Southern Scare and Friday Redemption

Shares her Grandmother's Fascination with Mirrors

I had a session yesterday where I actually got to raise my voice in “counseling” a couple of my employees. They were appealing a grievance decision by one of my subordinate managers. One of the down sides of ascending the hierarchy is less face to face dealing with the employees who do all the work. The same thing happened in the my military career where as I ascended in rank I had less and less  contact with Soldiers, the veritable boots on the ground.

Yesterday at First Friday

Yesterday I got to shake the rust off the long dormant ass chewing aspect of leadership. These two young heroes apparently thought they could play high school level games with one of my subordinate supervisors. After I apprised them of their failed thinking in this regard I tried to build them back up by telling them they had a bright future in this profession if they’d only stop playing their games. I felt pretty good afterwards and the union official that accompanied them came back later to say he was ready to volunteer for extra work after listening to me counsel these two miscreants. Made my whole week, guess I’m shallow that way. The beer at First Friday was a little sweeter (yikes).

Reading in the Ball Tent

I wasn't the only one who had a good week. My Favorite Son reported yesterday that his company had won a huge construction contract that he did all the preliminary work for. He made the winning presentation to the customer after preparing all the construction estimates. The best part is that he'll get to work on the project now and its only ten minutes from his home. He and the ABFA were headed north last night for their annual visit to some Chocolate Festival when I finally caught up with them and now they have something else to celebrate.

I got a scare from southern climes last night when my wife reported she was feeling very poorly, to the point she was heading for the emergency room with some sort of stomach issue. It’s not a good feeling to be so far away and not there to help. Luckily she was surrounded by her own family who took good care of her. They stuck her with an IV and then sent her home with a bunch of medicine. I just got through talking with her this morning and she admitted she felt much better which lifted a substantial weight. It may have been some bad food she ate while traveling yesterday. She didn’t get much sleep last night though as the annual Carnivale kicked off with fireworks at 1am just down the street followed by a loud band.

The Gift

The New Jerseyites received their housewarming gift from us yesterday. There were some real concerns about getting the washer and dryer down the cellar stairs because of a very narrow staircase typical of older homes. Wingman reported they made it with a whole ¼” to spare. After spending their entire married life saving all the quarters to use for the laundromat they finally have their own washer and dryer in their own home. Good times.

Negotiating the Basement Stairs

In other developments the First Blog Reader figured out how to open the cat door in the gates on the stairs and tried crawling through. This after her Winnie the Pooh exercise chronicled in yesterday’s blog. That gate will obviously stay locked now which will restrict the cat’s freedom. After my Newark nightmare night supplied by said feline last week – could not be happier.

Today’s Soxfather’s Sister’s morale photo injection: