Christmas Vacation

So, Friday was a looong day for me. Got to work early because I had so much to get done before I could leave on my two weeks vacation. Didn't get everything done, but the one thing I wanted to do is so late anyway that another couple of weeks is not a problem. But guess what my priority will be January 5th?

We had a Community Advisory Board meeting for our high-risk program. The CAB is where we invite selected members of the public, our components, and staff within our agency to a meeting where we can discuss what we have done, what we plan to do, and how to go about improving the program. Sometimes they are very productive, other times, they are pretty much just a dog-and-pony show for the citizen members. I can't yet decide just where this meeting fell: not as productive as some, but still more than just dog-and-pony. Not much different from most meetings, I guess.

Then, we had to get ready for our Christmas luncheon. Everyone started showing up about 11:15 for the 11:30 lunch. It was about then we realized that we didn't have plastic forks. Spoons and knives we had, but no forks. We called the main facility and found they had some to give us. A director was told to go get them. At noon, he hadn't yet gone, said he thought it (the lunch) started at noon. Now, why would he think he didn't need to the get the forks until noon (or later) when he thought the lunch started at noon? Actually, if you knew him you would understand that he's not always the sharpest knife in the drawer.

Lunch was really nice, as usual. There was plenty of good food, Christmas music on the boom box, and good companionship. The fact that gifts were involved didn't hurt either! I think a good time was had by all. Last year, we catered the lunch and it was a disaster! The caterer was one of the people we worked with (she's no longer with us - her leaving had nothing to do with the lunch). Several of us knew that she did catering on the side, and the things that she had brought in from time to time were very good. So, when we were making decisions on the Christmas lunch, we decided to make it easy on everyone and have her cater. Well, we were still talking about it this year. I think she allowed a half sandwich per person. The veggie trays you get from the local grocery stores had more veggies, and I think there was one bag of chips. I had sort of blocked the whole fiasco from my memory because I seem to remember being instrumental in pushing to have her cater.

I got a couple of hours of work done and then Tina and I had a class in Small Animal Handling to teach. I graded some papers while Tina taught, and inserted a few pithy (!) comments as appropriate. I finally left the office about 545p (I should have left at 430p) after getting, I think, everything else done. I typed some memos, prepared some letters to be mailed out, and typed minutes to three meetings I attended last week.

Oh, the reason I was typing the minutes days after the meetings? My computer developed a corrupted hard drive and wouldn't even let me log in. When I called Computer Services, I was told they would pick up the CPU and return it "sometime". This was Wednesday. I explained that this just would not do, that I had time-sensitive documents that had to be done before going on two weeks vacation, not to mention the work that would have piled up when I got back on top of whatever I couldn't do before leaving if I didn't have a working computer. Well, they took pity on me (thank you!) and got the CPU back on Thursday. I then found out that my Outlook was missing. This is where all my calendars, task lists, and contact information are stored. Ok, the calendar isn't that important. I constantly revise the task list, so re-doing it would not be more than an annoyance, but I couldn't reproduce the contact list. I called Computer Services again, and when Rob called me back (he's the one who was so great about getting my CPU back so fast), he said he thought it was gone, but he'd do what he could. Then, when I tried to print, I found my printer wouldn't print. Arghhh! Rob had forgotten to install the printer drives. That was fixed, then eventually Rob found my Outlook files and life is good again! Thanks again, Rob!

Christmas Vacation Part II

Now that I am on vacation, I'm looking forward to getting some stuff done around the house. There are so many things I want to do, and so little time and money. The big stuff will wait until we get our income tax refund. I just want to get some of the clutter out now. And, by the time I go back to work, things will be different!

We're planning on going to Melbourne where Dale's dad lives and hopefully, we'll get together with my brother and his family before leaving. But, if that's not possible, we'll see John and Judi whenever it's possible after the holidays. We're leaving on Christmas Eve and will be back sometime Sunday.

I have 16 days of vacation planned, three of that are holidays; six are weekend days, and seven are vacation days. Ten paid days off and I'll only be charged for seven. It's good to be a government employee!

We have so much junk in this house that it's getting unwieldy. How can two people collect so much stuff?? Luckily, we've got our Christmas gifts planned so that we won't have even more stuff. My van needs some work, so I've been driving Dale's van. He wants his back and I want mine, we're going to fix mine so we'll each get what we want. It might be a couple more weeks, but it will get done!

It will be a sad time in Melbourne. Dale's mom passed away in September and this will be the first Christmas without her. She was a lovely lady and is missed by all who knew her. She would want everyone to enjoy Christmas and that is what we will do. I'm also hoping we'll be able to spend time with Dale's best friend Stewart and his wife, Dina, while we're there. They've been friends for years and I always feel bad when we're in Melbourne and Dale doesn't get to see Stewart. It's that time of year to see people you miss and I'd like to get to know them better.

So, while we are gone, I won't be posting. Some of you might enjoy missing my posts (he he) and others will just have to patiently wait until next week.

So, enjoy the holiday. Light the Hanukkah whether they be Christmas lights or Hanukah candles. Hang the mistletoe and holly; enjoy the holiday spirits (eggnog, punch, or your favorite libation). Have a wonderful time at your Holiday meal, whatever may be served. Eat, drink and be merry and worry about the calories next year!