Aug. 14th, 2019

kukla_red: (Default)
So I'll just get them all in here at once.


Boo

I am recommitting to writing here on a regular basis — every day if I can swing it.  I recently took a trip through time and reread my old entries and I really enjoyed it.  So if I am going to have stuff to read in the future, I need to start writing more frequently NOW.  So I will.

Things have been going really well with the new job.  I am massively over-worked and over-committed, but I sort of knew that would happen once I took the position.  It just comes with the territory.  This Thursday it will be exactly 4 months since I started.  I've already gotten a (pro-rated) raise and a promotion to Senior Director.  It's a nice title.  I've gone to Virginia several times to work with my team down there and I really love it.  Every time I go, it is like a reunion with old friends.  Everyone is welcoming and fun and glad to see me.  We all hang out and eat together at lunchtime and I really enjoy getting to know everyone.  

David and I traveled down there last month for the annual Summer bash weekend.  It was pretty great, although incredibly hot.  INCREDIBLY hot.  It was a crazy week because before we could leave for Virginia, I had to do a one day run to a client site in Philadelphia on that Tuesday.  So it was hours in the car driving down and back to Philly and then get home and throw clothes in my suitcase and drive down with David to Virginia on Wednesday.  I worked in the office on Thursday and Friday while David got to play tourist in DC.  He was on his own on Thursday — walked a million miles visiting many monuments and museums while sweating up a storm in ridiculous heat and humidity.  On Friday, he joined a big group from my office with many kids and spouses as they toured the nation's Capitol Building.  Afterwards, we all met up at a posh rooftop deck on the Virginia side of the Potomac, over-looking DC.  Amazing views but hot as Hades.  Too hot to eat, we stayed for a bit and then drove back to our very luxurious hotel for a nice steak dinner once we had cooled off.

On Saturday, we all met up at the CEO's McMansion in Reston, VA.  Wow.  His basement alone is larger and way nicer than any house I have ever lived in.  It is HUGE, has 2 full bathrooms, a media room, a large wet bar, and a gourmet kitchen.  Plus an enormous area that could comfortably fit several bowling lanes.  We did some charity work before the festivities started — we packed over 100,000 meals for an organization that sends the food around the world to communities in need. 

The company was founded by 2 brothers from India.  We have about 60 people on the US team and about 300 to 400 in India in 2 offices.  The brothers and our CEO (who is also from India) are very concerned about being good corporate citizens.  We do a lot of sponsorship work and they always make sure that every "fun" event has its roots in something more meaningful than just seeing how many beers someone can drink.  They all gave speeches at the party about the ripple effect the company has had in India for the people who work with us.  I have a team of 6 technical writers over there and I have seen this first hand.  People who came from abject poverty are now able to buy houses and cars and provide a really good life for their families.  It puts things into perspective.

After we packed the food, it was time to party.  And O wow, do these people know how to throw a party!  Their backyard is like a state park.  Huge piece of beautiful property, giant in-ground pool with a waterfall and separate kiddie pool.  Huge pool house with A/C, 2 bathrooms, amazing sound system, and seating.  Outdoor seating all over, 2 DJs playing music (not my favorite stuff but my tastes are a bit different than most).

The CEO's wife, Alpa, is amazing.  She organizes all this for all of the events.  She somehow makes everyone feel welcome and greeted warmly and like you are the only guest she has.  She created the menu to include foods from every state where the people who work at the company are from — make it yourself taco bar for the folks from California, New York cheese cake, seafood from Seattle... and on and on.  Several bars were set up around the area.  Roaming servers with appetizers and the bartenders were making signature drinks for all — heavy on the Moscow mules which were delicious.

It was a lot of fun, even though the heat was oppressive.  I did not go into the pool, although I really wanted to.  I just have this theory that the people I work with do not need to see me in a bathing suit.  But we had fun and David got to meet and chat with many of the people I work with.  I also got to meet a lot of them for the first time. We have people scattered all around the country — Seattle, LA, Denver, Dallas, Chicago, Maine, and a lot of other places.  We finally went back to the hotel around 10 and got some sleep.

Speaking of travel, I will be doing a bunch of it in the coming weeks.  First up is a trip unlike any I have ever taken.  I'm going to Cancun!  I have never been to any place that is tropical and I have always wanted to — just to see what it is like.  One evening a couple of weeks ago I was watching an episode of "Say Yes to the Dress" (don't mock me, it's a guilty pleasure) and at the end, there was a beach wedding in Cancun.  I said to the family "Just once in my life I want to go someplace like this and walk on a white sandy beach and swim in that crystal blue water".  As I was saying this, my phone chirped and I got a text from my boss and friend, Amy.  She said she wanted to call me, so we got on the phone.  To make a long story short, she decided she wanted to take a vacation and go somewhere really pretty and she found a penthouse condo in Cancun and she would pay for it and did I want to go?  All I have to do is pay for my airfare and food.  It took me about 5 seconds to say yes.  This is where we are staying.  It has 2 bedrooms, each with its own bathroom and 2 private pools, with a sun deck and a Jacuzzi.  Also a huge kitchen, dining room and living room.  It looks amazing.  All we plan on doing is hanging out in our pools, going down to the beach a few times, and relaxing.  Well, we will be working some of the time — both of us are too busy not to, but if I have that view to look at, I can handle it.  The whole thing seems like a dream.  I can't believe I'm going on a trip like this!

