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Angel BobEverything has beauty, but not everyone sees it. October 01 Problem SolvedJust a quick update on the last blog I wrote..... :)
The mysterious problem with Facebook was simply that we hadn't updated our computer in well, years, lol, as the automatic updates were tuned off. Our operating system simply wasn't new enough to support pretty much anything, but that's all sorted now. Let that be a lesson for leaving windows to do it's thing, lol.
Anyhow, I have LOADS of unanswered msgs to go through so I'm sorry, (again), if I haven't got back to you already. I've been really busy and I haven't had much time to go on the computer. (That should be a good thing!! lol) Rest asssured I'm getting to you!
Miss you all!! xx September 21 Trouble with FacebookHey everyone,
Just a quick blog to say that I'm having some mysterious problems with Facebook, just to let you all know I'm not ignoring you, lol. I can login, go to other profiles, and search for people, but I can't message anyone, write on any walls, add friends, or do anything else really. I can't even message the Facebook developers in the help section because, well, it just won't! lol. My good friend suggested I update my browser as all the other programs on my pc are functioning normally, but at the risk of sounding criminally stupid, I don't know how to do that. This whole thing is driving me insane as I use Facebook to keep in touch with everyone back home, and it's been nearly 2 weeks that it hasn't been working. There was hope breifly when I figured out that I could refresh the page and then message someone, but that no longer works either. I've tried everything I can think of, including installing all the windows updates I could find. I feel very cut off all of the sudden.... lol.
Does anyone have any suggestions?? September 05 New JobHey everyone, just a quick update on the new job.
I had a great first day. It was really funny, as I was walking to work I passed some builders on their break, they were listening to 'Beautiful Girl' on a really loud mobile, and as I passed they parted so I could get through and started serenading me with hand movements and all. I thought that was great, it gave me a little chuckle and that in turn helped to settle my nerves. The agency that placed me sent me flowers at work and all of my cooleagues are very friendly and welcoming. (Which is great because the building is so posh, it's easy to feel a little intimidated..... or maybe it's just me, lol.) At any rate I love it there. They treat their staff brilliantly, and it's hard to complain about free breakfast and three course lunch! I'll write more when I'm settled in cause right now I'm still running around like a mad woman.
September 01 A Year in the UKI've been meaning to write a blog for ages but as usual things have been quite busy here. We've been in the UK a whole year now, which is still hard to believe sometimes. So much has happened in such a short period of time and although it's been really challenging at times, it's great to finally be really settled in and pushing forward.
I left my job at the Hilton at the end of July. I was really unhappy there, and after a few weeks of working late nights and job hunting days I finally took the plunge and quit to concentrate on looking for work. Luckily it paid off and I got a brilliant position working in London as a receptionist for Rolex. It's in a gorgeous building in a posh part of London, not far from Buckingham Palace, (which to Londoners is nothing, but to someone like me that's pretty damn cool, lol). Rolex, from what I've researched and seen so far, seems like an amazing company to work for, and like they really value their employees. This is a big step forward for me and I'm really excited to start on Monday. And with Austin going back to school on Tuesday it's good timing too.
I'll write a proper blog when I'm settled into work and I have a moment, but thanks to everyone for your encouragement and well wishes.
Ciao :)
July 12 SortedIt's been awhile since I've been on here, the last two months have been a little crazy. I've been off work for a month following a row I had with Dick the dick. It finally came to a head when I went in to work to have a meeting with the big boss to discuss the problems I was having with Dick, only to find that the meeting had been cancelled and Dick told me I had to work the next day (my day off) and I could have the meeting then. When I tried to discuss it with him he told me not to bother him and walked away. Now, anyone who knows me knows that that's not gonna fly, so I took him into the back room and we had words, after which he sent me home. I called the big boss and left a msg for him to ccontact me, and when I heard nothing back I called three more times and left msgs. Finally, two weeks later I got a call back and a meeting was arranged. I went prepared and printed off Dick's job description, the names and contact # of some bigwigs, and a ton of info from the official website detailing relevent policies and procedures to back up my greivences. After a two hour meeting the big boss informed me that Dick would face disciplinary action and that I would be put back on the schedule in a week (although it took them two weeks), and that they would book the supervisor training sessions around my hours. Oh, and I finally got my proper uniform so I don't have to wear the horrible tacky one anymore. Results!! And I was pleased to hear that some of my coworkers had gone had gone in to speak to the boss on my behalf, (thanks guys!). Although all I got for losing a months pay was a "sincere" apology?! Oh well you can't win 'em all.
Besides all that it's been a really busy month. I don't know where to start, lol. Austin has finally been diagnosed with ADHD, so we've been to numerous doctor appointments. But that's a positive thing as his behaviour hes improved alot in the past few weeks.
Then, I was really excited to go to London for Canada day but we scrapped that because of the terrorism. For my Canuck friends who may be out of the loop, some extremists attempted to blow up 2 car bombs outside a packed nightclub in London on the Friday, then Saturday two more tried to drive a flaming SUV into Glasgow airport. Considering Canada Day was on the Sunday and the threat level was 'critical' (meaning: an attack is expected imminently), I decided it was best to stay home. *sigh*
But on the upside Austin's birthday was a success. (I can't believe he's 6!!!) We had some kids over for a mini party and they had a blast. We played pass the parcel, which is like hot potato but when the music stops you take off a layer of wrapping paper and keep the sweeties/toy underneath. This continues until the someone unwraps the last layer and keeps the original gift. Moms take note!! (It keeps them busy for ages!) And I especially liked the trick candles Chid bought that can't be blown out. Everyone had fun popping the confetti bursters and party poppers, my livingroom looked like a silly-string war zone afterwards, but it was worth it.
May 24 Dick the dickI think I feel a bit of a rant coming on...lol. I work for one of the biggest and most well known organisations in the world and they must be among the most disorganized too. My co-workers are great, I couldn't ask to work with better people, but our manager, when it comes to talking to his staff is disinterested at best, and incompitent at worst. I don't even know where to start...lol.
I was hired with the understanding that I was night staff and on weekdays the earliest I could start was 7PM, and I was only flexible on weekends. Although when I started there my manager...I'll call him Dick, ( to protect his privacy...lol ), couldn't get his head round that. He kept scheduling me to come in at all times on weekdays, no matter how many times I reiterated that I wasn't available and explained why. He did the same thing to another employee who's been there for 7 years (he's been there 6 months) and told her that his schedule was not negotiable. She then scribbled over his rota and put herself in at her normal times and told him that her hours were not negotiable. Good on her! After about a month he understood that a 7PM start was all I could do, so he started scheduling the department meetings during the day. There are 2 meetings scheduled, if oyu have day stafff and night staff it would probably make sense that you would have one of each, but he's scheduled them both during the day on a weekday, and he's left a note next to the memo stating that anyone who doesn't attend will face disciplinary measures!! When we went through this last month, (because the meetings were weekday daytime), he said to me, 'you can come in, you don't do anything during the day', and that just about set me off. Really, unless you're in a zen like state, how many times can you have the same conversation with the same person before you start to get really pissed off. I've told him countless times that my son is in school during the day, I do not drive, the bus service is almost non-existant (1 every 2 hours) and doesn't take me all the way there, my husband doesn't get home until 6:30, I'm not from this country and have no one to babysit.....and beyond that I'm night staff goddammit!!!! I shouldn't have to explain any of that even once, it should just be understood that these are my hours of availability, and thats that!
And just to ensure everyone's unhappy he changes the rota (schedule) throughout the week without bothering to inform anyone, (being psychic was not one the the job requirements)and he nearly wrote one girl up for turning up an hour late because he didn't bother to tell her he'd rescheduled her to come in an hour earlier. And beyond that it shows a total lack of respect for our personal lives . He seems to think he owns our time and emplyees must come in when they are required to. Bollocks!! How can anyone possibly make any plans at all or have a life..... they don't pay us nearly enough to make demands on our free time.
My contract states that I am to work 5 days a week, however Dick keeps scheduling me 6 consecutive days every couple of weeks. Last time he it happened I ended up doing 7 nights straight, the last night with only one more member of staff and about 250 guests in house. No security or night manager, just two women at the bar with an overwhelming amount of drunk men celebrating a racing victory. To add insult to injury we were questioned about the hours we wrote down for that night, as reception said we left an hour sooner than we actually did. Dick promised it wouldn't happen again and I would work 5 days weekly as outlined in my contract....and it's happened again this week. When I pointed it out to him he said that I needed to be more flexible. Thats when I finally had enough. I had a right go at him, and told him that my son needs his mommy and that if he refused to respect that then I would quit. I explained to him that I have a family and a life, the company is not my life. And that he doesn't listen to what the staff have to say (he will literally walk away when someone is speaking to him) or take any of it on board. He said, 'I think maybe you have problems at home and that's what is upsetting you'...LOL. I told him that my home life is grand thank you very much, my only problems in life at this very moment are with work. That patronizing SOB, Dick is a dick!!
This is only the tip of the iceburg. Dick's played a cat and mouse game with me on the phone because of the meeting situation, threatening no shifts for 2 months (until next session), when he could have scheduled it for anytime he wants, or done it when I was already at work. My pay was seriously inaccurate and my National Insurance Number lost and as a result I am on emergency tax (which is about 40%, I think). I'm supposed to be on a 10 month supervisor training course, and nobody knows when that will happen. When it come to tips, we split them equally among the bartenders on that night, and unbelievably Dick came out and asked me to cut him in!! He's a manager!! He's in the office most of the time. At the most he spends 30mins - 1 hour behind the bar IF we're busy, or he happens to be walking past and decides to help. I have never in my life heard of a manager asking for his staff's tips. I told him to keep whatever tips he may get when up at the bar cause he's not getting a penny of mine!!
