#365 CompleShawn, and a new ResoluShawn

Well, for better or for worse, I'm done.

I may have accidentally missed a day, and sneakily back posted now and again.

BUT, technically, there was a post, per day, for the year.

I can tell you this though,  not again. If I do Blob in the future I will:

1) Post a link here.
and
2) Post when I have something to say, rather than post for the sake of posting.

But, like I said, I've done it.

And once it's done, it's done.

So that's it.

Thanks for reading, if you read...

And if you're there...

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

Oh and if you're wondering... my New Year's Resolution for 2015 is...

... to Drink more.

No, seriously, I plan on drinking more.

We have a very well stocked liquor cabinet, and it's about time we used it.

So, while I don't plan on drinking every day, I can certainly say, once or twice on a Week Night, and throughout the weekend.  Not constant, but a nice cocktail here and there...

So...
Tchin-Tchin,
Cheers,
Sláinte,
Prost,
Skål,
Spasibo,
Up Yer Bum!

#364 Work Priority MalfuncShawn

Well today was far better on the commute, but far worse at the office.

There were only a total of 5 of us in the office today, which don't get me wrong, THAT was awesome,  but there were two people from Finance that basically wanted a pint of my blood, a kidney and my first born.

And as of 3PM they both fucked off until the 2nd. Meanwhile myself and 2 others have to come in tomorrow because it's the "end of year", which means there's a shit load of EXTRA things to do and only three of us to manage the entire office. 

Can. Not. Wait.

Not!

#363 Work Environment CelebraShawn

The downside of today was that I had to work.

The upsides were:

The commute was easy, and lots of seats available on Metro and Bus.

The office was nearly empty so I was able to just casually do my work.

Typhoid Mary left a little mess for me to clean up, but guess what, I couldn't because of shipping restrictions this week, so SHE can clean it up when she gets back next Monday and deal with a pissed off client and sales rep.

And I still have a good stash of Eggnog, so the Coffee Nog was my  beverage of choice all day.

And what's even better (fingers crossed) tomorrow will be the same!

#362 Home Sweet Home. CelebratShawn

The song, "There's no place like home for the holidays" should be re-written to "It's great to me home after the Holidays".

We had a wonderful time at the Chalet. A wonderful Christmas. A wonderful 5 days of rest and relaxation. 

We love being down in the Townships, but even more than that, we LOVE being home.

Our things, our sofa, our bed, our shower.

It's always good to visit, but it's even better being back at home.

#361 Wildlife ConservaShawn

Aside from always having a relaxing time, and amazing sleeps, I think what I love most about the Chalet is all the wildlife we see in the area.

Wildlife count this trip:

2 White Tail Deer

2 Raccoons

1 Red Fox 

Countless Red and Grey Squirrels and Chipmunks

1 Eagle

And various Ducks (Mallard, Wood etc), Loons Morning Doves, Woodpeckers, Bluebirds... and Wild Turkeys.

Unfortunately in none of these instances were we able to get pictures.  That's the thing with wild animals... they make surprise appearances. You never have a chance to get your phone or camera to get some great pics.

So we live in the moments, enjoy the experience and look forward to the next sighting...

#360 Missing PrecipitaShawn

Today was a perfect Friday.

To start, I was not working... Thank you Boxing Day.

Add to that, sleeping in. A relaxing morning at the chalet, a leisurely drive around lac Massawippi and the company of my man and the dogs. 

All in all it was as close to perfect as it is going to get.  

If I was to critique anything, it would have been the lack of snow, otherwise... perfection!

#359 Festive NotificaShawn

...from Lac Massawippi.

#358 Holiday PercipitaShawn

Christmas Eve and all is peaceful, and wet.

So much for a White Christmas.  Looks like we're going to have a Wet Christmas.

There's still some snow on the ground, but the more rain that falls, and the mild temperatures are making fast work of what is left. *sigh*

#357 Christmas AnticipaShawn

Left office at 2:00 pm. 

