Safe?

In case any of you were wondering, I was not RIFed last Friday. 2 folks out of my group were, as well as a few other folks in this office and a lot of folks that I work with across the country.

This is never fun. I didn't even really feel a sense of relief when I knew I wasn't loosing my job. A bigger part of me almost wished that I got the package and time off, so that I would have to push to explore other options. Being left behind means that there is more work piled on your desk. I am not sure if it is that way everywhere else though, so it just may be a case of "the grass is greener on the other side".

I think it's time to update my resume, start exploring and putting out feelers. I may also need an attitude adjustment (or a very long vacation).

Mother Daughter outing

First things first. My mom kicks ass. Her friends kick ass. As long as I can remember, my mom and her friends have gotten together at least 4 times a year for an outing of some sort. I have heard stories about mock proms they have had at a cabin where they all wore prom gowns and voted a "prom queen". They do all sorts of fun things together and are a great group of women.

A few years ago, they started the tradition where the invited the daughters along. The first event was in Stillwater...meet for mimosas and breakfast at 8 am, a boat outing and a night of debauchery. It was a fantastic time.

The seconds outing was this year. Plan was to meet for lunch and then head out for a day at Canturbury Downs to try our luck at the horse races. My luck wasn't all that great, but it was a fun time. We had also planned on staying down there for the night and having dinner/drinks together but Mom and I pooped out. The weather was 100 yesterday and the heat wore us out early. We headed back to check into the hotel at about 7 and discovered it was not a place we wanted to stay....pretty gross. We opted against the hotel and headed home. I wish we would have had the energy to continue the festivities into the evening, but the heat was just too much for us.

All in all a great time. I can't wait for the next outing.

My receipe for salsa

As you may have noticed from my previous post I've been itching to make some salsa. The garden is starting to come in....Yeah!

Here are the tomatoes a few weeks back. A few of them have started to turn red. These are the romas, we also have cherry and the big boys (heh) growing.

We got peppers too! These are jalapeno, but we also have green pepper, yellow and habanero. The green ones and jalapenos were ready to harvest.

I grabbed some of the big boys, a roma, a jalapeno pepper and a green pepper. I had on hand, cilantro, cucumber, garlic and some lime juice. I threw it all in my handy Cuisinart food processor and processed away. This is what it came out looking like:

Not bad.....very cheap also considering I will pay in upwards of 3-4 dollars for fresh salsa at the store. It was mighty tasty also. I have a feeling there will be tons of salsa made once the garden starts to come in more. I'll probably also make tomato sauces and soups.

I know I am a geek, but it's fun.

WooHoo

BTW, I stepped on the scale this morning and am now down 2 lbs. Not a bad start.

RIF

I work for a large telecommunications company. In the past 6 years I have sat in the same chair and have worked for a company that has 2 different names, then had the largest SEC bankruptcy filing in history, because of an accounting scandal. Company then changed name, to better the "public image" . Company then was purchased by another huge conglomerate and I now work for a different company, which brings it to a grand total ......how many? Can you follow all that? I can't.

Not surprisingly, RIFs (Reduction in Force) are a common theme around here. I've seen about 12-15 of them since I've been here. The RIF season has arrived once again.

The thing I can't stand is the rumors that always precede these things. EVERYONE has speculations about who's going to go, how many etc. I find it exausting. If I am going to get whacked, whack me. The worst thing is that I get a paid summer vacation off.

My theory is keep my head down and my pencil moving. I'll continue to push paper until they decide to get rid of me, or I decide to get rid of them. There is nothing else I can do.

If you want to shoot me, shoot me, it's nice outside and I would rather be out there then sitting in the confines of my cube.

I've made a decision

Life has been an adjustment for the past few months. Living with someone has been great. Cooking for two has been fun. I love to cook and have been doing a lot of it lately. The inevitable has caught up with me.

I've gained weight.

Not a lot of weight. Maybe a couple of pounds. I have noticed that clothing isn't fitting like it used to, so I think things are "shifting around". Never a good thing. I haven't been exercising as much as I would like and I haven't really watched what I have been eating. New relationship bliss will do that to a girl.

About four years ago, I was pretty big for my height. I decided at 166 lbs that I have had enough and joined weight watchers. It took me some time, but I did manage to drop 26 lbs. I managed to keep it off for a couple years and gained about 10 of it back. I've been wanting to drop those 10 lbs, but I really wasn't all that motivated since I felt pretty good at 150. I swore to myself I would never allow myself to push 170 again. At 5'3" that is simply too much weight.

I've been eating too much lately and not really taking the thought or time to eat healthy foods. I eat whatever I want and that, my friends, is a very slippery slope. It's time.

I decided that after the weekend in Indianapolis and the holiday, I need to get back into shape. I joined weight watchers again, online this time. I weighed myself yesterday and was at 148.5 (it's a new scale so I think it's a bit light). My goal is to get down to 140 and eventually down to 130 or 135. I am happy at 140, so if I feel good there and can maintain it I may just stick with that.

Wish me luck.