What amazes me is that I have guests coming up to him all the time complimenting my service, the regulars ask for me by name and miss me when I'm gone, I've had 3 job offers from our guests, and even Dick (when I'm cross with him) tells me how much he appreciates the way I take care of the guests and know them by name and drink, and work really hard to get results. And yet he treats us like shit and seems oblivious to it, (pretty much every member of staff has problems with him, even the sweet old daytime lady who never cusses refers to him as 'asshole'). He's just a total nightmare to work with. If it wasn't for him it would be smooth sailing for everyone.
OK, I feel better now...lol. Now I'm going to get ready to go back in to work....sigh.
May 15 Economic Models Using CowsI got this in an email this morning and had to share. :)
SOCIALISM: You have 2 cows, and you give one to your neighbour. COMMUNISM: You have 2 cows. The State takes both and gives you some milk. FASCISM: You have 2 cows. The State takes both and sells you some milk. NAZISM: You have 2 cows. The State takes both and shoots you. BUREAUCRATISM: You have 2 cows. The State takes both, shoots one, milks the other, then throws the milk away... TRADITIONAL CAPITALISM: You have two cows. You sell one and buy a bull. Your herd multiplies, and the economy grows. You sell them and retire on the income. SURREALISM: You have two giraffes. The government requires you to take harmonica lessons AN AMERICAN CORPORATION: You have two cows. You sell one, and force the other to produce the milk of four cows. Later, you hire a consultant to analyse why the cow has dropped dead. ENRON VENTURE CAPITALISM: You have two cows. You sell three of them to your publicly listed company, using letters of credit opened by your brother-in-law at the bank, then execute a debt/equity swap with an associated general offer so that you get all four cows back, with a tax exemption for five cows. The milk rights of the six cows are transferred via an intermediary to a Cayman Island Company secretly owned by the majority shareholder who sells the rights to all seven cows back to your listed company. The annual report says the company owns eight cows, with an option on one more. Sell one cow to buy a new president of the United States, leaving you with nine cows. No balance sheet provided with the release. The public buys your bull. THE ANDERSEN MODEL: You have two cows. You shred them. A FRENCH CORPORATION: You have two cows. You go on strike, organise a riot, and block the roads, because you want three cows. A JAPANESE CORPORATION: You have two cows. You redesign them so they are one-tenth the size of an ordinary cow and produce twenty times the milk. You then create a clever cow cartoon image called 'cowkimon' and market it worldwide. A GERMAN CORPORATION: You have two cows. You re-engineer them so they live for 100 years, eat once a month, and milk themselves. AN ITALIAN CORPORATION: You have two cows, but you don't know where they are. You decide to have lunch. A RUSSIAN CORPORATION: You have two cows. You count them and learn you have five cows. You count them again and learn you have 42 cows. You count them again and learn you have 2 cows. You stop counting cows and open another bottle of vodka. A SWISS CORPORATION: You have 5000 cows. None of them belong to you. You charge the owners for storing them. A CHINESE CORPORATION: You have two cows. You have 300 people milking them. You claim that you have full employment, and high bovine productivity, and arrest the newsman who reported the real situation. AN INDIAN CORPORATION: You have two cows. You worship them. A BRITISH CORPORATION: You have two cows. Both are mad. IRAQI CORPORATION: Everyone thinks you have lots of cows. You tell them that you have none. No-one believes you, so they bomb the shit out of you and invade your country. You still have no cows, but at least now you are part of a Democracy.... WELSH CORPORATION: You have two cows. The one on the left looks very attractive. AUSTRALIAN CORPORATION: You have two cows. Business seems pretty good. You close the office and go for a few beers to celebrate. May 13 Days 3 & 4After some early(ish) morning shopping, it was over to to Cafe 36 to chill out with our friends before their flight home. I had a space latte that I didn't quite finish because it was horribly gritty, but the hot chocolate version was much better.
On our way to the bulldog we stopped to take pictures with the live statues (no, I'm not a tourist!! lol), and we saw the cutest little boy trying very hard to scare the pigeons, and he giggled madly when they all flew up and landed on him. The Original Bulldog is another of my favorite cafes. It's tackishly stylish with window seats that you could hand your legs from and watch the world go by. I saw a poster in there that advertised a Bulldog cafe in Vancouver B.C.....Trev man, you MUST investigate!!
Later we went to the Erotic museum which was a laugh, especially the moving mannequin they have in the doorway riding the dildo bike!! lol. There was the Village people action figures (wonder what kind of games you play with those!?!?) and every kind of sex paraphernalia imaginable.
