28 Apr 2010
by Lauriein Cow & Toaster, Work
Last night I went of a brief stream-of-consciousness rant about why I should be the one who gets the super awesome helmet design (that I really, really want), not Paul. Even though Paul was only teasing me I just lost it and went crazy. I blame it on stress. It’s always the stress.
I’m really looking forward to my new job. I will be the Practice Manager of another veterinary hospital. This hospital is actively trying to grow their business and develop their employees. They have a business coach who is also going to mentor me. Part of the plan is for me to finally start working towards becoming a Certified Veterinary Practice Manager. My new boss (the veterinarian) and I seem to get along very well; we seem to be fairly alike. They’re very excited about having me too…I just hope I can live up to their expectations.
Because this job is in the opposite direction of where I work now (the clinic I work at now is in Ladner, the new one is out in the Fraser Valley) I won’t be able to carpool with Paul anymore (he works in Richmond), so for the most part I’m going to be riding my motorcycle to work every day. The route is longer by distance, but a little shorter time-wise.
I’m getting impatient to start this new chapter.
27 Apr 2010
by Lauriein Work
Counting down the last two weeks working here…right now the only way I’m getting through it is remembering that it’s almost at an end: we’re having an all-time high number of asshattery happening (clients) and staff just not doing what they’re told…both of which make my boss uptight and angry.
This place is a shambles – has always been a shambles – and there’s nothing I can do about it but try to minimize the damage once I’m gone.
I’m working on setting up another blog devoted to motorcycling; it threatened to take over this one and I want to go in a different direction here. Once it’s up and running I’ll post a link, and I’m pretty excited about it. Not sure why I’m excited about it, but I am!
25 Apr 2010
by Lauriein Housekeeping, Life, Work
I feel so guilty for neglecting this blog and any readers I may (still) have.
Life has been exciting since I last posted: we took our motorcycles out of storage – just in time for the weather to turn inconsistent again.
Oh, and I got a new job.
I haven’t started yet; I start on May 17th. I will be the Practice Manager of a veterinary hospital in the Fraser Valley. I think it’s going to be an amazing opportunity for me and I can’t quite believe that it’s happening. It’s similar to the job I do now, but I will have much more responsibility and more ability to be hands-on with the business.
It wasn’t an easy decision to make, though. Where I work now has it’s downsides and a lot of negativity but I do care very much about everyone. It was incredibly hard to give notice to my boss (I gave eight weeks) and even harder to tell the staff. We’re all shell-shocked about it.
Life has changed a lot, yet stayed the same.
I am making a commitment to post here more often. I have a lot of stuff floating around in my head these days.
28 Feb 2010
by Lauriein Cow & Toaster, February 2010 "Ties", Life, NaBloPoMo
When Vancouver put up a bid for the 2010 Games I was against the idea. When it was announced that Vancouver won the bid to hold the games I heard a huge roar in downtown Vancouver, and a co worker and I turned to each other and moaned “nooooo!” I voted no in the Vancouver Olympic plebiscite (we lived in East Vancouver at that time).
I thought that all of the money being poured into the games should have been used for other things (like helping the Downtown East Side, paying for more doctors, etc.) but I realized that the Olympic money wouldn’t have been available for these things. I know that the games are going to end up costing the city, province, and country a lot of money, and I am worried about what’s going to happen with city employee’s contracts.
But you know what, it was a great time. Corny as it is, I feel so much pride for our country and our athletes. I feel proud of the athletes from around the world who overcame huge obstacles and put in countless hours of training to just be here.
I’ve never seen as many smiling faces as I did last Saturday when Paul, Dale and I went to wander around Vancouver. It felt great to give in and enjoy the experience.
Yes, it’s true that the hockey games were pretty much the big deal for most people, and I doubt the mood tonight would be as happy if we didn’t win. Maybe it was bread and circuses. But goddamn it, for a few days we were united for a common purpose and celebrated something greater than ourselves.
It’s not over yet. The paralympics start in just over a week and those athletes are heroes. Those men and women are brave, and have more guts than I can imagine. I wish they got more recognition, because they truly deserve it.