Packed car then left home at 2:45 pm. 

Made it to the chalet at 4:30 pm. 

Unpacked by 5:30 pm. 

Mini tree up, lit and decorated, 6:15 pm. 

C'MON SANTA! WE'RE READY!!!

#356 Last Minute Office Task FrustraShawns

Holy Crap on a Cracker!

The office was 2/3rd empty today, and yet I'll be damned if today was not one of the busiest days of the year.

Curse you Prep for Year End!

Curse you to HELL!

Tomorrow is supposed to be a half-day for me, but I'm not so sure.   I was supposed to leave atr 12:30  but in all likely hood it's gonna be 2 or 3 pm.

SIGH!

#355 Weekend PerfectShawn

What a wonderful weekend.

Nothing too complicated or stressful.

Got to sleep in both days. 

Watched some Christmas Movies and specials.

Wrapped the last gifts.

Went for a couple lovely walks in the crisp cool air.

Took some photos about the city.

And just otherwise took it easy.

Weekend dreams are made of these...

#354 Final PreparaShawns

We're ready!

All the gifts are bought.

All the presents are wrapped.

All the cookies and cakes are baked and iced. (Thanks Marcel)

All our parcels have been mailed and delivered.

I've only got a day and a half left of work and then *BAM*  

♪ ♫ Christmas Vacation.

Christmas Vacation.

We're so glad it's Christmas Vacation. ♫ ♪

#353 AdoptShawn

6 years ago today I was rescued by a 1.5 lb Chihuahua. I found him after volunteering at the SPCA in Montreal. It was instant Love.

I say *I* was rescued because to be honest, he healed my  heart. I was in a relationship that a few months later would dissolve after revealing itself to have been nothing but one lie after another, but this little guy (Santiago-de-Montréal) showed me that I could be loved, unconditionally, purely, so deeply; and that it was within my being to send that love back.

We often look for things in life to fill voids, food, drink, drugs, material things. These just leave more holes.

I decided that day I wanted to give something a better chance at life, give him a life beyond the crowded create he had spent the first 18 months of his life in, horribly mistreated in a puppy mill. What I didn’t know then was that in taking him into my life, he would do more for me than I could ever do for him.

Love for the small things. Love for the 4-legged things. Love for the sake of Love.

Now, years later I still have this little nugget of furry love in my life, and he helped me find another deep and true and lasting love with my Partner Marcel…  and months after I met Marcel he was rescued by a dog as well; Peanut.

We’re not your typical definition of a Family, but I’ll tell you this, you’ll be hard pressed to find another family as full of love (and a crowded bed), as ours.

If you ever think about getting a cat or dog, or other pet, please consider having your soul saved too; adopt, don’t shop.

The reward of that one small act, will impact you in ways your heart and soul could never dream be real.

#352 Email NotificaShawn

So as I mentioned the other day, I've taken on some new responsibilities at work. Specifically, Collections and Accounts Receivable.

We receive notifications from our clients that do electronic funds transfer via email.  Now, the greater number of these notifications are sent to a group email address that I was already on. But quite a few of these are sent to the person that has just retired. And in this company, the day you leave they shut down all your access and kill your email address. And to complicate things more, they do not sent bounce notifications. This is the first job I've had since 1994 that when an employee leaves that their email is not re-routed to some catchall address, or forwarded to a specific other address.

Well,  I spoke to our IT guy and asked that the email that belongs to the person that just retired would be forwarded to me, as it's very important that we are able to receive these notifications. And that I'd make it a priority to have the clients correct the address they use, with the intent that in a month or so we could then properly deactivate the old email address.

Well he said it was not going to happen. Not because he didn't agree with my request, but that the US office dept that maintains the email servers simply "don't do this".

I kinda laughed and said, "because this would require them to do about 90 seconds work?!" 

