In that way, I'd agree, I was totally spoiled.
TBC .......................
OMG! Sometimes, not knowing truly is better
So I just walked down to the department that I'm scheduled to start working in tomorrow, just to see where it was and what they did, so I know where to report to in the morning. Wow, kinda wish I hadn't done that now. I saw a girl working in the department that I had worked with in another department about 10 years ago & was happy to actually see a face that I recognized, as I usually stay quiet & pretty much to myself here at work. Upon seeing me, her face lit up & she quickly finished what she was doing & came running over with open arms to give me a hug.... then we began chatting about the department and she already knew I was coming there and her entire body posture turned very sad. She then detailed just about a worse case scenario that I could be walking into tomorrow, and that is my fate to come. I won't bore you with the details, but she admitted she had left here in tears because of the situation of that department and just about everyone in there is trying their best to get out. She admitted to signing every job posting that went up cause she just couldn't take it anymore & that she got lucky & was indeed herself leaving next week.
I'm still trying my best to remain positive and keep a good attitude cause being negative only makes matters worse. My old boss confided that I should give it 3 weeks before trying to make any other moves, cause we're likely to have more down-sizing and if I did move to a better department or shift, I might not be able to hold it depending on seniority. So I figure I'll bide my time & if after 3 weeks nothing else happens, I'll put in my bump & see if I can't at least go to a different department on midnight shift. I miss working midnights, did it for a few years & really enjoyed it, much less bosses and drama to deal with in a plant situation. So we'll see.
When 1 door closes... you can always jump thru the window
Life is to short to work for most of your life for little more than just a pay check... right?
It would seem I'm finding myself at a crossroads & my heart and brain are in conflict with one another on how I should proceed.
Ive been contacted by one of Teddy's fans on here with an opportunity that could potentially solve most if not all of our financial circumstances for the rest of our lives. The more I research it, the better it sounds with way more benefits than just financial compensation.... truly making a difference in people's lives in helping them to succeed.
Brain says one thing, heart says another.
TBC.......
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Recent pics of the lil ham
Teddy's not enjoying this Arctic Weather one bit -6F
It was 12 degrees this morning when I took Teddy out & they had our steep driveway coated in salt, but it was still a sheet of ice. I started the car to warm up for my drive in to work while Teddy was cautiously making his way down the drive. By the time I got out of the car & started making my way down to join him, I saw he was just standing there mid way down the drive, holding one paw up then the other. I'm guessing he's a tender foot & the salt was burning his paws.... we've tried the doggy booties before but he hates them & won't walk while wearing them. So all I can really do is just pick him up, brush his lil paws off & carry him over to where there's no salt. I think the transition of him walking from the salt and then into snow or ice causes the chemical reaction on his lil paws and it burns him, cause his reaction is one of total dislike. But once I brush them off and then set him back down on the snow, he's fine, although he doesn't really like the snow all that much either. :(
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Remembering warmer times. Don't know what it is, but I just LUV this pic
Yesterday was a very humbling day to say the least. Its ALL about perspective.....
I'm sure you've heard the saying
'I used to complain about having no shoes.. until I met a man with no feet'
Wow, do I feel like a cry-baby :opps: Never really thought of myself that way, but yesterday gave me a good reality check. I reread the post I had made about me getting bumped from my job and having a bit of a bitter taste in my mouth about training my replacement & Karma came smacking me upside the head yesterday:lecturef_smilie:
In my new department, they had a girl that normally works on the night crew, but she came in on day-shift to help train me, cause everything in the new department is relatively new technology and computer driven, unlike my old department where all the automation is over 40 years old, so I've got alot to learn. So in our training, we got to talking casually about work, jobs etc and of course, I had to wine a little bit about how in my eyes, I've gone from Heaven to Hell as far as departments go. I knew how good I had it, and it was good.... very good:bowdown:
Well, the subject turned to her and her career here and I learned a very humbling lesson in our discussion. She's a young girl in her early 20's and is a single mom. Then she explained how she's originally from Detroit, but when the recession hit, and the auto companies started to fail, she had been working at Visteon which was a subsidiary of one of the Big 3 & how she was going to loose her job entirely, but was offered a position if she agreed to transfer to another location in Oklahoma, which she agreed to and packed up her kid and they moved. After being at that plant for some time, she found out that they also were down sizing & she was once again faced with the fact that she was going to loose her job again. This was at the time when GM & Chrysler both had to file for Bankrupsty & take the Government Assistance BailOut and the Union agreed to renegotiate our contract .......
