So far I’ve got two interviews. Well, one is just a pre-employment session and testing. Hopefully I’ll get some more to do. There are several high paying ones that I’m hoping to hear from, but I probably won’t. I’m just not that lucky. Keep me in your prayers!

Well, we just got the list of black out dates for vacation. Since I’m in cash control, I can’t be off the last three business days of the month, the first five business days of the month, and the eighth through the twelfth. Since I’m also in refunds, I can’t be off from the tenth through the fourteenth. What does all of this mean? That I have exactly 9 days in a month when I can be off. (at least for the next two months) That may not be the worst thing, but wait, it gets worse. I can’t take off anytime between now and November 14th. Although they haven’t sent out the email, I’m just waiting for it. We will only be allowed to have one vacation day between November 15th and January 31st. Last straw. I’m actively looking for a job now. Wouldn’t it mess them up if I left during open enrollment.

Well, its 1:12 am and I’m still awake. What am I doing still up? Well, I did a late night job search on monster. I’m also talking with velvetcherri. I updated my web site (new siggies), and now I’m writing a post. I’m looking for a graphics program. I’m looking for a tablet. I’m just not ready to go to sleep. I’m watching programs on CourtTV that I’ve already seen tonight. *sigh* I should take my pills and start going to sleep.

I went out with Mom today. I got my new driver’s license. I got a nice warm outfit that I can wear while I’m at home. I got a Christmassy sweat shirt. I’ll wear that several times. I also got shoes - wonderful shoes. Sporty, athletic looking ones that are sooo comfortable and waterproof boots. I may be in the garage, but I’m going to have to do the snow moving. Mom bought shoes, too. We got chocolate chip cookies - big ones. We had a gift certificate. We went to lunch at Yolanda’s (a local Italian place). We went to Kohls and Mom got a fall wreath that she likes. She’s been looking for one for some time now. But we found it! Yay! Then we got subs at Sheetz, drugs at RiteAid, and came home. I dyed Mom’s hair. It was a busy day. so I should probably go to bed. Blech. Maybe in a few minutes…

So I’ve been feeling better and I thought I was happy, but I’m apparently not. Work is making my life miserable. I’ve not been treated very well this week and I’m not at all appreciated for all I have done and do. I was yelled at on Wednesday for making a mistake in coding a check. One check out of the thousands that I’ve done and I get yelled at for it. I was also yelled at for sending out a letter and a check that was approved to be sent by my team lead and a supervisor. I was almost placed on corrective action. According to my supervisor the new manager wanted to do that. But she stopped her. I don’t know what to believe. I pointed out that it was one check out of over a thousand, yet I was told that we had talked about this before - yeah, six months ago when we weren’t using initials and it was never proven that I was the one who coded that check. Did I make a mistake? Yes. I’m willing to own up to that. I made a mistake in both instances. The coded check I simply overlooked something. The letter, I had reason to believe that I was doing the correct thing. Obviously, if it was approved by two other people. Now it all comes back on me. I’m told that I’m careless. That I need to be more cautious. That I need to talk over all my decisions with my team leads. That’s not going to happen. I’m not going to be micromanaged by a condescending know it all. I think its time to look for a new job.

It works! It caught a spam. Woohoo! Thanks Sarah!

This is something I wrote a long time ago. It was the day the world changed. Here it is, in my own words.

“September 11, 2001 is a day I know I’ll never forget. I was watching Today on NBC right after the second plane crashed into the second tower. I’ll never forget my shock and disbelief, and then horror as first one tower fell to the ground, and the second followed. I don’t know if I’ll always remember that I was sitting in a chair in the Hopewell wage tax office, leaning forward over a small metal table when buildings once thought impossible to destroy, crumpled to the ground sending up a plume of smoke and debris that sight alone could not penetrate. I think of the fire fighters, the police, the paramedics, the ordinary citizens who went in, deterimed to fight the fire and destruction and to save the victims, above and below the gaping holes, never giving thought to the possibility that the mighty World Trade Centers, buildings which had before survived terrorists attempts to bring it down, would surrender to the heat and the stress. I sometimes wonder if those brave men and women realized what was happening when the tower began to tremble, as I imagine it did, seconds before the tons of steel, cement, and now fellow victims down upon them. What shock and fear was felt by the men and women we all count on to be there to save us in times of disaster when their fellows were swallowed by dust and debris. I can’t imagine the terror and desperation felt by the innocent men and women whose lone fault was to come to work early, or on time.

