stoked!

*****Revised 7/30/08*****

Those of you who know me, know how much I love to read.... and when I find a good book, it is almost impossible for me to put it down. Which means nothing else gets accomplished :)

As part of our "welcome kit" from PAETEC, Arunas' book "It Isn't Just Business It's Personal", was included. I started it a little bit ago and hadn't been able to put it down ... until the phone rang! I'm only on page 34, I want to highlight a few pieces of what I have read so far that have me so stoked to work for this company...

• the company is named after his wife and children ...which yes there are a lot of businesses out there like this, but this is only a small piece of what family means to this company
• Everyone is expected to keep the big picture in mind. This one is going to be a HUGE culture shock to a large quantity of the legacy McLeodUSA folks.
• "Our house is your house. But we expect, when you're here, to put as much heart into your as as you would if you owned the company. It's a fair trade."

As of 7/30/2008 - I've deleted a few bullet points at a recommendation of a friend.

I have to say when I first heard about not being able to carry over vacation, I was disappointed. For the first time in working for any company, I have time I've been able to carry over. Before I was always so miserable I'd use the time up as quickly as possible. But, now after reading the above and taking a few steps back, I see the theory behind it and will LOVE every minute of my FOUR weeks of vacation!!

Now, my favorite piece that I've read so far....as of 7/30/2008 - I decided this was one of the pieces I decided I should probably delete, but the next piece involves what I originally had posted here.

It goes on to talk about a customer who has practically begged to become a PAETEC customer ... they've been turned down THREE times! Seriously... I can't wait to dig my feet into the sand... this new journey!

It's been snowing since I woke up at 6:30, I believe we're supposed to get more snow today than we have all season! I'll post the pictures I've taken later. I'm off to read a little bit more then it's time to start working on cleaning some things up!

back on track

Finally! After going out Tuesday night with the boss, things finally started to get back on track. We actually had 30 minutes today that we could talk about the situation and were able to work things out. AMEN! I lost some sleep over it and thought I was going to lose him as a friend!

I hope everyone had a good Valentine's Day! I don't hate a lot of things, but unfortunately Valentine's Day is one thing I truly hate. Overall, it wasn't a bad day.... just another day in paradise, I guess :)

I'm looking forward to my 3-day weekend. Hoping to finish up my craft project I started last weekend, hang up the final pictures and shelves I have laying around. I've been trying to decide what I want to do with my 1/2 bath, meaning what colors I want to paint it and how I can make it feel more like "home"...right now it feels so cold because it's pretty blah.

The week has felt like a 7-day work week... I feel like for every 1 step I took forward I had to take 4 back! On a good note, I made a new "friend" this week who has spiced up my work week!

If I'm able to finish my craft project and start painting, I'll post some pictures this weekend :)

Have a great weekend everyone!

Happy Hump Day!

It's been a rough couple of days... thankfully it's Hump Day though so that means we're on the downside to the weekend! AMEN!

My new boss and I haven't been speaking much since Friday of last week. This has been really hard on me considering he is one of my very good friends, there wasn't a whole lot we didn't share with each other (more business than personal). I was told, or asked rather, to give him some time... well 3 days is enough already! If it isn't taken care of today, drastic measures may have to be taken.

A bit hungover today... we celebrated his birthday last night. Damn I shouldn't have done that shot right before we left! I believe everyone had a good time... and it was a new eating experience for me. GOD love KC bbq!

Short post, but it's time to get back to work. Happy Hump Day everyone!

busy Sunday

What a jam-packed day... or so it felt like. Since it was too cold to be outside, I kept myself busy in the house.

I started off with making a roast with some potatoes...YUMMY!

While the roast is cooking, decided to cook some potatoes and some bacon for a recipe. A recipe that has gone over very well not only in my house but in many others. Thanks T!

Potatoes ready to be cut up!

The mix ready to be cooked!

The end result... to be frozen for breakfast this week!

Time to do some serious cleaning after cooking bacon and potatoes!

Not the ideal work-station, but it'll do for now.

Deciding if I wanted brown or black....

Brown it was! Eventually the shelf will be painted and the bar will be put back in place. I'm working on another craft project to hang from that bar...

I feel like I could go to bed and sleep the rest of the night! Instead I'm kicked back watching the 3rd Kansas City Extreme Home Makeover with my box of tissues at my side! Pathetic, I know... this show never fails to make me tear up.

Hope ya'll had a great weekend!

Pictures MeMe

Saw this on somebody's blog and thought it would be fun to play along. Rules:

1) Answer the questions below.
2) Take each answer and type it into PHOTOBUCKET
3) Take any picture from the first page of results and post (click on the picture and copy the HTML code).

1- The age you will be on your next birthday:


2- A place you'd like to travel:


3- Your favorite place:


4- Your favorite object:



5- Your favorite food:


6- Your favorite animal: (had to post both because I want one of each)




7- Your favorite color: (not any good options for this one)


8- The town in which you were born:


9- The town in which you live:


10- The name of a pet:
Sadly I don't have any

11- The name of your first crush:


12- Your nickname / screenname:


13- Your middle name: (no, it's not Jolie)


14- Your last name:


15- A bad habit of yours:


16- Your first job:


17- Your grandmother's name:



18- Your current job:


19- Your favorite drink:


20- Your dad's name: (sorry Dad, this doesn't represent you but it was funny)


21- What your house looks like: (this is not a good representation of my house..)



22- What kind of car you have:



23- Favorite clothing store: (it's a toss up)

So far, so good

Yesterday the acqusition of McLeodUSA by PAETEC completed. For now... it's McLeodUSA, now a PAETEC company. Thankfully I'm still employed :) A few people I know back at the old corporate office got let go, all with families. Please pray for them and their families!

On our conference call yesterday, Arunas announced that our company was in the top 100 companies of the WORLD for training.... I'm pretty stoked about that. Loved my job at McLeodUSA but that was one thing I always thought they could have done better at.

Visit my new company

On another positive note, it appears the benefits are going to be better and I will get more time off...AMEN! And for once, in my 11 years of working, I have sick days!

On a personal note, God saw my Uncle J through surgery, he is recovering and will soon start radiation. Please also pray for him and my family, I know that God will see us through this!

Kenshi

One of my good friends bought me this as a birthday present and a thank-you gift last year.

This is Kenshi's catalog picture. Mine had a few less leaves when I got it.

this is Kenshi today. The picture is a bit deceiving as the walls look psychedelic, but unfortunately they're just white.

Thanks T for making a piece of my every-day life a little brighter with Kenshi!