OK - So it's been ages since I've bothered to do a blog... April. Quite a bit has happened since then.
We went back to the US for a week to refinance our house (woohoo! We saved 1.5% AND went from a 30 year to a 15 year, cutting about 7 years off and saving a ton of cash.) This was well worth the airfare and pet sitting fees.
We went to Norway at the start of July, and did some kayaking and hiking. We visited Bergen and spent 3 days paddling the fjords and hiking about. This should have been peaceful, but of course...
Then, my sister died at the end of July. This was really hard on everyone, especially my folks. I came home for that as well. It was a nightmare trip trying to get emergency travel back home. American Airlines were a bunch of dicks about this as well, and it really rather upset me. If you can't offer bereavement fares, then why demand that I get funeral home info and everything else and tell me it's going to still be $2000 a person? Luckily, our company let us use the company travel agency. Sure, we still had to pay for it, but it was a third of the price that we would have paid to anyone else.
Anyway, a while after that, we went to the Cornish coast, and I have some lovely pictures. It was nice to be away, but even then, the same stressors of our everyday lives intrude. They never stop intruding.
I've done a bit of mountain biking, went to Dirt Divas (which I would highly recommend to any women in the UK who want to hone their bike handling skills). Also, I went on a weekend mountain bike trip with Ray in the Lakes District, but only did a single day because I am in shit shape. Really, all it did was make me feel worse about what I don't feel capable of doing.
I am working a hellish number of hours, and if I didn't have such a wonderful boss, I would probably walk right about now... The tension between various groups is unbelievable. The worst is dealing with my old team, and my old boss who is a second line manager now. She's still trying to make my life hell, but I have a good management team looking out for me. Among other things, she brought up a bit from when I was leaving her team, planning the move here. My "team lead" at that point had lied to her about a conversation that we'd had. When my manager at the time confronted me about it, I gave the only response I could, "You've already made your decision as to whom you will believe. You will believe her regardless, so there isn't any point in even attempting to defend myself." Or something along those lines. Really - My old manager was trying to get rid of me for whatever reasons she had. She was not going to believe me, no matter what, and confronting the person wouldn't have made a difference either. I have no evidence that I was telling the truth, or that the other person lied. At the time, I figured, "I am done with this, why bother fighting when I can't win." Though, it has always left me wondering what else she lied to our manager about regarding me, and in light of the fact that this has resurfaced, I have to wonder if I should have fought harder...
Anyway, the short of it is that every single part of my life has been stressful, to one extent or another over the last few months, but that's life, right?
On the positive side, I got a promotion, and the UK part of the company has decided to lift the pay freeze, so we will get pay raises this year, back dated to June (not a huge amount, a manager from another team has said - only 1-2% - but still, better than nothing, right?), and I will get a raise for my promotion, which will get back dated to July. And, the great thing about the UK is that, for some strange reason, band 8s and above get cars. I don't need a car, so, I will take the cash opt instead, and that also gets back dated to my promotion in July. So, yay - I feel less poor.
I am looking forward to Thanksgiving because I am coming home to see my folks for 2 weeks. Mike and Norma and the kids will be there. Because of Sharon, Mom and Dad need me to come home soon, so Ray will be moving back on or around 1 May... I will get a small flat in London close to work, sell the car, send the dogs home, and live as cheaply as I can. I will be able to follow in September 2010. So, I intend to do a bunch of stuff related to getting ready for the move when I am visiting in November - Like talking to Hendrick Chevy about getting my truck and finding someone to re-do the kitchen.
So, this is where my life is right now. I will endeavor to keep this blog up to date in the future, but then again, I always endeavor, and don't often succeed for long.
Oh, and happy halloween! I have extra maltesers and mars bars! We didn't have nearly as many kids as we expected.
We went back to the US for a week to refinance our house (woohoo! We saved 1.5% AND went from a 30 year to a 15 year, cutting about 7 years off and saving a ton of cash.) This was well worth the airfare and pet sitting fees.
We went to Norway at the start of July, and did some kayaking and hiking. We visited Bergen and spent 3 days paddling the fjords and hiking about. This should have been peaceful, but of course...
Then, my sister died at the end of July. This was really hard on everyone, especially my folks. I came home for that as well. It was a nightmare trip trying to get emergency travel back home. American Airlines were a bunch of dicks about this as well, and it really rather upset me. If you can't offer bereavement fares, then why demand that I get funeral home info and everything else and tell me it's going to still be $2000 a person? Luckily, our company let us use the company travel agency. Sure, we still had to pay for it, but it was a third of the price that we would have paid to anyone else.
Anyway, a while after that, we went to the Cornish coast, and I have some lovely pictures. It was nice to be away, but even then, the same stressors of our everyday lives intrude. They never stop intruding.
I've done a bit of mountain biking, went to Dirt Divas (which I would highly recommend to any women in the UK who want to hone their bike handling skills). Also, I went on a weekend mountain bike trip with Ray in the Lakes District, but only did a single day because I am in shit shape. Really, all it did was make me feel worse about what I don't feel capable of doing.
I am working a hellish number of hours, and if I didn't have such a wonderful boss, I would probably walk right about now... The tension between various groups is unbelievable. The worst is dealing with my old team, and my old boss who is a second line manager now. She's still trying to make my life hell, but I have a good management team looking out for me. Among other things, she brought up a bit from when I was leaving her team, planning the move here. My "team lead" at that point had lied to her about a conversation that we'd had. When my manager at the time confronted me about it, I gave the only response I could, "You've already made your decision as to whom you will believe. You will believe her regardless, so there isn't any point in even attempting to defend myself." Or something along those lines. Really - My old manager was trying to get rid of me for whatever reasons she had. She was not going to believe me, no matter what, and confronting the person wouldn't have made a difference either. I have no evidence that I was telling the truth, or that the other person lied. At the time, I figured, "I am done with this, why bother fighting when I can't win." Though, it has always left me wondering what else she lied to our manager about regarding me, and in light of the fact that this has resurfaced, I have to wonder if I should have fought harder...
Anyway, the short of it is that every single part of my life has been stressful, to one extent or another over the last few months, but that's life, right?
On the positive side, I got a promotion, and the UK part of the company has decided to lift the pay freeze, so we will get pay raises this year, back dated to June (not a huge amount, a manager from another team has said - only 1-2% - but still, better than nothing, right?), and I will get a raise for my promotion, which will get back dated to July. And, the great thing about the UK is that, for some strange reason, band 8s and above get cars. I don't need a car, so, I will take the cash opt instead, and that also gets back dated to my promotion in July. So, yay - I feel less poor.
I am looking forward to Thanksgiving because I am coming home to see my folks for 2 weeks. Mike and Norma and the kids will be there. Because of Sharon, Mom and Dad need me to come home soon, so Ray will be moving back on or around 1 May... I will get a small flat in London close to work, sell the car, send the dogs home, and live as cheaply as I can. I will be able to follow in September 2010. So, I intend to do a bunch of stuff related to getting ready for the move when I am visiting in November - Like talking to Hendrick Chevy about getting my truck and finding someone to re-do the kitchen.
So, this is where my life is right now. I will endeavor to keep this blog up to date in the future, but then again, I always endeavor, and don't often succeed for long.
Oh, and happy halloween! I have extra maltesers and mars bars! We didn't have nearly as many kids as we expected.
posted by Jen Parker at 21:33
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