I still remember my shock and fear as a man in the Pentagon broke into another conversation with the news that there had been an explosion-like sound and that the building had shaken around him. And I remember my awe at his courage and foolhardiness as he told the nation he would leave his office to discover what had happened and then come back to tell us all. I remember my utter shock at learning that this terrorism had stuck closer to home, that a plane had crashed 8 miles from Jennerstown, a place I’ve driven through and near Route 30, a road that has many times taken me to the joy of summer camp, or the escape of my churches youth ski retreat. I wonder if I’ve seen the field or driven past the lake not far from the crater that marks the passing of so many brave souls, and the passing of a part of the evil that has woken the sleeping giant. And although I know no person who has died or been injured in this heinous attack on our country, the shock and grief have overwhelmed me. Missing a day of work and leaving early the two days prior I try to fight a relapse of an illness I have yet to beat off completely. I wonder how long my reaction to this unthinkable deed will go on, and if I will have to break down and call the psychiatrist helping me in the battle against the illness.

Yet even in my shock, my heart warms at the acts of those selfless many who have fought to save the lives of others, who have risked themselves on the smallest chance of life. I am humbled by the hordes who wait in line for hours to donate blood to help the victims in any way they can. If I could join them, I would despite my fear and loathing of needles and the pain they cause. still, I look for ways to help. I’ve spent my hard earned mypoints.com points on donations to the red cross. I am in awe of those who left their lives to come to the worst devastation’s that I have ever seen to help in the grim task of digging through the ruble. I applaud and pray for those rescue workers who refuse to leave the rubble of the collapsed buildings because their fellows had been caught in the surprising collapse of such noble buildings. Human kindness pours out of the heart of the nation, supporting, loving, uplifting, and praying for those who lived, died, survived, are searching and are digging.

A sad topic and a sad few days in which to begin this blog of my life, but I can not ignore that I have been deeply affected by this “Attack on America”, as the viewer grabbing media has labeled the tragic events. And now, I go to sleep, to rest, and to gain the strength to make it through work tomorrow and to try to pick up my life, while closely watching and waiting as the trauma continues.”

This week has not been the best, work wise. For the second week in a row my co-worker, who will remain unnamed, has lied on the weekly activities report. This time I wrote up an email and sent it to the Cash Control team lead, and BCC’d Serita. We’ll see what happens. I’ve not heard anything, but I know she read the email (its so nice to have it tell you when people read your emails - one of the things I love about outlook) and we’ll see. If my co-worker does it again this week, I’m going to T, our supervisor. And she’s lying about stupid things that anyone can see aren’t true. She said she did 3 bank deposits two weeks and and last week. Well, that’s not true. We did one bank deposit two weeks ago and two last week. There are files showing this. Hey, I never said she was very bright. However, I decided I wasn’t going to sit around and let her make it look like she does all this work that she simply never did. She said she sent spreadsheets to shuble each week. Well, we only do them every other week - the first week was an off week and the second week I heard them say that they weren’t going to do it. She put down that she did 59 non-payment issues - I did all her non payment issues that week. She wrote that she had sent out 50-odd letters - she never did the mail merge. The only things that she did get right were the trainings she went to each week. *sigh*

Onto work problem two. We have a process set up where when I get a check with an application I write up an issue and forward it to the CC follow-up queue. They look at it and send it back with one of three resposnes - process the check - the member is in the system, do not process the check - the member is being sent a RFI letter, or we need a copy of the application. If its on hold, we put the check on hold and send the issue back to wait for a response from the prospective member. They’re not quite as good at getting back to us with that, but they’re getting better. But that’s on the Med D side. Well, now I’m working PFFS (one of the stupider moves made in the office, but I digress). They had stopped sales on all companies for PFFS for several months, meaning we had no live checks with applications. I got one Monday night. Tuesday morning (9 am) I send the issue over to the PFFS CC Follow-up queue and I wait. And wait. When I haven’t heard by 2 pm the next day, I email my sup. She told me to get in touch with my med d contact. Lets rewind a second - when I sent the issue over the the PFFS CC Follow-up queue, I did send an email to my med d contact letter her know to inform whoever was in charge of the PFFS side that there was a issue there. Back to Wednesday. I track the med d contact down and talk to her. She goes to talk to the PFFS people and sends me an email stating that she talked to the PFFS team lead and that the supervisor was handling it. I wait another day. In the Cash control meeting I bring up that I still haven’t received that issue back. So my team lead asks for an email. I sent one to her along with the email I had received from the med d contact. She talked to Sam and eventually found out that the choice on the application wasn’t valid for that county and that it needed to be put on hold. Which I did. But I still hadn’t heard on the issue. So my team lead sends an issue to the person who she believes to be the PFFS team lead, just saying that we needed to get the process set up before open enrollment happens. I checked all day today. I still haven’t received the issue back from enrollment. Monday I talk to my team lead and see if she got a response. If not, then Tuesday I go back to my sup. I need this process working before open enrollment on the 15th of November. Things will get crazy then. We will get a lot of applications with checks. They do not seem to understand the urgency of the situation. *sigh*

