Mmmmm...Cookies!

Even though I did have to work through the holiday weekend, it turned out to be pretty fun! The weather was great the whole weekend, which is always a great thing when you have a chance to work outside. We were fairly busy at the park. Not as many visitors as I was hoping for, but a good weekend none-the-less.

I am beginning to find my footing more with this new management position. Throughout my many jobs I used to find myself making little mental notes of my bosses & supervisors - things they did that bugged me, things I would have handled differently, things I saw them do that was really cool...kinda of a mental tally of what to do and what not to do should I ever be "the boss". Well, now I am the boss, temporarily anyways. And it seems that I've not forgotten those lessons I picked up on from working for all sorts of people. I'm beginning to feel more comfortable in my role as a Interim Manager and my confidence is growing! It's kind of exciting!

It helps that I have a great crew on the boat this year! I just hope that they don't think being boss is suddenly putting me on a power trip. Sometimes I will have to be "the bad guy". If their not getting things done (especially when we have a canceled boat run & there's time to do other things), I'm the one who has to answer for it; and so, if need be, I have to see to it that there is no slacking. After being their co-worker, I hope they realize that I'm just doing my job and don't take it personally.

I had a pretty exciting thing happen yesterday on the boat. After I was giving my speal on the boat, I was answering questions that visitors had. And someone asked me how I got into this job. To which I responded that I started as a Volunteer, was hired on as a seasonal for 3 years, went & got some other experience between seasons, then was hired on permanent this past winter. And am now the Interim Manager! I guess I'm kinda proud of my persistence in my career. A lot of people would have given up by now, but things are finally beginning to pay off for me.

Anyways, this visitor told me as she was getting off the boat "You were awesome! You're definitely in the right line of work."

How cool is that?! That's a huge compliment!

Anywho, I'm off to make cookies to take to work tomorrow as a Thank You to one of our Volunteers! Mmmmm....cookies! (Sorry Casey. Let us know next time you plan on visiting & I'll see what I can do about fixing some up for you!) 'Til next time, happy baking!

Sunday Quote Blogging

"With every mistake we must surely be learning."

~George Harrison
from the Beatles tune "As My Guitar Gently Weeps"

A 3 Day Weekend?

For most of you, the Holiday 3 Day weekend most likely means 3 restful days of not working. Not so for me. I get to work this weekend! Woo Hoo! The good news is that it's 9am on Saturday and the weather looks like perfect! At least I get to be outside in it for the weekend, at least for a few hours anyways.

Yesterday I actually had enough staff on the boat to spend the entire day taking care of some much needed office stuff. And we had a meeting about how we're splitting up our programs now...I have a few big programs on my plate, along with half a dozen small programs. It'll be good experience ~ great to put on that resume. But I know I'll need a ton of help from the department since I've never done much programming. It'll be good though. For some reason, I've always tended to come out shining from Trial by Fire situations, so I have no plans of this being any different. Keep a positive attitude right?

We'll see if I can actually take some time off at some point over the weekend. If not, I'll be working 2 weeks without a day off...a sure fire way to get burnt out. I might only work half days if I can swing it.

Sorry most of my posts have been overly work related lately. There hasn't really time for much else lately: when I have time off, I tend to just relax & enjoy it. Once I get more in the new swing of things at work, I promise I'll have more non-work ramblings. And damn it ~ all of you other bloggers out there (Neil excluded) need to get off your butts & get some posts up already.

Enjoy the long "weekend" everyone!

Phew, Another Week Passed

Yesterday brought to a close my first week of being Interim Manager at work. All things considered, things went fairly well. I'm lucky to have a great crew working for me, all returning staff who are self sufficiant on the boat when I need them to be. But on the other hand, it's a little weird too. I've been a co-worker with them so they know me as such. To all of a sudden be the boss is weird. But I don't foresee any problems.

And finally, it's my 1 day off! I plan on doing whatever the hell I feel like today considering days off may be few and far between with all of my new responsibilities at work. I'm aiming to keep my hours around 40 a week, but with being short staffed on the boat during the week, that leaves less office time to get things done.

Shannon is coming through town this morning on her way up north to see Mom & Dad (her mom & dad ~ my adopted parents). She's bringing little Ella with her! I haven't seen Ella since X-Mas!!! I bet she's gotten big! Shannon will get the grand tour of my apartment (should take all of 10 seconds...and it should be familiar considering she had almost the exact same unit in college). Then we're going to go grab a bite to eat before she takes off to Northern Michigan. I wish I could go with her! I miss Mom & Dad. And it's always a good time to visit them, even though they tend to put me to work when I do visit...but they feed me well so it's a fair trade-off.