Once we get back, I'll be home for about 2 weeks and then I have to go back down to Virginia again for our All Hands meeting.  Go down on Monday, office activities Tuesday through Thursday and go home on Friday.  On Saturday, David and I will leave for our annual foliage trip to Vermont.  So yeah, it's going to be crazy.

OK, David is waiting for me downstairs — we're going to see my Mets play today!  They have been hot as pistols and deGrom is pitching today!

Be good, y'all!


Next entry

So a quick entry for today.  It hurts to type at the moment, so I will keep this brief.  I'll get to why it hurts in a minute.

The job is getting busier by the minute.  I have so much to do that I fear I will never get even remotely caught up.  It's all stuff I enjoy doing and stuff I am good at, but there just aren't enough hours in the day.  Sigh.  

Today, for instance, I got up around 6:30 in the morning.  I started at the computer around 6:50 and chatted with my team in India (they are 9.5 hours ahead of East coast time, so when I get up they are nearing the end of their day), took care of some tasks that I do every Monday morning, and worked on prepping for a training session at 10 AM.  I do a fair amount of prep for each session, since it is usually done on the client's database and I need to familiarize myself with their data so I can run searches, know their coding template, etc.  I did the session at 10 to 11 AM and then I packed up my laptop and David took me to the train station.  I had to go into NYC to do an on-site visit with a client firm.  That took up the rest of my day.  I still have mountains of work to do, but I have 4 more training sessions this week, plus several internal meetings.  Sigh.  It's no wonder I work on weekends.

Oh, the reason it hurts to type is that I took a cab from Penn Station to the client's office and the cab driver crashed into the car in front of us on 8th Avenue.  I slammed into the divider and smashed my wrist hard.  My bracelet cut into my wrist and was bleeding.  Now the whole thing aches and doesn't like being moved around much.  The nice ladies at the law firm where I was training took good care of me and gave me a band-aid and some water.  I was fine for the training, but it is quite sore now.  

Never a dull moment.

Ah well, as Scarlet O'Hara said, tomorrow is another day.


 

I already missed yesterday...

In my defense, the day was so action packed, I barely had time to breathe. Today was pretty stuffed too, but I am waiting for David to be ready to go to dinner so I have a few minutes. I hope he is ready soon because I am starving.
The wrist (car accident in cab in NYC on Monday) is still sore but it isn't too intrusive. I wish it would hurry up and heal already.
Work is even more intense these days, if possible. Between the 5 to 7 or so training sessions I have a week, plus internal meetings, plus prep time for the trainings, and just trying to catch up with the deluge of email I get everyday, I am pretty swamped. No idea how I can handle all this. I just keep plugging along.
Today is a little bit of a weird date for me. On August 14, 1983 I got married for the first time. Today would have been our 36 wedding anniversary, had we stayed together. It was such a beautiful day — sunny, clear, no humidity, not too hot. O well.
Sometimes I get a little depressed about the past. I try not to be, but every now and then it sweeps over me. I feel sad because I cannot share my happiness in my children with their father. He is a lost cause, still bitter over the fact that I refused to be his punching bag anymore. And sometimes it hurts that my kids want to have any relationship with him. He treated them and me like crap. He was violently and verbally abusive. He stole from me and even the kids. He tried to pull all kinds of dirty tricks, like telling the kids that "Mommy is crazy and I'm going to have her committed and this lady is your new mommy." Yeah, shit like that. He called the cops once on the kids, trying to have them arrested claiming they assaulted him. Right. He was a grown man and they were 11 and 8 at the time and had been watching a movie while I took a shower. He never paid a penny of support or any money towards their college education or medical bills, which he was on the hook for according to our divorce decree.
I don't want them to hate him. I worked really hard to prevent that from happening. It would have been easy for me to make them hate him but I never did anything like that, even when he tried to trash me in front of them. And I know that my children love me — I know that. But sometimes, when they go off to see him for dinner or breakfast or an activity, it still hurts that they want to have a relationship with someone who put their mother through a plate glass window.
OK, enough whining. Sorry about that. It comes out every once in a while.
How are things in your world?



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