We spent the rest of the evening wandering around the red light district, and stopping at various coffee shops. Then back up the torturous stairs to the hotel room.
Day 4, our last day we spent in the Bushdoctor coffeeshop, enjoying the last hours in this incredible atmosphere. I bought a wicked space muffin which I ate on our way to the train station, and by the time we were ready to fly I was well chilled out. Now it's back to life, back to reality...lol. May 09 Amsterdam Day 2We woke up on the next morning to the sound of a man plaing the accordian and singing 'Que Sera Sera' (if thats how it's spelt), which was cool, and after another gorgeous chocolate and strawberry covered waffle (the perfect breakfast!) we headed over to the Bluebird coffeeshop to buy some NYC Haze, and some Blueberry. It was a nice place, but we didn't stay cause I nearly got us kicked out for taking pics of the weed menu on the sly.....a no-no over there. But I had to...come on!! lol. Any how, we did some shopping, I found a store that I absolutly love called Local Fanatic that sells loads of wicked Emily the Strange and Nightmare Before Christmas gear.
Then we discovered Hill Street Blues. I love this coffeeshop!!!! It's located in Dam Sqaure and it has such an amazing atmosphere. The walls are covered with graffitti from floor to ceiling, and they play laid back reaggae & blues, and it's nice and dark. There's a downstairs with a pool and fuseball table, but I found my perfect perch sat at the windowsill with my milkshake and space cake. The space cake rocks!!! When we went back to the hotel to get changed it had hit me and I went into a crazy giggling fit. I couldn't stop, tears were streaming down my face and I was snorting. It was pretty embarrassing...lol.
Later in the evening we explored the Red Light district again, and had a blast. It's soo crazy, girls shakin it for all their worth in the windows, pretty ones, ugly ones, skinny, fat, she-males, you name it, they were out in abundance. I didn't take many pictures of the district as it's not generally aloud, but it was great. Of course there were red lights above the widows where the girls were, and the streets were peppered with sex shops, everywhere you turn. And some of th items in the sex shops are very amusing. I think my favorites were the s&m duck, aand the crazy beaver and the squirmy squaw. (lol)
Also we discovered the joys of weiler taxi's, (we just called them pedallo's, lol). It's so scheap, and soo amusing. We showed up to meet our mates in style!! (ha ha)Just sitting there smoking a joint while somebody pedals you around the city. Mind you we nearly got hit by a taxi, and chased by a tram, but it was all good fun. Any way you travel in Amsterdam is scary though!! Tram lines swerve in every direction and your never really sure if your standing in the way. And like I mentioned previously, as far as I can tell, there isn't a designated path for pedestrians, cars, bikes, etc. seem to be able to go wherever they fancy.
We finally met up with our friend's Duncan, Lisa, Jay and the other Lisa. We went to the bulldog and Chid bought some Thai mushrooms. I don't think he did enough, they didn't seem to take affect, but it was still amusing to choose from a menu and buy them pre-packaged. After the other two retired for the night, we hit up another coffeeshop ( I was to battered to remember the name), then went to retire ourselves, and make use of the jaccuzzi in the hotel!! ;)
May 07 Amsterdam Day 1Anybody that knows me knows I hate flying, (I love gravity!!), so when I got off the plane, I couldn't wait to get through immigration (my favorite people..he he) and have a cigarette to steady my nerves. The immigration officer let me straight through so I settled at a bar to have a cocktail and wait for Chid to come through with the bags. I had just sat at the bar and this Irish girl, Aoife, said something silly like 'I wish I looked like you', and we had a laugh about it and I started drinking Zombies with her and her friend Clair. They were really cool chicks, so we took the train into the city together and hung out all day. We went to the girls' hostel, (which was horrible), met Ginger the resident cat, and went straight to The Bulldog coffeeshop. It was a wicked atmosphere, cave like, and the bar was a giant mushroom, with toadstool barstools. It was great to order weed off a menu and we tried Bubblegum and AK47. (I recommend the AK...lol).
We sat outside for a bit smoking and people watching, and I just thought how wonderfully laid back everyone is, and how much I'd love to rent an apartment out here. The Dutch are really friendly, and really tolerent, and they they move at their own pace, they won't be rushed. They use a term called 'gezellig', and it's like a good vibe, laid back, good times. And they are really into comfort, so people can smoke weed at work (in some places) and they move slowly cause work is a gezellig environment. (A little knowledge for ya...lol)
Anyhow, we checked out the Weed Museum, and the Torture Museum which were pretty cool. We were too battered by that point to take the educational bits. Later in the evening we met up with a couple we know from the UK, Duncan and Lisa, and their friends, and went to the Grasshopper for a bit before heading back to the hotel for a semi-early night. Our hotel was located in the club district, so it was quality for smoking and people watching, and wandering about. (Not that we did any of that the first night...we were waaayy too far gone!!)
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