I don't really have any concrete plans for the rest of my day. I'll probably sit and catch up of some journaling & finish a long overdue letter to my wonderful friend Sarah in Washington. And there's always laundry that needs doing.

Sunday Quote Blogging

"You realize that our mistrust of the future makes it hard to give up the past. We can't give up our concept of who we were. All those adults playing archaeologist at yard sales, looking for childhood artifacts, board games, Candyland, Twister, their terrified. Trash becomes holy relics. Mystery Date. Hula Hoops. Our way of getting nostalgic for what we just threw in the trash, it's all because we're afraid to evolve, grow, change, lose weight, reinvent ourselves. Adapt."
~from the novel Survivor
by Chuck Palahnuik

Who's The Boss?

No, that title line is not in reference to a sit-com that you and I watched when we were 10 years old. That title would indeed be refering to my job. Who's the boss? That's the big question. And the big answer is (drum roll please) : ME!!! Yes, that's right ~ I'm the boss!

So all of that stuff that went down at work, and most of it I haven't been told about...all I know is that it happened - well it resulted in my boss resigning and for now, I'm the new boss. At least kind of. I'm in charge of the canal boat. That and a bunch of other pretty big administrative responsibilities. And there's talk of me being in charge of the parks events as well, which is a pretty big responsibility when you think of all of the planning and coordinating and everything that goes along with our Lantern Tours & other events. We'll see how much responsibility I have with those next week once we have a planning meeting about the summer season with these changes.

But, long story short, I'm the boss from now until they fill the position which won't be until sometime in August from what I'm told. Wish me luck! I'll need it. It'll definetly be a learning experience that will come in handy down the road in my career so it's all good. I just need to remember to take each day as it comes and try not to get too stressed over it all. Do the best that I can do. That's all they can ask of me at this point considering they're throwing me in only with my present experience and not giving me any real training on any of my newest duties. But the best I can do is what I can give, and what I plan to give.

Okay...so there you go...now all of you curious fans out there know the jist of it.

In other news, we moved Randy into his new home this weekend. It was cool and rainy, but things went rather smoothly if I do say so myself. I think he likes it so far. It's still in that chaos stage of not-yet-unpacked, but I think he'll like it. I like it too. It has loads more character than my apartment (but my apt. kicks ass too).

Not a whole lot else on my mind other than that at this point. I do have internet at my place now, so even though I'll be working more hours, I'll also be able to blog from home when I'm there so I'll keep you all updated...whether you want me to or not. More to come!

Update...sort of

Okay, so I finally have internet at my apartment. Woo Hoo!!! How cool is that?! It took forever, but I'm actually blogging from home for a change. And I'm watching The West Wing while I'm at it...talk about filling a fix ey? I can't wait for the new season to start.

Anywho, lots to do today. Bank, post office, laundry and whatever else I'm forgetting I need to do. This may be my only day off for a while since I'll be working more hours now. (Yes, I know...but I promise I'll explain later.) So I'm off to get things done and enjoy a day off. Hope all is well with all of you!

Delayed Sunday Quote Blogging

"Don't waste life in doubts and fears; spend yourself on the work before you, well assured that the right performance of this hour's duties will be the best preparation for the hours and ages that will follow it."

~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

Just a little quote to help me step up to the plate and meet my new found responsibilities at work head on. Adapt and overcome.

Big Changes

Yep people...that comment was implying something big going down. And indeed something big has gone down. I'll give you an update when I can, but it probably won't be over my blog... Big changes. I'm not sure if they're changes for the better or worse yet, but I guess only time will tell on this one. We'll see...maybe this is one of those trial by fire situations. If so, I plan on coming out on the winning end with a job well done. Stepping up the challenge ya know. Well, I haven't explained anything yet, so no you don't know. As I said, I'll update when I can, but now is not the time.

Remember When...

Remember when Friday meant that the week was over and there was a relaxing weekend ahead of you? Those were the day. It's Friday and I'm tired...okay, more like exhausted. This week at work has just been exhausting. My body is getting used to work this physical, but ajusting to working in this heat again is draining! I've been absolutely exhausted after work every single day this week. Soon enough my body will ajust and I'll be back to my good old energetic/hyper self, but I'm dragging at the moment.