TBC........
Yesterday was a very humbling day to say the least. Its ALL about perspective-Continu
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Originally Posted by
CyncySpyder
I'm sure you've heard the saying
'I used to complain about having no shoes.. until I met a man with no feet'
Wow, do I feel like a cry-baby :opps: Never really thought of myself that way, but yesterday gave me a good reality check. I reread the post I had made about me getting bumped from my job and having a bit of a bitter taste in my mouth about training my replacement & Karma came smacking me upside the head yesterday:lecturef_smilie:
In my new department, they had a girl that normally works on the night crew, but she came in on day-shift to help train me, cause everything in the new department is relatively new technology and computer driven, unlike my old department where all the automation is over 40 years old, so I've got alot to learn. So in our training, we got to talking casually about work, jobs etc and of course, I had to wine a little bit about how in my eyes, I've gone from Heaven to Hell as far as departments go. I knew how good I had it, and it was good.... very good:bowdown:
Well, the subject turned to her and her career here and I learned a very humbling lesson in our discussion. She's a young girl in her early 20's and is a single mom. Then she explained how she's originally from Detroit, but when the recession hit, and the auto companies started to fail, she had been working at Visteon which was a subsidiary of one of the Big 3 & how she was going to loose her job entirely, but was offered a position if she agreed to transfer to another location in Oklahoma, which she agreed to and packed up her kid and they moved. After being at that plant for some time, she found out that they also were down sizing & she was once again faced with the fact that she was going to loose her job again. This was at the time when GM & Chrysler both had to file for Bankrupsty & take the Government Assistance BailOut and the UAW agreed to renegotiate our contract .......TBC........
and give many concessions to their respective companies in the hopes of avoiding their demise and all of us loosing our jobs. Ford didn't take the bailout, but since we're all represented by the same UAW, all 3 American Auto makers mirrored the new contract renegotiations including drastic hourly pay reductions, benifit reductions etc.... One of the major wins for the companies was the agreement that they could replace retiring employees or ones that chose to leave with new employees making close to half the amount of tenured employees for up to 20% of the nation wide total number of employees at all plants. So if GM had 3000 employees leave the company in a given year, they could hire new employees to replace them, and they would get limited benifits and close to half the regular hourly pay as their tenured co-workers and that would stay the same until their respective company has enough retirees leave to get them above that 20% of the nationwide work-force, then they would reach 'tenure' status and recieve the full hourly wage & benifits. I believe at GM & Chrysler, since they DID take the bail-outs, even their long term employees with 20+ years ALL had to take a drastic reduction in hourly pay, without choice, otherwise they could leave their respective compainies. Here at Ford, we were lucky & that part of the contract didn't effect us, but the 20% clause did. We have about 300 new employees here in my plant, that all fall under this pay/benifits scale.
Well, with that background of recent historical changes known, we'll get back to my story. In talking with the young lady that was training me yesterday, she explained that after she moved to Oklahoma she once again was faced with a choice, cause that plant was downsizing and she would either loose her job or have to transfer and move once again. She chose to move and ended up here at Ford and she was just thankful to still have a job. Then it hit me, since she was originally from the subsidiary, that meant she had to take the pay cut, and since she's new to us, that meant she was only getting paid at the lower 20% pay grade. She was the first person that I've met here that falls under this new pay-scheme & I'll be honest, I was floored at my realization.