He laughed and said,  "Pretty much"

I said do you mind if I cause a stink about this, involve the CFO and the Canadian VP pointing out at just how ridiculous their policy of just killing email addresses is? Not to mention how many lost notifications there would be, I'd be unable to complete some daily reports and that electronic transfers would go un-applied to clients accounts and that I'd end up making the company look incompetent because I'd have to contact clients and ask why invoices were not paid, when they *were* but we just didn't know because our company just kills email addresses.

He gave me his blessing, and I sent the email out at 9:30 this morning.  And guess what?  By noon, the mail forward was set up and it's now policy that when an employee departs there's a process to determine if their email should be re-routed for a period of time, or if indeed there is no issue in the email being closed. AND that there is an auto-responder goes out in either case indicating the address should no longer be used and direct them to the appropriate address.

I mean this is such a basic thing. And any company in 2014 that values their clients as well as their reputation is going to take a minute to do such a basic thing. 

And as of end of day today, this simple email forward has ensured that over $15,000.00 was properly applied to clients accounts, because they were using the old email address.

So score one for me!  I'm no rocket scientist, but I'm no noob either!

#351 Office - Christmas PreperaShawns

I have already checked out, mentally, at the office.

Not only have we been prepping at home for the past month for Christmas, but also at the office. Because our clients are the Nuclear Medicine departments of Hospitals, and because historically they get next to no bookings over the last 3 weeks of the year, and the first week of the new year, they decrease or cancel a lot of their regular orders. 

The logistics of those changes, and their implications for pur productions as well as their shipping, means we start mid-November.

Well I was fortunate in that I got all of my clients' changes/cancellations completed, and all summaries and reports complated and sent out.

Now that this is done I am spent and I honestly am only physically in the office. Mentally, I'm already at the cottage on Lac Massawippi, waiting for Santa...

#350 Job DescriptShawn

Effective today here’s my revised Job Title:

Customer Service Representative / Inventory Controller / Accounts Receivable / Collection Agent / Report Specialist / Radiopharmacy Billing Administrator.

I also am the Back up for Office Manager, Inventory Receiver, and Accounts Maintenance.

Just typing that was exhausting!

#349 Dream RecollectShawn

I dreamed I was given a death sentence and the method was Hanging.

I'm sure it's not how I 'experienced' it. but how would we really know.

In my dream it was actually rather peaceful, which clearly is not what you see portrayed in movies and TV or in those rare file footage videos.

It was all very "slow-motion-y" and and calm and relaxing, and it was like drifting off to sleep.

Not sure why I dreamed this, or why my sub-conscious made it such a soothing and peaceful experience...  but it's not the kinda thing you want to think about, much less experiences, and maybe I know I couldn't handle the real extreme-ness of it.

Things that make you go "Hmmmmm."

#348 Sleep DeprivaShawn

Nothing like a call at 1 AM in the morning and then having to  do work for an hour... and THEN try to get back to sleep... by 3:30 am...

*SIGH*

It's gonna be an early night tonight, me thinks...

#347 Saturday SatisfactShawn

Gingerbread Waffles, Cookie baking, Gift Wrapping, Egg Nog drinking and Christmas Movie watching.

That is what makes for a pretty damn good Saturday.

#346 Winter MagiShawn

I know I'm beginning to sound like a broken record.  But it's STILL snowin here in Montreal.   I'd say we got another 6-8 cms today. And tonight... well, its that big feathery, fluffy slow-mo type of snow that's falling.  It's PURE MAGIC!  

If this keeps up much longer I'll soon be reverting to my 8 year old self and making snow angels!

And I could not be happier if that happens!

#345 Snow AddictShawn

I'm still on a Snow high!

We probably only got another 1-2 cms today, but all toll from yesterday to today we got over 30cms!!!

It's official, at least in my eyes, the Winter is already here!

Not that I want to tempt Karma or the Fates, but it'd have to take an awful lot to knock me off this buzz I'm currently riding.

#344 Grade 'A' Winter PrecipitaShawn

It happened!

It snowed

We got a great dump of snow from last nigh, into today, and it's continuing over night.