It may have something to do with the fact that things outside of work are busy as well. I helped Randy pack last night...I managed to get 95% of the kitchen packed up and ready to go. And I have the day off from work tomorrow so I'll be helping Randy move in to his new place...another long day. It should be fun, but draining as well. Eventually things will calm down, won't they?

Anywho, my lunch break is about over, so I'll get back to work for now. I'll finally have internet at my place on Monday, so I'll be online more often hopefully.

Kids, Kids, Kids

Today was a kid filled day on the boat. We had 3 reservations that we knew about, and then one school showed up for a boat ride that we didn't have on our reservation sheet. So of course we took them too. They came 2 hours or so, so we can't blame them for our own main office not letting us know they were coming, not their fault. But it did make for a longer day on the boat than I'd expected. I didn't get to eat lunch until 3pm. That sucked. My brain shuts down when I go that long between meals. Thank goodness I ate breakfast this morning or I would have been useless. But they were all good groups of kids so I really can't complain too much.

At the moment, I'm just passing the time. I'm at work, but off the clock. I clocked out early...my brain still is on shut-down mode while my food digests. But Randy doesn't get off of work for another hour, so I figure I'll goof around on the internet for a bit.

Hmmmm...

Lots going on this time of year. First of all, today is Randy's birthday. I think he's enjoyed it. It sounds like he had a good day at work. Then we went out to a nice Italian dinner down at the docks in Toledo. It was Yummy! Good food, good service, good company, good atmosphere. Of course I treated him to dinner ~ after all, he's the one with the birthday. I think I did good on the gifts. He was a lot easier to buy for this time around than he was at X-Mas. It probably helped that I actually have a steady income now. I bought him 3 or 4 little things, but they were all things that were both needed and wanted. And we went to have ice cream after dinner. So all in all, I think he's had a pretty good day.

As for me, I'm looking forward to the weekend. Since I have the coolest boss on the planet, I have the weekend off! Woo Hoo!!!! Now I know some of you out there have every weekend off. And it's probably nothing special. But in my line of work, working weekends are a necessary evil. You shouldn't get into to this field if you don't want to work weekends...and work a lot of weekends at that. So with that said, every weekend that I get off of work is a treat because I'm lucky to get one off a month. And I'm looking forward to it!!! Saturday I'm planning on going to the 'rents and doing some sorting, trashing & cleaning of the remains of my room. Then at some point we'll deal with the task of moving my oversized dresser out of my undersized apartment. Then my parents are taking Randy & I out for dinner. You can never argue with a free meal ~ that's one thing I learned from college. As for Sunday, we'll just take it as it comes. Randy & I will have dinner at his mom's, then hopefully just a peaceful day off.

A Day Off...

Well it's a day off after our first week of the season at work. And now that I'm working outside everyday, I must ask ~ where the hell did my nice warm weather go?!?!?! What the hell is this cold crap? Man oh man. It's my luck I tell ya. But what can you do? Aside from the colder temps, work has been going well this first week of the season. It almost seems as though I'd never stopped working on the boat. Ropes and steering and my interpretation all came back easy as pie! Life is good. And I've noticed a huge difference in the way I handle my interps for school groups since I've worked in California teaching at Camp. I'm a hell of a lot more in control of the group and no longer allow them to walk all over me. Thank god I learned how to deal with kids in CA...even if I did learn it the hard way. So things are off to a great start thus far! Here's hoping they only continue in that direction.

In other news, my phone is continuing to be a pain in the ass thanks to UPS, the most evil company other than Wal-Mart on the planet. They returned my hook-ups for my internet phone connection to the company because I wasn't home when they tried to deliever it all 3 times. Yeah, well what the hell? I happen to work during their delivery hours. Who the hell doesn't work during their delivery hours?! So they just frickin' sent it back to the company. Way to go! And so, I'm almost a month into my new place and still have no phone. It's getting a bit rediculous.

Oh, and I know I haven't sent out any new contact info yet...I've been waiting for the phone to get hooked up to do that. But I'll get it to you asap.

And, for those of you who noticed ~ I forgot to list my source of this weeks Sunday Quote Blogging. My appologies. That qoute was from Office Space. A great movie! I would whole-heartedly recommend it if you haven't already seen it.

Sunday Quote Blogging

"What.. what would you say... you do here?"

"Look, I already told you! I deal with the goddamn customers so the engineers don't have to! I have people skills! I am good at dealing with people! Can't you understand that? WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU PEOPLE!"