27 Feb 2010
by Lauriein Life, Me, me, me
There is something in the works that I’m very excited about, but I don’t want to say anything about it yet because it’s not a given that it will happen. But I’m pretty optimistic that it will. My fingers are crossed!
11 Feb 2010
by Lauriein February 2010 "Ties", Life, NaBloPoMo
Dear universe,
I’ve been kind of kicked when I’ve been down this week. Not sure if you’re to blame for it, or if it’s just the way things worked out. But I must confess, your latest message has be a little confused.
Is this a “help me help you” type thing? A “don’t say I never do anything for you”? A sign saying “THIS IS A SIGN – DO IT”?
I know that somethings your messages are a little unclear or mixed. It’s okay, everyone’s communication skills could use a little work. Would it be too much to ask you to use some sky writing or a neon sign?
Am I tempting your friend fate to jump in here? Or your best pal Murphy who practices law?
Universe, can you please just say what you mean, and mean what you say?
KTHX, toast.
09 Feb 2010
by Lauriein February 2010 "Ties", Motorcycles, NaBloPoMo
The weather has been nice lately. It seems very spring-like: the crocus are blooming, the grass is green, the pussywillow tree is all fuzzy…even the cherry blossoms are starting to open on the tree outside my clinic.
You know what spring means, right? I get my Ninja back!
We would have taken our bikes out already this year if they were close by and if it wouldn’t mess with the storage insurance (that little problem will be fixed when we re-insure – the third party insurance we’re going to get allows you to change to and from storage whenever we want).
It’s hard to be patient, though. Every day it seems like I see more and more bikes on the road. On the way home from work today I saw a couple of Harleys, four sportbikes, and a sport-tourer.
Instead of obsessing (heh) over the upcoming riding season, I’ve been putting together lists of stuff that we need, and all of the things we’re going to do.
08 Feb 2010
by Lauriein February 2010 "Ties", NaBloPoMo, Work
I spent a great deal of time this weekend reading a practice management book for work so I could glean some ideas for our clinic. I came up with lots of great (if I do say so myself) ideas.
This was supposed to be part of a big meeting with my boss to discuss the clinic, my role, and his goals. It kind of sprang from me telling him why I was missing from work for two days last week. I thought that it was important for him to know, and for him to know that my anxiety started with work and expanded outwards. Not that I’m blaming work for my problems/illness, but my message to him was if things don’t change then I have to leave. I thought at the time that he understood and wanted to work things out so I wouldn’t be so stressed out.
Now I’m not so sure.
The meeting was originally scheduled for last Thursday, the day after I came back. It didn’t happen, we got busy, blah blah blah – story of my life here. So we made arrangements to meet today, off site, as it’s not a day that my boss is scheduled to be in the clinic. Well, if that meeting did happen, this post probably wouldn’t, heh.
I called him to see if he was coming and and no, he’s not. He’s too tired from the weekend.
I spent a good portion of my weekend doing work and research – as I was asked – and the meeting is cancelled.
Now I’m sitting here, quietly angry.
So, the theme for February’s NaBloPoMo is “ties“. What ties me to this dysfunctional practice?
I guess this is something that I’m going to have to examine.
06 Feb 2010
by Lauriein February 2010 "Ties", NaBloPoMo
I had some very vivid dreams last night; maybe because it’s the first night that I’ve had decent sleep in awhile. My brain must have had a lot of junk to process though because they were weird.
02 Feb 2010
by Lauriein Life, Me, me, me
On Monday I was diagnosed with Generalized Anxiety Disorder. The weekend was Fun Times, let me tell you. I had my first ever panic attacks and a complete breakdown of epic proportions.
My anxiety is centered around my job (oh, surprise!) but has crept out and coloured nearly everything, to the point that I am not able to make a decision about anything without agonizing over it.
So I’m left now contemplating a lot of things. I’m trying to be gentle on myself for this first little bit, but there are some big questions that need to be answered.
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