I mean, here I was, making almost double what this young single mother was making, and she's having to train me, and she's moved and left her entire family behind and moved to 2 entirely different states just to keep her job & to be able to provide for her child :bowdown: I guess everything in life truly is all about ones perspective, and this was a sobering eye opener to say the least. I felt ashamed of myself for complaining about having to change and adjust to so much, when in reality, what I'm going thru is nothing compared to what she's gone thru.
Then upon talking with another person that was there training another new employee to the department, and him hearing me complain about getting bumped from my 'gravy' job he said, "Oh, that's nothing. You know the girl in the lab that checks your parts, well, she actually lives in Indianapolis. Think about that." My jaw dropped in disbelief, cause Indy is right at 100 miles on the Interstate, one way from the plant. Why in the hell would anyone drive a hundred miles one way to and from work every single work day was my question to him. And he explained it was cause her plant in Indy downsized and she would've either lost her job or take the transfer here & she chose to transfer, which I understood. But why not just move here then? Cause she has a 16y/o son in highschool and she didn't want to leave all her family in Indy and make her son have to switch schools when he's so close to all his friends their and close to graduating. Wow :bowdown: she drives 200 miles a day for this job, for her family, and here I was complaining cause my 'gravy-train' has come to the station :opps:
On a positive note, I saw my previous supervisor at the coffee pot the other day and I asked how my replacement was doing and if he wanted me to come in on my off days to help train him and he basically jumped at my offer and exclaimed any days your off and want to come in for the next 2 weeks to help train him, please come in, we need you. When I asked about the approval for OT, he said don't worry about, I'll get it covered for the next 2 weeks..... so here I sit, on my off day, back in my old department (which btw is still down:rolleyes:) ***I swear, my ss# isn't programmed in any of the computers:rolleyes:*** ............... :roflblack::roflblack::roflblack: but at least I'm getting a little overtime to pay for those new work boots my sore back and feet arereally needing ;)
I just finished talking with my Union Rep & confirmed that with my seniority I could hold midnight shift in the only department in our zone that still works M-F 8 hours, so I'll put my bump in today and it should take effect for next week ;) Only real downside is, our midnight shift starts on Sunday night at 11pm til 7am Monday morning, so it makes for an early end to the weekend, but the upside is, our weekends start on Friday at 7am :clap: Like anything in life, you take the good with the bad :dontknow: But I'm really learning, its all about perspective ;)
Just getting caught up too!
I've been off here for a few days, got stranded in Indy during the blizzard and I'm getting caught up now. So Dave, still trying to decided to follow heart or mind? :dontknow::dontknow::dontknow: Here is how I handle those situations. First, is it illegal, immoral or unethical? A yes to any of those, then no way! :yikes::yikes: Then the final test: How am I going to feel about telling my mom about it? :lecturef_smilie: If the answer is good or excited, then it's a GO! If not, then I probably shouldn't be doing it.:lecturef_smilie::lecturef_smilie: I say make yourself happy - you will always land on your feet! :ohyea::ohyea::ohyea:
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It looks nice but Teddy is wishing for warmer, greener times
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It finally got above freezing & even tho it was still snowing we needed Sled Therapy
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Just an FYI with those of you that have the Galaxy SIII on Verizon
Not sure if it effects all of us, but our cell phone from Verizon said an update was available and we updated the system and now we can upload pics directly from our phone :thumbup:
It would seem the universe is intent on teaching me a lesson
As a kid growing up, one of my father's favorite sayings was, "If you're gonna cry, I'm gonna give you something to cry about." Lucky for me, mom would always step in and save me from that harsh lesson. And here I sit, 40 years later & it would seem I still haven't learned, but the universe is stepping in to teach me all about it.
Maybe this is just that 'shove' I need to get out of my comfort zone & try a new career :dontknow: