Thought for the day...

So the thought for the day is this: Why can't we predict the weather until the last minute?

Take today for instance. I checked the weather last night and it stated cloudy. Nothing more than that. I even found where it said 10% rain chance. This morning, they changed it to cloudy with a chance of rain in the morning, followed by clearing in the afternoon. So of course we chose to ride our bikes to work knowing from the night before it was only supposed to be cloudy. My coworker walks in and said it was starting to really come down out there. Another coworker was kind enough to let me have her plastic sack and I ran outside to cover my seat. It was already pretty wet though.

So why could that not have been predicted the night before? I just don't get it...

This weekend was nice and eventful. Saturday we did some chores, I went to the eye doctor (having contact problems again), and then we rode our bikes down to the park and met Amy and Joel for lunch. It was very good to see them and catch up on life. We all walked around Zuanich park until we had to leave for other stuff. I forgot sunscreen and burned to a crisp! My skin was as red as a barn. I had forgotten how uncomfortable sunburns are. My skin is so very tight and it hurt. But it was my own fault.

Ernest and I took a nice drive down to LaConnor that evening. We took the motorcycle since we hadn't driven it for quite a while. I bought a new helmet last Wednesday so I was excited to wear it!

Sunday we went to church (it felt so nice to be in fellowship with our congregation again!) and drove out to the Harman's place. We had a nice lunch out there and then headed to small group. It was a nice big gathering with baptisms and everything. We didn't end up going home until around 8pm (we stopped at my parent's house first so I could grab the Sunday paper). I took a peak at the classifieds and found a real estate office job that I started thinking about applying for. It would give me some experience and prepare me for being an agent. However I usually decide not to apply for these jobs after really thinking about it. Do I really want to decrease my pay? What if I dislike it more than my current job? What if I really fail at it? After the deadline comes and goes I kick myself thinking I should have at least applied. Then I find another job I want to apply for and the cycle starts all over again. So I have a solution to this dilemma finally: I'm applying internally. I am so ready for a change that I'm going to try another department. I know I'll have someone trying to talk me out of it, but I can't keep doing what I'm doing. I've gotten to the point that I just don't care anymore about my work. That's a dangerous place to be for the company and department's sakes.

I wish I could sleep tonight. I hate having this much stuff weighting so heavily on my head. It prevents me from sleeping at night. It's now almost midnight and here I am. Oh, to have peace and contentment again!

Today Ernest and I went back to work. I can't say that either of us was thrilled with it, but our jobs paid for us to go on the Great Alaska Getaway. We are already planning for another trip in the near future. The question is: when? I guess we'll come back to that some other time.

It took me until 2pm (starting at 7am) to get through all my work emails. Then I had a meeting with my super and manager. I found out some good things happened while I was gone, and some bad things happened while I was gone. Starting next week we find ourselves (the department) in another overtime challenge. Yes, that means that I'll be working much overtime for the next month. So I"ll be puting in 10 extra hours a week. And although that seems like quite a bit, there are others putting in more time than that, so I have to say, hats off to them! I don't have the desire or will to do anything more. So pray that I won't go absolutely mad during this time.

Other than that, nothing else really happened today. More of the same stress as usual. It's never ending at that place. I think I feel it more as I go higher up in the chain of command. They posted another supervisor position at work in my department. I've had several ask me if I'm goign to apply. The truth is, I wouldn't know how to supervise half a department even if I wanted to. I have no leadership training, and I feel like there is so much more I could be doing as a lead that I just can't seem to get done. Ever feel frustrated and down-right inadequete at work? I'm feeling all that right now. Frustrated and inadequite. I know what's expected of me and where my team should be, but I find our team spirit keeps sliding backward as we get further and further behind. How could I help supervise a department when I can't seem to help my own team with what they need? I'm still wrestling with this whole idea.

Our cats are excited we are home. When we first got home from Alaska, Sarah was so happy we were home, but Thomas was very weary of us. It took him about 5 minutes to warm up to us again. AFter that, for the whole rest of the day, he followed us everywhere and would not let us out of his sight. We are very happy to be home with them!

Ernest continues to read and study to get his certification in networking. I am hoping once he's done and has a good paying job that it will give me more room to do what I want to do: explore different work avenues and get ready to adopt a child.

Tonight we are going on a bike ride with my new helmet! I'm so excited about that helmet! Erica, when you come home you'll have to hop on the bike with Ernest for a bit. You'll love it!

Anyone ever wonder why you can't retire at age 26?

Saturday morning we were up by 6:45am to pack everything up and head down to the ferry. We stopped at the little train depot where we bought a few Christmas presents (yes, Amy’s starting to think about that already). We stopped at a little café that sold Starbucks coffee and various small breakfast items such as fruit and granola cup. We were down at the ferry and lined up by 7:45am. They loaded us on third. We went up to the upper deck of the ferry and watched them load cars on. A bus bottomed out while driving on the dock so it took them about 45 minutes to get him onto the boat. We were off and leaving Skagway by 10:15am, about half an hour late.

We spent a large amount of our time that day out on the deck watching the scenery and taking pictures. The sun was very warm and favored us that day. We saw a whale and some porpoises. We eventually retreated to our room where we unpacked some stuff and snacked a bit on food. At 6:15 we headed to the cafeteria to buy dinner. Ernest ate a game hen with mashed potatoes and a salad, and Amy had a bowl of soup and a salad. We next decided to retreat to our room where we each read a book until bedtime. By 11pm the sky was almost dark, and by 11;30pm one could see stars in the sky. That was the first night since our third day on this trip that the sky was dark enough to see stars!

The next morning, Sunday, we ate breakfast in our room and headed out to the upper decks. The weather was cloudy, foggy, and drizzly. We stayed out and read until the drizzle had become too much. We took a walk around the outer part of the boat (a total of 8 laps which equaled a mile). We spent a couple hours in our room reading until we docked at Ketchukam. We watched cars unload and new cars load. We headed to the cafeteria for some lunch when we were bored watching the loading and unloading. After lunch we grabbed our books and headed to the observation lounge and read for some time. Amy wanted a nap so we retreated to our room where Ernest finished his book and Amy slept.

Not much more happened. We took the opportunity to relax and enjoy the scenery. We also watched a movie which they showed at 7:30pm. Monday wasn’t much different. We can’t say there was much to report on for that day either. Tuesday morning (today) we were up around 5:30am Alaska time (6:30am Pacific) and packed everything. We headed up to the observation lounge and watched as we came into Bellingham. Home never looked so good! All we wanted was to go home and see our cats. Sarah and Thomas had been on our minds almost the entire trip, and more so on the ferry trip home. As soon as we docked, we took our stuff down to the car and waited about 15 minutes before we drove off the boat onto the land we call home. We were home within 15 minutes. We decided not to unpack until we had some time with the cats. Sarah was an affectionate thing and soaked up the attention we gave her. Thomas we a bit freaked out with us, but within 5 minutes warmed up and hasn’t left our sides since. He refuses to let us out of his sight! So we have unpacked and find our home still in one piece. Linda took such good care of everything… we are indebted to her for doing such a wonderful job!