I really have nothing new to say. We work, we work, and sometimes we play...
But here are some funny things that have happened at the office.
On Monday, it had snowed, I had blown snow off the driveway and then gone in to shower and dress for work. After brushing my hair and not liking the result, I set it with hot curlers...not once but twice. My hair was not cooperating. Finally, I gave up because I needed to get to work. I thought, my hair will be "fashionably wild" today. I hair sprayed it and left. The weather was still snowy, the wind blowy, and my hair suffered. Even though I have a mirror in my office, I do not look into it often. Around 4:00 one of my ladies that comes in to turn in her timesheet came by. She is a wonderful Alaskan Native, always positive, always has a twinkle in her eye, always gives me compliments. Today? This is what I got: "What happened to your hair?" After explaining that it was a bad hair day, she looked at the clock and said, "Well, it's almost time for you to quit. You can go back to your office and hide." That was just too good to not share with the temp front desk admin assistant, who then beat me to the Program Manager's office to share the story...
At our office, we are looking for a new front desk admin assistant. One interviewee had a great title at a previous job: Director of First Impressions. Another interviewee, after being asked why she would possibly be absent and how often she had missed work from her previous job said she hadn't missed a day of work...then did add that she had taken the day off when her Mom had died (2 years previously). Admittedly I didn't think through the next comment as I said, "Well, you can't use that excuse again now..." (In my defense, we've had some pretty flimsy excuses for not coming to work and that is where my mindset was.) We have had many, many applicants. It is heart wrenching to look at the resumes and see over-qualified people just wanting a job and willing to do whatever it takes to pay the bills. However, we have the opportunity of picking and choosing who will be the best person for the job, and unfortunately, over-qualified people will want to move on.
Our ID home driveway is still tough to get up or down in the snow. We have had it reworked but it hasn't helped. The guy hired to plow the driveway hasn't been as reliable as needed. David has been stuck sometimes at the top and other times hasn't been able to get to the house. With our 4-wheel drive Explorer in AK, we have also have a problem needing a 4-wheel drive vehicle to use for the farm. Last year Brian let us use his 4 Runner for hauling the trailer full of fencing material to the farm. This year? We needed a truck...for the farm, for David getting up and down from the house. Kent was able to go last Thursday morning to SLC via Phoenix. Elizabeth and Abby were able to greet Grandpa during his layover while Katie was able to finish up with her job and meet him at the SLC airport and drive him up to ID. And then the hunt was on. Do we get a "better" used truck so that we have it when we retire or do we get one that will do the job until we retire and then take our time to find the "perfect" one? Kent and Katie looked high and low and found a cherry of a truck...a 1997, F-250, 4x4, cherry red truck with 114,000 miles. It even has a bed liner and sideboards... But it is red...and old... David was hoping for a reprieve from red cars and something "newer" but I think it's a good looking truck. Course, I haven't seen it up close and personal yet, just the pictures from the dealer's online site. But now we have a truck.
I came home from work during the day last week and found a cow moose in our front yard chewing on the prickly tree we don't like. Go moose! She even stayed long enough for me to get some pictures, then eyed me, turned her back to me, sprayed her territory and walked across the street. I love Alaska!
We've had some days in the mid-30's for the snow to slush and melt a bit. Then it snows again and ices everything up. Thank goodness St. Patrick's Day is coming for a bit of a "fun" break. We're talking of having a St. Paddy's day potluck at work. I've got Andes mints and Hershey's mint M&Ms (green of course) in my office along with lots of greens and clover decorations to break-up the dreariness of dark days. The days are getting longer though, 5 min a day right now. And we are still living in winter wonderland, only wondering when the spring thaw (break-up) is really going to happen.