To say that I'm happy is an understatement.

♫ ♪ I've got the joy, joy, joy, joy, down in my heart, down in my heart, down in my heart. ♪ ♫

This was my view this morning.

I'm a Happy Camper!

#343 Possibility of PrecipitaShawn

Hope springs eternal.

And as a Lover of Winter and Snow... the fact that they're calling for between 15 -30 cms of the white stuff over the following 48 hours has me more optimistic than usual.

And it'd be about time because so far, it' been a dude here Snow-wise.

Fingers crossed!

#342 Monday CompleteShawn

As far as Monday's go, today was a not so bad.

No interruptions in the Metro or on the Bus.

 Got more items off my desk.

No one significantly  raised my blood pressure, or got added to my Shit-list.

I got home at t decent hour and had a relaxing evening.

Monday, you were a success.

#341 Weekend incompleShawn

Slept in til 10:30 today.  Still not a solid night's sleep, but it was more sustained. And, I'm still hopped up on the pain meds...  Robax, Extra Strength Tylenol and some orange things I had left over from when my teeth got pulled last year.  

But I'm a trooper and I plowed through the pain and managed to pump out over 5 dozen Shortbread cookies, did some laundry, tidied up a bit, prepped supper, took some photos of the decorations, did my flight checks. 

But sadly I still didn't get through all my check list for the weekend.   I just didn't have the time or energy.

Oh well, looks like next weekend I'll have to send Marcel out for a bit, or more likely, send him to bed for a 2 hour nap...

#340 Not enough MedicaShawn

I do not know what happened to me, or what I've picked up, but I've got some bug. My lower back, shoulders and my head are so sore and ache-y. 

I didn't sleep much last night. And that was after taking pain meds, and extra strength Tylanol PM. 2 at 10 pm and 2 and 2 am.  

Never slept more than 30 minutes straight, until 7 am in the morning and then I finally manages to sleep for 2 hours non stop!  I think sheer exhaustion was the key.

At one point I even looked online... and that's never a good idea...
I narrowed it down to the Shingles, turning into a werewolf (a la An American Werewolf in London), or like an amoeba, I was splitting in two.  Of the three options, I've only been able to discount the Shingles so far.

It really sidelined my day. I didn't achieve nearly what i wanted to do. Hopefully tomorrow will be better.

#339 Gruß vom Krampus!

If you've been a naughty boy or girl this year, you should be fearful tonight.  Krampus is out looking for bay boys and girls to kidnap and eat.

You've been warned.

#338 OperaShawn AutomaShawn

Well today was a much better day!

I was SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO productive!  OH MY GOD!   

Look, if I *HAVE* to be in the office, there is nothing I love better than a day where I get a poop-load of things done.  Files and folders emptied and re-filled.  Changes, and Excels, and print Jobs and Scans.

Tomorrow is Friday and I believe I'll be able to just coast to 5 pm.

#joy

#337 Office HallucinaShawn

I'm not even sure I went to work today....

Far be it for me to complain about the work day going by quickly, but there is such a thing as 'too quickly'   I swear, I got to work and then next thing I know it was quarter 5!

Look, I don't wish to still be there, but I honestly could have liked a couple more hours to get things done.

I fear what tomorrow will be like...

#336 Gift PreperaShawn

We are WELL INTO the Christmas Season now.   

Tonight we wrapped 6 gifts and 6 fruitcakes, and signed some Christmas cards.  Tomorrow I lug it all to the office to Wrap them all up for shipping.

And then I have to go to the Post office. (Pray for me.)

After that though, Wham, Bam. Thank you Santa. Gifts in the mail!

 

#335 ExhaustShawn

When the office phone rings at 7:45 pm on a Sunday night it's not going to be a good night. And I was right.  The phone rang again at exactly 5 AM !!! Once I made my follow-up calls I was WIDE AWAKE...

It's now 7:30pm and I'm already feeling a bit drifty.

The only good thing I can say, is that Monday is for the most part over and done with.