So I’m working on those two things. Another thing I’m working on is overtime. Late enrollment penalty roll-out time. Lots of work, not a lot of time to do it in. I’d work tomorrow, but one of the systems will be down. So I’ll be working on Sunday. I’ll stop before I go to confirmation class, though. Don’t want to miss that. I guess that’s it for work this week.

Last week I had a battery of tests done by a chiropractor to see if some of my problems were stemming from my spine. Today I got the results. The answer is yes. Especially in my upper neck and shoulder area. And my spine has a curve in it that shouldn’t be there! I thought I was going to see nothing on my x-rays and that it was all stress, but its not. So I’m going through with the chiropractor treatment. I see him three times a week for so long, two times a week for so long, once a week for so long, once every other week for so long, once every two weeks for so long, and once every month for an undisclosed period of time. My insurance will cover 15 visits a year and luckily it is year end. However, Ed (the chiropractor) estimates that there will be ten uncovered visits between now and the new year. *sigh* Its not outrageous - only $15 more than my co-pays are, but when you add it up - its a lot of money. Yet if I can get rid of some of my back issues - well that would just be awesome. I got rid of my front chest pains (thanks to a better fitting bra) and my heartburn is down to nothing since I started the generic Prilosac, so why not get my neck and back straightened out? It means I have to push back getting new eyeglasses and contacts. Well, I’d only get new lenses. Hmm…I wonder what our vision plan covers. I’ll have to check that out. And car insurance will be coming soon enough. (Okay, so its not till November, but its close enough for me!) I’ll be doing the payment plan this year (no way I could do the huge lump sum plan). Hmm…financial planning time. If I cut down on my credit card payments (which I can do because I overpay them intentionally), and cut down on my spending (and that’s in cash folks - I don’t do credit cards anymore) I should be able to make it. Not sure I can help out with the dryer like I just told mom I would. Making the lump sum payment to the chiro saved me ten percent - and its all on my copays right now anyways. I just thought it would be too depressing to have to hand them $20 bucks three times a week. Yes, I’m back to the health care related stuff. I take detours. Now shush. I saw Dr. Denise (no, I am not going to try out spelling her last name - its got a r, a n, a g, and a y all in a row somehow - I don’t get it) and that went fine. We talked about the bone density test that I didn’t pass. That was only a screening. I’m going to check with my insurance company to see if they will cover the bone scan even though I’m pre-menopausal - I did have that test come back as bad two years in a row. I do take calcium and D and drink milk. *shrug* I don’t know what’s wrong with me. However, if I get the test and I do have low density then its something that we can watch. I’m getting my new prescription sent to Caremark for mail order drugs - that will be cheaper. Speaking of them, I think I owe them some money. I have to pay them and the cell phone company and I should do that this week. Friday I get paid which gives me enough to pay the Discover bill (that’s the small one, yay!) Oh goodie - we get three paychecks next month. That will be extra money that I can use.

Well, I dug up my contacts from the evil pit that is the garage. I’m quite surprised that my sister didn’t throw them away in her big cleaning spell. That would have been horrible! So I put them on just a few minutes ago and I’m still adjusting to the changes. I think I have the right prescription on the right eye, but I could be wrong. I tested my eyes by putting my glasses on normal and looking with one eye, then the other. Next I flipped my glasses upside down and looked with one eye, then the other. My left eye is worse than my right eye, according to my little experiments. I tell you though, its weird going from glasses to contacts. Weird. Its amazing how much difference there is between wearing glasses - having that space between your eyes and the lenses - and wearing contacts - having no spaces between your eyes and the lenses. I wore contacts for years and loved them. When I got sick at college I stopped wearing them. I’d like to wear them again, if I could. So consider this an experiment in vision, if you will.

Well, I got all of my dolls up and on my pages. I had to go through every doll in the directory. I found some that I thought were lost forever. That made me happy. Especially this one:

I can’t tell who made the base due to the doll. I’m open to any ideas, though. Its one of my faves, though I couldn’t begin to tell you how I made it. I’m looking into finding my copy of PSP so I can try out doing some dolls. I’m going to go to sleep now. I’m exhausted. More on Monday.